"somewhere in England" … part of a RCAF Halifax Squadron

[Andrew H.]

Are you sure its a Hillman? That looks like the winged Austin sign to me.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Are you sure its a Hillman? That looks like the winged Austin sign to me.

Andrew,
The Hillman badge also had wings on it, not only that but the bonnet louvers match a c.1934 Hillman Minx.

[David Dunlop]

Richard. With regards to the British motor vehicle registration system, am I correct in thinking that when a particular plate code references a given location, that location is merely the central registration office for a given territory, and that territory could be quite expansive in some situations?

In the case of this Hillman, could the territory assigned the BV plates, include part of Yorkshire, or do the registration territories never cross county borders?

The more I look at these photos, the more it strikes me how relaxed everyone looks. Not much tension showing in the faces at all. Seems more and more likely they could be post VE Day snaps.

Back the Hillman again, does it have a white painted front bumper? Wasn't a set of full white bumpers, or at least white painted bumper ends, a fairly common blackout practice during the war? Was there an official end to blackout conditions post war, or did it just happen?

David

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Richard. With regards to the British motor vehicle registration system, am I correct in thinking that when a particular plate code references a given location, that location is merely the central registration office for a given territory, and that territory could be quite expansive in some situations?

In the case of this Hillman, could the territory assigned the BV plates, include part of Yorkshire, or do the registration territories never cross county borders?

The more I look at these photos, the more it strikes me how relaxed everyone looks. Not much tension showing in the faces at all. Seems more and more likely they could be post VE Day snaps.

Back the Hillman again, does it have a white painted front bumper? Wasn't a set of full white bumpers, or at least white painted bumper ends, a fairly common blackout practice during the war? Was there an official end to blackout conditions post war, or did it just happen?

David

David,
Registrations of motor vehicles back then were done with local or county councils, so in this case it was Blackburn in Lancashire. The number stayed with the vehicle wherever it ended up in the country, but could be transferred to another vehicle. In those days there were more local registration offices, they then were reduced to county councils, and eventually centralised in present times under a central government agency.

My mother had been a policewoman before I cam along and she taught me at an early age, the registration letters and where the vehicle originated from, which still comes in useful when looking at older vehicles.

So back to the car, which I am sure is a 1934 Hillman Minx, its registration does not tell you too much other than it was from the next county, if you are guessing the picture was taken in Yorkshire. White bumper, sometimes white edging to the front wings. According to a quick search the blackout restrictions were lifted on 30th April 1945.

[Dennis Cardy]

Richard and David,
Very interesting reading what you have posted..So much so...
Just back from making a return trip to the CMF archive.

Took a second look at Mc Caw's photo album.

Can find no mention of what base he was on. He does record photo locations when training back in Canada ….and Oversea's at #1 A.T.U. at Wigton and #20 O.T.U. at Lossiemouth …both in Scotland.

But when he arrived on OP's…no more mention in the album of which Sqn or which airfield. I can only assume he did that on purpose.

I guess the next step, now we have it narrowed down to 408 or 420 is to contact the Halifax group back in Ontario…and see if they recognize the nose markings.

In the meantime here he is with Sqn mates…Would that be a "Tilly"

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Dennis Cardy

In the meantime here he is with Sqn mates…Would that be a "Tilly"

Yes, a Hillman tilly

[Bryan L]

Dennis,
Apologies for reopening an old thread but i was going through the RAF related ones and wondered whether you got any further with this?
The final photo shows a Tilly belonging to a station of 100 group. The two Halifax photos show machines of 192 Squadron, with one of them being MZ817 "Pete the Penguin": https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/i...at=photographs


192 Squadron were very interesting; one of the first ELINT squadrons, they would fly with the bomber stream and monitor the different frequencies for new radar equipment being used by the Germans. They also mapped out the extent of German radar coverage.

EDIT: I Knew had a few random months of 192 Sqn's ORB somewhere on my hard drive. I can confirm that J. A. McCaw was in 192 Squadron, at least in October 1944: