Richie's Mk1 Restoration

[Philliphastings]

Terrific posts Richard, please keep them coming. On the subject of hull paint colours, I always asumed the Mk1's would have been painted deep bronze green semi-gloss but now that I have started taking bits off I am finding plain old olive drab lustreless with a light stone camo sprayed over the top - a bit of a surprise I must say but definately factory original (the OD that is)

Cheers

Phill

[RichardT10829]

phil. yours is very likely to have been in the desert mate so it is no suprise that there is evidence of light stone beign used on it...... most likey lif you were to go around the carrier you would find traces of slate grey and sky blue too.

[Lynn Eades]

Which Desert? The Great Sandy desert? The Little Sandy Desert?, The Tanami Desert? I reckon theres a chance this carrier came to Australia before 1939. What say the Aussie historians? (The word oxymoron comes to mind, but its only a thought)

[RichardT10829]

Well you know the romantic in me would hope that it had been in the North African Desert.... many did actually go there and then onto Italy (not being a desert of course) not sure that they would have wasted resources bringing it back though (plus if it had been an english carrier with an English Regiment most likely it would have been given to the Russians on the lend Lease programme like many of the carriers we had...)


(Nigel I hope you dont mind me taking a pic from your book please dont prosecute me)

the phrase "Open Mind" comes to mind but its only a thought remember the desert war started off in 1940 when italy made its declaration of war...some time in june that year not sure when mass production of the Brens and later UC's were kicked into gear, but many of the regiments may still have had their scout carriers... who know's

[Lynn Eades]

On a recent thread , it was shown that there were Universals at Dunkirk. I'm sure, had it been sent to Aust. as a demo, it would have been recorded in the Australian media/ military archives. If it had been pulled back to Aussie from North Africa,What time frame would that have been in?
This should be in Phillips thead.

[RichardT10829]

yeah i know was thinking that before.... should get Geoff to transfer the posts over to Phills thread. Did you guys keep a decent archive on vehicles ? i know us Brits kept a rubbish record, same with the Canadians (well ford's archives)

If it had come back from North Africa it would be in a period circa 43 or..... after the desert war concluded in 43 we used Tunisia as a launching platform for Op Husky (Scicily) then later Op Avalanche (italy) Many carriers landed in scicily and Italy with desert type schemes, Caunter was phased out after El alamein and the Light stone / brown disruptive was adopted (along with a plethera of other schemes)

so If my romantic imagination was to run wild once again it could potentially have gone North Africa, then returned in 43...or gone on to Scicily, Italy.....returned to Oz in 45/46....... Or........ could have been bought up by the Aussie govt as an ex demo or training vehicle in 39ish... I know that the early Brens were used by alot of the coalition regiments during the desert campaign so i wonder if they serviced the older vehicles longer to perhaps save money for other things....meaning that the Scouts and brens were kept for longer... this i have no idea,

[Philliphastings]

Really sorry to have hijacked this post Richard.

Re the Scout there are a number of possibilities,

1/ obtained direct from britain brand new and erroneously described on official documentation as a Bren carrier, or

2/ issued in North Africa to Australian Forces and simply kept and returned to Australia with other unit equipment, or

3/ Brought to Fremantle with other refugee British cargo after the fall of Singapore (unlikely)

As for the olive drab and light stone camouflage - it matches exactly that used on many General Grant and Stuart Tanks and Local Pattern carriers which were based here in WA

Add this to the fitting of modified Australian LP Carrier roadwheels and the evidence seems to point to it having been fully rebuilt here at 5 Base Ordnance Depot Nungarin, who'se core business was rebuilding Tanks and Armoured vehicles during ww2.

The son of the first civilian owner assured me it was in good condition when they bought it at disposal Auction in 1947

Cheers

Phill