Thank you all for your encouraging comments. I'm quite dyslexic & writing articles takes a while to distil into something readable, this article developed into this over a number of years. Even so little snippets surface all the time, two days ago I stumbled on the FVRDE Design Specs for the two types of Land Rover used with Blue Water, one was a control vehicle & the other a test vehicle, yet glancing at the picture one might assume there was just a Station Wagon with kit thrown in the back.
The greatest time is in the research & getting images. I've posted the link onto some Land Rover sites but the greatest fascination there seems to be the various number plates used.
Bonnex that is an interesting picture of the Land Rover, it looks similar to the RARDE concept for Quickfire. Have you got any more info on what it was firing or even the date?
Ammotechxt nice to talk with someone who served with Vigilant & other GWs. It’s always interesting hearing experiences from all sides. I have spoken with Val Cockle who rejected Vigilant twice & the have had the take on things from someone on the sales team. Same with Malkara spoken to lots of users ex Cyclops 2 RTR & Para Sqn RAC but also BAE people who went on the trials. Things you hear that the separation sight was jinxed & you got static shock off the separation sight, yet the BAE man said it was just that the sight got so damn hot in the desert you couldn’t touch it & they could detect no static problems.
If you are allowed to say, so where & how where the Vigilants disposed of? Just destroyed or just fired off for fun as it were like the Malkaras up in the Hebrides?
I was always surprised that we bought SS11 as I would have thought keeping controllers trained & proficient at guiding them in the heat of battle with acceleration control was likely to be less successful than Vigilant with velocity control.
TRIGAT yes I remember taking part in “ATGWs – An Introduction” a SSVC film for the RAC in 1995 & there was an interview with a boffin for TRIGAT & stating it was due to go in service in 2006.
Did you have any experience with ENTAC? On the ENTAC thread I posted that it was also trialled (or perhaps tried), with the British Army. I was expecting someone to say no, they have never heard that. Well some years ago I was allowed to scavenge some scrap items from Netheravon. There was an arm from a Hornet, a cutaway Malkara, Swingfire & Vigilant. A Vigilant bin & a very rare Clevite one. Also an ENTAC nose, carry box, & launch box and a box for SS11. Even the wooden nose & wing for a Sagger. So all sorts of things had been trialled up there!
As for Shorlands do you have any pictures? I see that mine was issued to 5 UDR after it was removed from Police service in 1970. When the new ones were issued to 5 UDR there were 4 Shorlands initially, but from my records I see that 15 Mk 3 Shorlands at varioustimes passed through 5 UDR.
Interestingly the Vigilant Shorland demonstrated at the Paris Air Show in 1967 was an RUC one with the special turret dropped on. This is why one RUC Shorland continued in service still with the extended boot - to carry 3 spare missiles!
Thank you all for your encouraging comments. I'm quite dyslexic & writing articles takes a while to distil into something readable, this article developed into this over a number of years. Even so little snippets surface all the time, two days ago I stumbled on the FVRDE Design Specs for the two types of Land Rover used with Blue Water, one was a control vehicle & the other a test vehicle, yet glancing at the picture one might assume there was just a Station Wagon with kit thrown in the back.
The greatest time is in the research & getting images. I've posted the link onto some Land Rover sites but the greatest fascination there seems to be the various number plates used.
Bonnex that is an interesting picture of the Land Rover, it looks similar to the RARDE concept for Quickfire. Have you got any more info on what it was firing or even the date?
Ammotechxt nice to talk with someone who served with Vigilant & other GWs. It’s always interesting hearing experiences from all sides. I have spoken with Val Cockle who rejected Vigilant twice & the have had the take on things from someone on the sales team. Same with Malkara spoken to lots of users ex Cyclops 2 RTR & Para Sqn RAC but also BAE people who went on the trials. Things you hear that the separation sight was jinxed & you got static shock off the separation sight, yet the BAE man said it was just that the sight got so damn hot in the desert you couldn’t touch it & they could detect no static problems.
If you are allowed to say, so where & how where the Vigilants disposed of? Just destroyed or just fired off for fun as it were like the Malkaras up in the Hebrides?
I was always surprised that we bought SS11 as I would have thought keeping controllers trained & proficient at guiding them in the heat of battle with acceleration control was likely to be less successful than Vigilant with velocity control.
TRIGAT yes I remember taking part in “ATGWs – An Introduction” a SSVC film for the RAC in 1995 & there was an interview with a boffin for TRIGAT & stating it was due to go in service in 2006.
Did you have any experience with ENTAC? On the ENTAC thread I posted that it was also trialled (or perhaps tried), with the British Army. I was expecting someone to say no, they have never heard that. Well some years ago I was allowed to scavenge some scrap items from Netheravon. There was an arm from a Hornet, a cutaway Malkara, Swingfire & Vigilant. A Vigilant bin & a very rare Clevite one. Also an ENTAC nose, carry box, & launch box and a box for SS11. Even the wooden nose & wing for a Sagger. So all sorts of things had been trialled up there!
As for Shorlands do you have any pictures? I see that mine was issued to 5 UDR after it was removed from Police service in 1970. When the new ones were issued to 5 UDR there were 4 Shorlands initially, but from my records I see that 15 Mk 3 Shorlands at varioustimes passed through 5 UDR.
Interestingly the Vigilant Shorland demonstrated at the Paris Air Show in 1967 was an RUC one with the special turret dropped on. This is why one RUC Shorland continued in service still with the extended boot - to carry 3 spare missiles!
Thank you all for your encouraging comments. I'm quite dyslexic & writing articles takes a while to distil into something readable. But the greatest time is in the research & manipulating images. I've posted the link onto some Land Rover sites