RAF Bedford V-bomber crew bus

[tnuag]

Can anyone help with details of the interior, please.  In particular, the seating layout - I have conflicting photos.

Edited December 9, 2022 by tnuag

[cngaero]

If it's same bus that I'm thinking of, there's a short film from the Look at Life series showing occasionally on Talking Pictures TV called Fly with the  RAF. It's dated around the late 60's/early 70's. It goes through the then current inventory of aircraft such as the Phantom, VC10, Belfast and Nimrod, all back in the days when real aeroplanes all had underwing serials!

At the very begining, it follows some Phantom crews from their briefing and then transport out to their aircraft in a Bedford bus.

The interior seemed to have four rows of parallel bench type seats. Also, down the centre of the bus, was a number of lights which seemed to be fairly low and just above the passengers heads. This clip only runs for around a minute or so.

I hope this helps.

Hopefully someone will be along shortly with a lot more knowledge than me on the subject, who can give you a definitive answer.

You've made me a very happy boy by doing this bus and the Blue Steel vehicles. I can't wait to see them.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

[tnuag]

Thanks for this. Chris. I cannot find the film on line, so your comments are helpful. The conflict I have is that I have one photo of a v-bomber crew getting into a bus, and through the opem door and windows it appears to have five seats all facing inboard on the right side of the bus. The Mick Bell drawing agrees with your description.

 

Neil

[cngaero]

If you keep an eye on the channel Neil, it comes up on a fairly regular basis. Better still, if you go to their website and subscribe, you'll get regular emails with the following week's daily schedule.

It's the both best and worst thing I did. One of my passions in retirement is watching the old black and white British crime dramas and war films from the 1950's. It's amazing how much modelling time you can loose by watching these classics!!!

 

Chris 

[Dave Swindell]

22 hours ago, tnuag said:

I cannot find the film on line,

Not the film being discussed but I found another one whilst looking for it,Neil.

As we were discussing this afternoon, we thought 5 seats down the right-hand side facing left, photos like the one below is what pointed me to a seating arrangement that wasn't your standard rows of 2 +2 facing forward

 

THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, 1950-1969. © IWM (RAF-T 1008) IWM Non Commercial License

 

However, closer inspection of this photo (from a Victor crew scramble) after viewing the film I found show that there is a row of 5 seats facing left, but they're down the centre of the bus, and there's also a row of 5 seats facing right as well - the bus could carry 2 crews. The seating layout can be clearly seen in these two screen grabs from about 4 min into the film

 

 

 

The whole film is worth a watch, there's some interesting stuff to see if you're interested in 1960's Bomber Command (Yellow Sun loading on a SABT, Thor transporters etc)

The IWM sight isn't brilliantly catalogued but it's worth a trawl if you've got a bit of time and can't find what you want from a google search

You can find the film here: - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060013585

 

Edit:-

I'm sure there were versions of this bus with a standard seating arrangement for general airfield transport duties, but the V bomber scramble busses for both Victor and Vulcan (and I'd guess Valiant as well) were kitted out as above.

[cngaero]

What a great find Dave. Thank you for sharing it with us.

 

Chris.

[tnuag]

Thanks, Dave, this is a great help. I intend to continue designing with the lowest possible parts count per model - made simple with 3D printing production.

 

So in the case of the crew bus kit (excluding glazing) it will be:

Body

two each of three different wheels (front, rear outer & rear inner)

steering wheel

floor/chassis with v-bomber crew seats layout

floor/chassis with normal bus seats layout

door - open (folded)

door - closed (flat)

 

So, a dozen parts,plus glazing.

 

Thus a modeller has two options for the bus - V-force or general usage

[tnuag]

On 12/10/2022 at 8:49 PM, Dave Swindell said:

Not the film being discussed but I found another one whilst looking for it,Neil.

As we were discussing this afternoon, we thought 5 seats down the right-hand side facing left, photos like the one below is what pointed me to a seating arrangement that wasn't your standard rows of 2 +2 facing forward

 

THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, 1950-1969. © IWM (RAF-T 1008) IWM Non Commercial License

 

However, closer inspection of this photo (from a Victor crew scramble) after viewing the film I found show that there is a row of 5 seats facing left, but they're down the centre of the bus, and there's also a row of 5 seats facing right as well - the bus could carry 2 crews. The seating layout can be clearly seen in these two screen grabs from about 4 min into the film

 

 

 

The whole film is worth a watch, there's some interesting stuff to see if you're interested in 1960's Bomber Command (Yellow Sun loading on a SABT, Thor transporters etc)

The IWM sight isn't brilliantly catalogued but it's worth a trawl if you've got a bit of time and can't find what you want from a google search

You can find the film here: - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060013585

 

Edit:-

I'm sure there were versions of this bus with a standard seating arrangement for general airfield transport duties, but the V bomber scramble busses for both Victor and Vulcan (and I'd guess Valiant as well) were kitted out as above.

This is the best solution, but I cannot find a 'best solution' button.

[tnuag]

Design is now complete, and I will pass the files to the production guys to build a test model when the have time. Here are some screen shots:

 

Left front screen shot - door open

 

Left front screen shot

 

Right rear screen shot - body removed to show interior detail

[kev67]

They had one of these on Bangers and Cash, but I believe the seating was different, but could have changed over the years

 

[Dave Swindell]

40 minutes ago, kev67 said:

They had one of these on Bangers and Cash, but I believe the seating was different, but could have changed over the years

That's the one that is at Carlisle (Solway Aviation Museum, Crosby on Eden)

 

[kev67]

56 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

That's the one that is at Carlisle (Solway Aviation Museum, Crosby on Eden)

 

Good to see it went to a good home

[Circloy]

8 hours ago, kev67 said:

They had one of these on Bangers and Cash, but I believe the seating was different, but could have changed over the years

 

It had been in the hands of a Sheffield scout group for too many years who used it for transport to scout meetings (jamburee's ?)  & other outings, including a few abroad. It was thus fitted with forward facing seat at least during their ownership.

 

Like Triggers brush it had had at least 4 engines, numerous rear axles, ...