Military with Bob Morrison
Bob Morrison gets up close and personal with an ex-fusiliers Series IIA Lightweight which saw action in Northern Ireland
This month the spotlight is on an ex-fusiliers Series IIA Lightweight which saw action in Northern Ireland
Next year, 2019, is generally regarded as being the 50th Anniversary of what we now know as the Lightweight entering service, although author and EMLRA stalwart Mark Cook has unearthed documentation which suggests a couple may have served from December 1968. What we know for sure, though, is that around 500 of the first production batch came off the line at Solihull during 1968, so there are probably now a few 50-year-old examples still around in civilian ownership.
The vehicle featured this month is possibly not quite 50 but, having entered service on January 1, 1969, according to its B Vehicle Data Card, it was manufactured in 1968 and is very close to its half century. Built under Contract No. WV7478 and registered as 35FG93 it was originally classified Early Series IIA Lightweights are recognisable by the headlights beside the T-shaped grille. Pioneer set, lights and reflectors and towing jaws are all authentic for a 1969 vehicle as a TRUCK GS ½ TON 4x4, though later in life it was recategorised as a TRUCK UTILITY ½ TON 4x4.
Owned for over eight years by Oliver Boyle, 35FG93 is a reasonably-authentic example of the first 1100 such vehicles to enter British Army and Royal Marines service, but over the decades some mechanical components have been replaced with civilian equivalents. As we will see, Oliver is gradually trying to return it to full 1969 military specification but externally it looks very representative of the type early in its service career.
Speaking last July, at the War & Peace Revival living history show in Kent, Oliver told me: “I’ve had it seven and a half years now. Mechanically-wise, I have not had to do a great deal to it at this stage. And bodywork-wise, all I have had to do is repair the Birmabright alloys and rebuild both footwells.”
Oliver said the engine has got to come out at some point to be rebuilt and the gearbox also has to be rebuilt, because both are very rattly. But as the engine is a 2286cc petrol civilian unit that has been shoehorned in at some point, the plan is to replace it with an authentic military unit when he finds a suitable one.
The front axle also needs to be rebuilt as it has an incorrect Series III unit. Oliver said: “I’ll need to either get a new diff cover for it and weld that in or, ideally, find a good Series IIA military axle to replace it. It would then be pretty much back to original specification.”
At present the Lightweight is running on ex-norwegian Army-issue Goodyear Hi-miler Trackgrip tyres with the studs taken out, courtesy of Vass Ltd, of Ampthill. These are 7.50x16 rather than 6.50, as they would originally have been, but Oliver says he is always on the look-out for these and is sure a good set will eventually turn up at some point.
“I have had difficulty replacing springs,” says Oliver. “Rear springs are still available through Britpart, Craddock’s have new old-stock (NOS) front nearside springs and Jones Springs do supply a re-made version for the front offside but it is not quite the right type for the SIIA military; the five helper springs being lower. I have what I believe to be the last Oem-matched pair, which I am hoping Jones Springs will be able to copy to then make available for the rest of the ex-military Land Rover community. That’s one of my ongoing projects for 2018.”
As should be obvious from the photos, 35FG93 has a new tilt. This came from specialists Undercover Covers of Birmingham, who Oliver says are very good: “Steve has always done us a stunning job and back-up service afterwards.” There are plans afoot to do a total respray and
“35FG93 is a example of the first 1100 vehicles to enter British Army service”
bring the Lightweight back to a gloss Deep Bronze Green all over, but some remedial work on the body is required first, such as the bolt holes on the wings where oversize washers are presently concealing half a century’s worth of corrosion.
Back in the 1990s, before the MOD went over to digital record keeping, Wally Duggan, curator at the former (and independently-run) Museum Of Army Transport in Beverley, East Yorkshire, started collecting and saving old B Vehicle Data Card records from destruction. To this end, historic British ex-military vehicles owners owe Wally an enormous debt of gratitude and, as a result of his devotion, the card for 35FG93 still exists.
From these records we can see that the Lightweight was received at CVD (Central Vehicle Depot) Ashchurch, in Gloucestershire, on January 1, 1969. Back then, New Year’s Day was not a Bank Holiday in England (though it was in Scotland) so it was business as usual at MOD establishments. It stayed in storage at Ashchurch until August that year, when it was issued to Supply Section RAOC (Royal Army Ordnance Corps, which is now part of the Royal Logistics Corps) at 3rd Infantry Brigade Workshops (Airportable).
One of three permanent brigades in Northern Ireland, the other two being based in Belfast and Londonderry, 3rd Infantry was responsible for much of the border area with the Irish Republic for the first 12 or so years of the period usually referred to as The Troubles. It would appear that Oliver’s Rover spent two years with the RAOC Workshops before being transferred in August 1971 to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
The records show that after spending a month with the 1st Battalion, known as the First Fusiliers, who were based in Belfast but about to redeploy to Gibraltar, the Lightweight was transferred to the 3rd Battalion. Today the RRF, which was formed with four Regular Army battalions in 1968, has been reduced to a single Regular and a single Reserves battalion and 3 RRF no longer exists. For five years, until September 1976, 35FG93 served with 3 RRF who, though home garrisoned in Colchester, undertook a number of tours in Ulster interspersed only by a short deployment to Cyprus following the July 1974 Turkish invasion of the north of the island.
The next, and last, entry on the data card shows receipt at the Ruddington disposal depot in September 1976 and what appears to be an Out of Service Date (OOD) of November 11 that year. There is nothing on the records to suggest why the vehicle had what appeared to be such a short service life, but my personal theory was that it was by that time surplus to requirements in the Province as threat levels had increased drastically and unarmoured Land Rovers were no longer suitable for patrol duties.
By the time of my first visit to Northern Ireland to photograph Land Rovers, in 1988, there were very few Lightweights still serving over the water and the only ones I spotted were later Series III models. Photographed at Kinnegar Barracks, at that time the main vehicle supply depot in the Province, these vehicles had been fitted with GRP Vehicle Protection Kits (VPK) to give a degree of protection to the occupants, but there are no bolt holes on Oliver’s vehicle to suggest it was converted like this.
Photos do exist of Series IIA Lightweights clad in VPK panels, most notably in Mark J Cook’s excellent reference book entitled Thehalf-tonmilitarylandrover, and there are also images in there of the SIIA in service with the Royal Marines early in The Troubles. First published in hardback in 2001 by Veloce Publishing and reprinted in 2010 in paperback, this superb source is now very difficult to find, but a few new copies are listed by US sellers on Amazon. I recommend it to anyone intending to display either an SIIA or SIII Lightweight at Land Rover and Living History events.