A MODEL HISTORY OF ROYAL AIR FORCE VEHICLES

For the exhibition celebrating 90 years of the Gloster Aircraft Company and the centenary of the birth of Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle held at Gloucester Folk Museum from 30 June to 8 September 2007, a number of 1/72 Royal Air Force vehicles were chosen from the popular Ron Brooks collection to augment the display of Gloster aircraft of a similar scale. Thanks to the kind-co-operation of Folk Museum staff I had the chance to photograph these classic RAF vehicles in situ before the exhibition began.

The Bedford OX tractor had a six cylinder 72 bhp engine but was often substituted by a Commer Q2 towing vehicle. This model tractor and trailer combination was built from the Airfix RAF Recovery Set which also features two RAF motorcycle outriders and a Coles Mark 7 crane mounted on a Thorneycroft Amazon chassis, powered by a six cylinder 100 bhp engine. The crane could lift five tons at a maximum radius of 7'6" and served with the British Army as well as the RAF.

The Beaverette originated because the Standard Motor Company had around 500 12hp car chassis left over when civilian production ceased and The Air Ministry had a requirement for light armoured cars to defend Airfields. The Beaverette design was also easy to built with flat sheet armoured steel but these cars were only ever in service with the Home Guard and for RAF airfield protection.

The first Beaverettes were the most crude in design. The 12hp chassis was fitted with a 14bhp engine to propel the predicted weight of the machine and the Mark I is said to have carried oak planks to the rear extension because the armour did not reach that far back. Clearly Standard had a number of front wings also left over, and these were the only concessions made to what might be called "styling".

Apparently the Beaverette Mark II was steel plated to the rear extension as well, that being the only substantial difference from its predecessor. A Bren .303 machine gun was the usual armament and some Beaverettes carried a wireless set. The driver and gunner sat in an open cockpit, the driver having a horizontal slot to view the road and the gunner a vertical slot to fire through.

The Beaverettes Mark III and IV however were purpose-built. The 12 hp chassis was shortened to remove the rear overhang and the civilian-car-style tin wings were replaced with armoured steel. For the Mark III, a turret was added to the top of an enclosed cabin.

There were two types of turret. An enclosed one, which must have made the operation of the Bren machine gun, through a narrow slot, very difficult, if not impossible to fire, and an open turret, when a larger twin Vickers machine gun was fitted, so the gunner was exposed, but with more freedom to move.

It is this latter type of Beaverette Mark III that has been modelled here.

The Mark IV retained the enclosed roof and turret, but there was a redesign of the armour around the driver and navigators heads. Clearly this was designed to mean that the driver no longer had to lean forward to see out of his "slot" but his slot was also reduced in size". The navigator gained two smaller slots in a vee configuration, again designed to improve visibility.

The Matador chassis was also the basis for the standard RAF Crane and the shorter wheelbase two-axle dropside version of the AEC Matador was often teamed with a 5.5" field gun in British Army service. After the Second World War, many surplus AEC Matadors were converted for civilian bus recovery.

Behind the tail of the unique Trent Meteor is a Morris K6 chassis RAF fire engine from the Airfix Emergency Set. This model was boxed with the even more famous Morris K2 ambulance, used by many British wartime organisations and featured alongside John Mills, Sylvia Sims, Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews in the 1958 Associated British Picture "Ice Cold in Alex".