Hi All,
Looking for some help / info please. Resicast to a fitters version & a late heavy weapons version, I have read that Te Anau was the fitters truck for the Barce raid were the patrol was smashed & only Te Anau II escaped, but the photos I have found online show it with the twin 303 browning mounts x 2, so was it both during that raid? And if so what is the body type difference between the fitters vehicle & the late heavy weapons vehicle?
Thanks in advance
Mike
The LRDG tried to recover as much equipment as possible, including vehicles due to supply issues of their specialist kit. Also the trucks were fairly modular, allowing them to be fitted out for specific operations. The Barce Raid was different from their standard operations of deep penetration strategic reconnaissance, requiring additional weapons being fitted to their trucks to allow maximum damage to be caused on the raid, and to give them a better chance of defending themselves from mostly air attacks on the return journey. As such when the other trucks were knocked out, the patrol recovered anything useful so that the items could be re-used on other operations. In the case of TE ANAU, this included extra .303 Browning and Vickers ‘K’ guns, hence the load. Most trucks on the operation would have had 2 twin mounted high rate of fire .303 MMG’s. For some reason they mixed up the guns so the trucks would have Brownings and Vickers on the same truck. Other weapons would be .303 Vickers MKI water cooled MMG’s ( the water was replaced with oil and no condenser can was attached), .50 Vickers HMG’s, and there was also 2 trucks with 20mm Breda guns on the raid. The 4B1 Ammo body was the fitted to all the trucks and modified for operations. The only variation was on wireless trucks that had a compartment fitted for the WS no11 and the Philips 635 Receiver, with access doors cut into the right hand side as on the Tamiya kit ( which is missing the Philips receiver and the compartment). The trucks in the Patrol would have specific roles, such as Navigation/signal truck, fitters truck, medics truck, commanders and 2I/C trucks (by this stage the CO was often mounted in a Jeep), and cooks truck. The number of vehicles in the Patrol would be dictated by the operational requirements and what was available from each Patrol due to maintenance schedules/needs. The Breda and Wireless/navigator trucks were specifically modified for their role, the other trucks were all ‘standard’ fits with the contents of their load defining their role. For example the Medics truck would have a standard load of fuel, water and other supplies, but would also have the Medical wicker chest and a stretcher, and the fitters truck would carry additional spares parts and the fitters tool chest.
Hi Charlie_Down,
Thank you so much for all that information!! I’m the photos I have show a hose running up along the passenger side fender? And all I can think of is if it had a condenser?
Cheers
Mike
Hi Mike,
I’ll need to see the photo in order to positively identify the purpose of the hose, but if it’s on the passenger side it could be the air line for the compressor. It connects to the panel above the passenger side step near the front of the door space. They were often left connected and simply wrapped around the sand mat mount when not in use. Try joining the LRDG Preservation Society Facebook group for more information and photos.
Hi Charlie- Down,
Hope you can open the link I don’t know how to add pictures. From my old IPhone 7, maybe to old lol
Thanks
Mike
That’s the air line from the compressor on the front fender.
Is that compressor you are talking about supplied with either the Tamiya kit or the Resicast late heavy weapons set.
Also do you have any idea what the long “pole” thing in the above photo? I wondered if it was maybe a replacement drive shaft or a vickers browning heavy machine gun?
Cheers
Mike
The Power Take Off compressor was a standard item that attached to the transmission and ran off the gear box. It’s not included in the Tamiya kit or Resicast sets as its not normally visible. I think the pole is a canvas cover tripod for the Navigators Theodolite, something they would definitely recovered.