Quote:
Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
According to Blackburn - in a nutshell - by whatever poor dumb 2nd Lieutenant who happened to attract the CO's attention. And woe betide he who got the convoy lost!
The outriders were responsible for ensuring convoy integrity... I don't know about an RCASC unit, but an RCA Field Regiment's vehicle train was some miles in length (as I suspect most others were as well), and outriders were necessary to ensure everybody got to where they were supposed to be going, making the proper turns at the right time etc. A tough job, especially at night. A friend of mine's father was an ambulance driver in England, and he recalls scraping the remains of a lot of motorcyclists off the stone walls in English villages. He'd only say that when he was pissed as a newt, which, if I recall, was a lot of the time. never quite got over it. I expect it was the same over on the continent, only with the added flavour of mines, snipers and random artillery thrown into the recipe...
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I remember him telling me that he lost a buddie when the fellow crashed head on into a US Air Force truck who was driving on the wrong side of the road.It was during the blackout in England and he was following on a second MC.Unfortuneately,they were both iinebriated,and his buddy was carrying a few bottles of wine in his tunic,which in itself,did a lot of damage.Its amazing to see stats on unit accidental deaths even before going into battle.