Aust. One Ton trailer info. required

[Darrin Wright]

Hi all,
I sent a link to this thread to a friend of mine posted to 16 AD for his input, this is his info (cut & paste):

Tail gate art "White rat with the red Eye shoulder launched missile behind" indicates that the trailer was used by the 111th Light Air Defence Bty, 16th Air Defence Regiment;

Christmas tree:- the colours correspond to the numbers (grey is 5, Green is 4, and yellow 3) and the numbers above are the same, this again points to 16 AD Regt, (Numbers are the Unit Designator code - UDC and indicate owner unit)

50 on tac plate again points to 16 AD Regt, kangaroo with crossed rifles and figure 1 indicates the owner higher Command :- First Division of Aust Army.

U/L CoG indicates unloaded centre of Gravity,

As for the QA the exact meaning is lost in history, but this kind of marking would be used to indicate the owner section within 111 Bty, in the same way call sign 21 indicates B Sqn , Alpha Troop. if I was to guess I would say that this was alpha troops, Quartermasters trailer.

Regards

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Darrin, thanks for doing that. I now have more history on this trailer than all my other vehicles combined, and then some.
Rich.

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks, Darrin,

Never thought of the Redeye! That certainly dates the trailer: Redeye was in service for a relatively short time, and has been out of service for many years.

QA: the Artillery sub-unit marking info states the 'Q' prefix is for Quartermaster (ie supply) sub-units, with the following letter/numeral being the designator for this vehicle, so pretty much what you said.

Mike C

[Ganmain Tony]

Firstly, thanks to the Richard C-S for starting this thread and to all you guys who contributed...

Answers a lot of questions I would have asked about the trailer below...

A couple I will ask... if you look closely at the first photo you will notice a curved pattern of bolts which attach the guards to the trailer.

Now...my anecdotal information is that all the humbers we received out here came with a british built trailer. The one Richard Farrant described earlier in this thread. The FV 2401 A

To bring them in line with the ones we built out here, the Brit built ones had their round guards removed and replaced with the square ones.

AND were re-plated to indicate they were an Australian No 1 Mk 1 Trailer

Righto - over to the experts. Is the above info correct?

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Hi Tony.
Bigger and heavier than they look in a photo are'nt they. Maybe the square guard was just a design change at begining of production, tinnies roll off the round ones.
My trailer has the same pattern of round gaurd bolts, but is plated as a Corio Air Eng. I have never actually heard of the Humbers coming into Aust. with trailers, had assumed they were all manufactured over here. We only got 145 (Give or take one) Humbers, and Mike Cecil says early on in the thread that the trailer order was probably 500.
Also waiting with interest......
Rich.

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Richard Coutts-Smith

Hi Tony.
Bigger and heavier than they look in a photo are'nt they. Maybe the square guard was just a design change at begining of production, tinnies roll off the round ones.
My trailer has the same pattern of round gaurd bolts, but is plated as a Corio Air Eng. I have never actually heard of the Humbers coming into Aust. with trailers, had assumed they were all manufactured over here. We only got 145 (Give or take one) Humbers, and Mike Cecil says early on in the thread that the trailer order was probably 500.
Also waiting with interest......
Rich.

Yes Rich - they are quite a good set up in my opinion... an important fighting modification were those guards.
Fancy spilling your tinnie whilst being shot at??? Not I for one

Incidentally, does yours have an ID plate at the front near the one I posted?

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Id plate around the corner from the one you posted is the Corio Air Engineers pty ltd plate, can't rember what else it reads.
Rich.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Ganmain Tony

A couple I will ask... if you look closely at the first photo you will notice a curved pattern of bolts which attach the guards to the trailer.

Now...my anecdotal information is that all the humbers we received out here came with a british built trailer. The one Richard Farrant described earlier in this thread. The FV 2401 A

To bring them in line with the ones we built out here, the Brit built ones had their round guards removed and replaced with the square ones.

AND were re-plated to indicate they were an Australian No 1 Mk 1 Trailer

Righto - over to the experts. Is the above info correct?

Hi Tony,
Interesting, since the first time I saw one, I thought it was a British one, as apart from the simple mudguards and different wheels, the rest is absolutely identical, down to the X pressings in the side and the drawbar components, not to forget the hubs.
regards, Richard

Edit:
Just looked at Mike Cecil's excellent book, Mud & Dust and see that Corio built the trailers to a British War Office design. Maybe they originally had the round mudguards and changed them later as they were close fitting around the tyre and could get damaged. This explains a lot.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

I tried Tony, but the plate does not come up at all well, it is a much lighter plate than the other with less and lighter stamping, apart from manufacturer it just has the date and serial no. (all I can see any way)
Taking it to Corowa?
Rich.

