WD Numbers, CAR, CFR

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

applied by the Vehicle Census Branch-

The Census Number was just that: a serial number allocated by in the case of the WD Chilwell, and then put on to a record card etc. In other words it was part of a general census of all vehicles, trailers, etc. The record cards that exist show contracts, serial number batches, purchase price, etc. including for theatres other than the UK. Up until say 1940, WD vehicles in the UK had Census Numbers as well as civilian-type registrations in the Middlesex County Council Government-allocated blocks. I am not sure about the Air Ministry but wartime photos seem to suggest that they too used Middlesex and even London County Council numbers, although purely RAF vehicles would have "RAF..." Census Numbers. The Admiralty did their own thing, with "RN". I imagine that they too used Middlesex civvy regos pre-war but I have not seen any photos to check.

Outside the UK, say in Egypt and Palestine, local civilian-type registrations seem to have been used in Arabic and English. e.g. with "WD" as a suffix.