Ted A

just for info Gents. -Whilst Sky looks v similar to duck egg green various Air Ministry Orders refer to duck egg blue in brackets sky. This is as early as 1940. By 1942 A.M.O.664/42 details Sky. Azure Blue or Lt Mediterrranean Blue for the underside of day fighters and bombers in the desert.

Cyprus 1970 to 73 white RAF. Army were gloss deep bronze green.

I am pretty sure the Bedford RL is all yellow, photography was difficult back then especially with glaring sunshine and the light coloured concrete. As to the honey wagon it had a chequer plate body roof and roller shutter panels i think they were all natural metal, as for the remainder of the vehicle i think it was also golden yellow. Who can argue if you get it wrong ??

The Condec hasnt really changed in layout. If you google there are some images. Ted

A couple of vehicles i didnt mention : the box shaped vehicle on the forward starboard door will be an elevating body on a KARRIER Gamecock later Bedford S. and later other Bedfords. Forward of the starboard engine appears to be another specialist body with an elevator loading the galley trollies. Returning to the Bedford water tanker, the RAF also employed the Bedford S in this role. The tank configuration was not the same as the example in Kingsmans picture. It was very simi!ar to the tank on the QL airfix kit i.e. with the square sided pump / filtration compartment. Ted.

The tanker is indeed a Bedford R L, Its a 600gal drinking water tanker to fi!l the aircraft galley supply tanks. The smaller vehicle to it's right is the truck that empties the on board sewerage tanks referred to as the honey wagon. This one is a Karrier either a bantam or gamecock- i will have to diginto my files. The gpu was the Houchin 60kva. The vehicle unloading or loading the frieght pallet is known as a Condec. The equipment behind the tractor is a mk 7 air cooling trolley via a very large dia hose it supplies cooled air into the fuselage. Of the 2 types of tanker posted by pete only one is an aircraft refueller this is the one with the enclosure behind the cab. The other is purely a bulk tanker .I joined 1964 nothing remained in ww2 colours. I never saw any R.A.F. Q.Ls still in service. In the attached which i am sure is Akrotiri everything looks overall yellow except the honey wagon. I was at Akrotiri 1970 -73 then again in 74 and they were way ahead in painting mt and gse in overall yellow. Most passenger scheduled flights to and from Akr at that time were still Brittania, VC10s were not on the routine trooping runs.

Location dependent is spot on. Both in terms of the Station/Unit's role plus rules imposed by the host nation overseas. During my 39 years service, ground support equipment (gse) and later MT were my bread and butter. Tone down first started when 38 grp controlled our tactical response force. Later in the early 1970s matt green bs 381 tint 285 was introduced in RAF Germany with a gloss yellow painted band. All other units remained with bs 381 tint 169 traffic blue for ground equipment and tint 633 RAF blue grey for MT vehicles.For some years a program to paint upper surfaces of gse gloss yellow had been running. Concurrent there was a scheme for gse to be painted overall yellow. Turning to mt some vehicles whose use was primarily on airfield also had the yellow cab roof. Some went all over yellow. Progress with both schemes was often governed by paint shop facilities or the lack there of ! Plus aircraft surface finish tasks always took priority. By 1974 the tonedown was extended to Strike Commad in UK. In 1983 i went to an overseas unit where not a drop of matt green was to be seen. Although Wideawake is on UK soil USA rules apply as they run the overall facility. My advice is : find as many colour shots of the location / period you are modelling and see the evidence . In 1995 I passed through Wideawake there was much yellow in evidence.

I cannot post photos, if you message me your email address i will scan the picture and send it to you. If you can you could then ost it on the thread

Bart Vanderveens kaleidoscope of bedford and vauxhall military vehicles page 27 shows the rear of an ox and the recess in the floor for the wheel along with 2 retaining vertical straps which go from the top of the sideboard to a anchor points on the floor one of these anchor points is visible.

Ferrets served in Germany well into the 1990s, with many serving in gulf war 1.

You say after 1941 the K3 3 tonner was developed, not so, the initial K3 had an open cab and dual rear wheels and was in service in 1939. The majority were lost in France.Subsequently it was militarised with single rears and closed cab. The K 2 was also in service with the BEF in the guise of the ambo. The K2 cargo appeared to have been confined to the RAF. Its body was slightly higher than the K30 and had a unique stowage for the tilt frame.

Cannot find any ref to traffic yellow in amo s or dci which superceded amo s. White used in far and middle east on cab and some body roofs to reflect heat

There are colour photos of the mk 1 om the IWM website. My best guess is deep bronze green bs 381c 224 possibly semi gloss. Looking at black and white photos the transporter trailer is much darker than its towing land rover.

Bs 381c 169 traffic blue was the colour for ground support equipment ie GPU s weapon handling and loading equip etc etc . MT vehicles were bs 381c 633 RAF blue grey.

Well done .