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Richard Coutts-Smith

I tried Tony, but the plate does not come up at all well, it is a much lighter plate than the other with less and lighter stamping, apart from manufacturer it just has the date and serial no. (all I can see any way)
Taking it to Corowa?
Rich.

Hopefully Rich, it needs a bit of work done, but we are fired up to do it.

Look forward to a yarn at Corowa and hopefully with more knowledge about these trailers...will it be blasphemy to tow it behind a Cab 12 Blitz?

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

Hi Tony,
Interesting, since the first time I saw one, I thought it was a British one, as apart from the simple mudguards and different wheels, the rest is absolutely identical, down to the X pressings in the side and the drawbar components, not to forget the hubs.
regards, Richard

Edit:
Just looked at Mike Cecil's excellent book, Mud & Dust and see that Corio built the trailers to a British War Office design. Maybe they originally had the round mudguards and changed them later as they were close fitting around the tyre and could get damaged. This explains a lot.

Once again Richard your knowledge and helpful direction is invaluable. Great points, one's I had not considered...will investigate through Mike's book.

Actually hoping he gets back onto this thread..

[Monkey Man]

I just got a hold of one of these today, had the rounded bolt pattern for the square guards, still had the connector box, canvas stowage box lid, bows, rear extra tow hitch? and what's left of origonal? lights. My wheel and hub combination looks different to what any of you guys have.
It does have 2 brackets underneath it, flat steel with round holes in them, not sure what they are for, the reversing bypass for the brake is dead set simple, slip the little steel U shaped strap over and brakes are disables, slip it off and ointo the bracket on the side to store it. The Manufacture date is 21/10/59 (scratch makes it look like 69') and it's S/Nr is below 1000 as it is 1297 according to the chassis plate, manufacturers data plate says 0297 but Transport will want the chassis data plate info I should think....
It'll be behind my M37 (3/4 ton rated Dodge), it does tow ok but would probarbly tow better when I get some good tyres on the truck, anyone got any good 900-16's about the place?? (yes, it's a long shot but if you don't ask you never know.....)

[Monkey Man]

Wheel setup...

MM



Extra Tow Hitch (pin missing)

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Nice Tony.
I have made up a reverse lock like you have shown, had no idea that it was how it was done originally. Wheel combo does look strange, as does the rear hook, not seen one like that before. Hopefully those that are in the know will chime in.
Rich.

[Euan McDonald]

Originally Posted by Richard Coutts-Smith

Nice Tony.
I have made up a reverse lock like you have shown, had no idea that it was how it was done originally. Wheel combo does look strange, as does the rear hook, not seen one like that before. Hopefully those that are in the know will chime in.
Rich.

Hi Richard,
I don’t claim to be Mr. know-it-all but mine has the same rear hitch that folds up out of the way and the hubs were the same before I machined the out off to fit Blitz 20” wheels to match the CGT. I have a spare A frame with pintle eye and brake back up block if any one needs one.

[easo]

Bridge class is also use for temporary bridging (not sure about MGB or bailey) to record daily tonnage for servicing, for example on the Leopard AVLB it had a total usable tonnage of 2000tons at up to 50ton at a time (from memory) so the AVLB crew could add up the bridge classes of the vehicles crossing. Once the usable tonnage was reached the bridge could be serviced, inspected or replaced. We would start at 2000 and count down.

Regards Easo

[Ian Pullen]

The trailer is indeed from 111 Bty 16 AD Regt based at Woodside in SA. The trailer was used by the Missile Resupply Sergeant (M.R.S.) from Alpha (A) Troop as part of the Battery Quartermaster (BQMS).
He was basically the guy that drove around the countryside resupplying the missile dets with stores, fuel rations & of course missiles.
It was towed behind a Mog

[Lynn Eades]

In my ignorance,(dont go there Bob) I'd never heard of one before this thread, so found a picture. This is the Greater Bilby (the lesser is extinct) They are about rabbit sized and highly endangered.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Thanks to all concerned with finalising the service history of this trailer. It shows the importance of finding all those old markings, although in this case they were clearly visible. I do now wonder what is hidden under these ones in the lower strata of paint....
I doubt I could ever bring myself to repaint it to match the Humber, too much history in it's own right.
Rich.