Census numbers for Ford LAAT

[Jordan Baker]

Possibly try the regimental war diaries. Sometimes you get lucky and the war diary officer put in a list of the vehicles held by the Regiment.

[Rich Payne]

Sadly, all master records relating to vehicle allocations seem to have been destroyed when the post-war registration number system was initiated in 1948 or so. The Chilwell records relating to unit allocations would truly be the Holy Grail but it must have been a huge quantity of paperwork and probably doesn't survive.

Chilwell is no longer a depot and the RLC records are at Deepcut but there have been so many changes and amalgamations that ex-RAOC records only seem to form a small part of it.

As Jordan says, War diaries can turn up trumps. Territorial units seem more likely to have recorded detail. If not, perhaps the REME diaries covering the LAD supporting - sometimes they'll mention vehicles out of service or awaiting delivery.

Have you thought of a trip to the IWM to look through all their NW Europe photo albums (I'd have thought that the Manx Museum would have done that though).

[Alastair Thomas]

Thanks for your suggestions. I have bigger problems in getting the truck on the road but would like to add authenticity before next year's commemoration.