The Armed Forces of Malta inherited a lot of British military vehicles when the British Forces pulled out in 1970 and it continued to re-equip itself for many years through UK dealers, although the preference in recent years has been for Italian kit supplied on favourable terms through the Malta-Italy defence protocol. One of the more recent British trucks that I recall seeing was a Leyland-DAF T244 tipper in 2005. This Bedford TL is a contemporary model but with a civilian rather than military background. The gloss green finish wasn't typical of AFM vehicles but a number of Bedford MJs were delivered in this scheme (16-Nov-21).
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Tags: Bedford TL Armed Forces of Malta AFM
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This is a variation of an image published several years ago. Like the earlier version, it is incorrect in so far as the actual fire tenders had QLD (dropside) bodies, rather than the longer QLT (troop carrier) body depicted here. The following information was kindly provided by Graham Caldwell: “In March 1944, all existing fire fighting units were abolished and re-formed into Army Fire Companies (and subordinate Army First Class Fire Brigades) for combating fires ashore and in harbours to cover all three service needs. For example, 106th Firefighting Company (Captain, Lieutenant, warrant officer, a Free French liaison officer and small staff) controlled the 62nd and 63rd First Class Fire Brigades, each under a warrant officer. Each brigade operated four fire fighting appliances. These were Bedford QLD 3-ton 4x4 trucks converted for fire fighting (with white lettered ‘ARMY FIRE SERVICE’ on a red headboard), each towing a Dennis water pump trailer” (31-Jul-18).
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Tags: Bedford QLT Army Fire Service fire appliance
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Despite the label, this isn't an exact representation, but rather an amalgamation of features from various Army Fire Service Bedford RLHZ fire appliances. There is at least one detail still to be corrected - the slightly different locker arrangement that distinguished Army appliances from the Home Office 'Green Goddesses'. This particular vehicle is finished in the desert sand colour scheme for operation in hotter climates. Note also the later style radiator grille, which was unique on this body to the Army Fire Service. A similar vehicle has been modelled (with the original grille style) by Corgi in its Trackside range (08-Sep-13).
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Tags: Army Fire Service Bedford RLHZ Green Goddess
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I've previously done a couple of digital representations of these Army 'Green Goddess look-alikes' - but here's the real thing courtesy of Philip Kirk of the Kithead Trust (www.kitheadtrust.org.uk). This is a Plaxton archive photograph, digitally-coloured but otherwise unmodified. Plaxton was one several bodybuilders to receive substantial orders from the Home Office for this standard design of auxiliary fire tender in the 1950s, originally on the 4x2 Bedford S-Type chassis and later on the R-Type as illustrated. The later style grille with chrome surround was unique to vehicles supplied to the Army Fire Service and the Irish Auxilliary Fire Service (13-Dec-15).
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Tags: digitally-coloured Bedford RLHZ Plaxton Army Fire Service fire engine Green Goddess
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The first forward-control Landrovers - built on Series II and later Series III 109" wheelbase chassis - were more stylish than the later and more angular 101FC. They sold mainly to fire brigades and utility companies, with little interest at that stage from the military, except for several batches of fire appliances for the Army Fire Service. Thanks to Ron Henderson for the original monochrome view (26-Mar-17).
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Tags: digitally-coloured Land Rover FT6 fire appliance Army Fire Service Carmichael Redwing
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