ColynB
03-07-07, 13:28
Hi. I think that we were (2nd Btn Scots Guards) probably one of the first units to be operational with 432s in germany around late 1966. We still had Saracens, and did the conversion.
I remember a couple of funnies with these machines. Driving through the streets of Iserlohn on driver training with a commander who had navigation problems. As you know the 432 has a 7 foot blind spot over the engine to the left. I was in the back and was jolted when the driver tried to keep left on a narrow road that we should not have been down. Looking out of the Mortar Hatch all I could see was flying Kerb Stones and flattened Street Signs!
On a Battalion review with the LtCol riding as Commander and giving the thoughtless command 'STOP!'. He ended up hanging on to the Headlamps!
On Soltau, at that time I smoked a pipe. Much easier. Bouncing along at full chat and being given the command 'DRIVER LEFT' to find that the left tiller wasn't responding. Sharp right into the trees! My pipe had fallen from the Gear Shift plate and dropped between the tiller and the floor plate!
Reversing into the garages without a commander and demolishing an FFR Landrover.
Lastly, moving in Convoy during a big exercise and apart from loosing track pads that missed passing vehicles. Some guy in a VW Beetle stopped to cheer the troops, at the same moment a 432 lost a track, veered off, misses the driver who managed to jump but disembowled his beetle.
Colyn
I remember a couple of funnies with these machines. Driving through the streets of Iserlohn on driver training with a commander who had navigation problems. As you know the 432 has a 7 foot blind spot over the engine to the left. I was in the back and was jolted when the driver tried to keep left on a narrow road that we should not have been down. Looking out of the Mortar Hatch all I could see was flying Kerb Stones and flattened Street Signs!
On a Battalion review with the LtCol riding as Commander and giving the thoughtless command 'STOP!'. He ended up hanging on to the Headlamps!
On Soltau, at that time I smoked a pipe. Much easier. Bouncing along at full chat and being given the command 'DRIVER LEFT' to find that the left tiller wasn't responding. Sharp right into the trees! My pipe had fallen from the Gear Shift plate and dropped between the tiller and the floor plate!
Reversing into the garages without a commander and demolishing an FFR Landrover.
Lastly, moving in Convoy during a big exercise and apart from loosing track pads that missed passing vehicles. Some guy in a VW Beetle stopped to cheer the troops, at the same moment a 432 lost a track, veered off, misses the driver who managed to jump but disembowled his beetle.
Colyn