RAF Forward Air Observer

[Vanth]

I stripped and repainted this chap that got damaged moving houses, hope you like him.

[has.been]

Lovely work, but shouldn't there be a wire coming from the mike?
As he is on his own base I was half expecting  a bit of thread or
thin wire running down to the floor. Then you could just place him
next to his jeep, car etc.

[robh]

Lovely work, but shouldn't there be a wire coming from the mike?

It's the BBC "Top of the Pops" version.

Nice figure, lots of character.

[Abbner Home]

but shouldn't there be a wire coming from the mike?

RAF was using Gen0 Bluetooth starting in August '44.

[has.been]

It is not wire, but my chain you are pulling Abbner.

[dadlamassu]

My father did this chap's job in '44 and '45.  Very nice model,

Some points about his unit:  they had acquired Canadian battle dress which was slightly greener that the British khaki.  some of the Officers wore RAF rank slides on shoulder straps, all other badges were RAF pattern on RAF blue backgrounds.  Some units, including my father's. had been RAF Commandos and so had a Fairbairn-Sykes dagger and also the red on blue combined ops badge.


Also some of the troops (including dad) had a Lanchester carbine instead of a Sten gun.  My figures are based on my Dad's unit - one of the officers had distinctive red hair,  That us Dad in the helmet.  His unit is mentioned in the book "Sixty-four Days of a Normandy Summer" by Keith Jones.

[Vanth]

Lovely work, but shouldn't there be a wire coming from the mike?

That is actually a bloody good idea, going to add it stat!

[deephorse]

My father did this chap's job in '44 and '45.  Very nice model,

Some points about his unit:  they had acquired Canadian battle dress which was slightly greener that the British khaki.  some of the Officers wore RAF rank slides on shoulder straps, all other badges were RAF pattern on RAF blue backgrounds.  Some units, including my father's. had been RAF Commandos and so had a Fairbairn-Sykes dagger and also the red on blue combined ops badge.


Also some of the troops (including dad) had a Lanchester carbine instead of a Sten gun.  My figures are based on my Dad's unit - one of the officers had distinctive red hair,  That us Dad in the helmet.  His unit is mentioned in the book "Sixty-four Days of a Normandy Summer" by Keith Jones.

Some useful information there.  Thanks.

[dadlamassu]

If it helps:  The unit travelled in a "White Half Track" (probably an M-5)with RAF roundels on side and top.  It had a canvas canopy and raised rear body with a "chorehorse" generator in a bin on the back a Bren was mounted in the centre of the cab on a scraff mount and hip ring.  They also had an Austin 3-tonner for equipment.  In Normandy they "borrowed" a jeep repainted it with RAF paint, applied RAF roundels, a spurious RAF number and used it from then on.

The procedure was to identify the target, set the half track so that the Typhoons would see it on approach, lay out fluorescent coloured panels (orange, pink, yellow or green) in an arrow then as the Typhoons came in mark friendly positions if closer than 200 yards with one colour and the target with another.  Colours changed at least every day sometimes more frequently.  The FAC would "talk" the Typhoons onto the target.  The concussion of the 60lb rocket often killed or disabled the crew even it it missed. 

Crew was a driver, an officer FAC (who was usually a former pilot), an NCO (dad) as backup FAC and section commander, 4 RAF crew.  All armed with small arms - officer with pistol (Dad's officer had a Sten gun too), NCO (Sten though dad had a Lanchester carbine which I made from the rear of a Tommy gun and the front of a Sten) the others had rifles.  The vehicle also carried a Bren gun and a 2" or cut down 3" mortar for launching smoke bombs. 

I have seen RAF Regiment Armoured cars often wrongly identified as VCP (Visual Control Post) vehicles. 

For the OP EPSOM and OP GOODWOOD battles at least one Sherman tank was converted into a VCP.  The main 75mm gun was removed and replaced with a dummy weapon.  The interior converted to accommodate extra radios and maps.

From his notes:
"It was easy enough to get behind the Germans but difficult to get back as many of the Divisions shot first and challenged later, and I do not blame them.  I was more fortunate than most of the Group as I had seen quite a lot of action on special duties in France before D-Day in raiding parties but I was not prepared to witness the casualty count among the infantry and especially the Sherman and German tank crews.   Going up to the line in the second wave of an attack was something that I will never forget.  In particular, I remember seeing the burnt and charred remains of the Sherman and German tank crews.  The Sherman and German tanks seemed to burn out very quickly once they were hit.  There were dead cattle and horses everywhere.  We shot some of the animals that were badly injured.  The stench of the dead was overwhelming. 

On the morning of the EPSOM attack I had to crawl out into the open between the lines and lay out the orange panels in the shape of arrows to indicate the enemy positions.  I then crawled back to the half-track.  Now I called in the Typhoons.  They struck the enemy targets with a mix of 1,000 pounder bombs, rockets and cannon fire.  The advancing troops found four destroyed Panthers and two Tigers.  We saw other Tigers and some Mark Fours retreating.  As they did we saw some guns dug in deep cover.  The Typhoons that had ammo left went in again, this time with rockets and cannons only.  Three more tanks and the guns, 88’s as it turned out, were all destroyed.  All this happened in the few minutes before the tanks set off.

The Commanding Officer of the Northants Yeomanry came over and personally thanked us.  He reckoned we had saved at least one of his squadrons from being shot up if not wiped out.  As we passed through their position later we were given a bottle of whisky and quite a few bottles of beer.”

[vtsaogames]

Great info, thanks.

[Jemima Fawr]

Excellent info!  If I can add a little: the halftracks were often M14s, which were disarmed AA halftracks.  They were distinguished by having drop-down panels on the sides (like the very similar M16) and no rear door.  These were frequently used by the British Army as HQ vehicles, battery command and OP vehicles and as 17pdr gun-tractors.

The few I've seen photos of were marked much the same as RAF Regt Humber LRCs:
Small Red/White/Blue roundels on the front-left mudguard and centrally on the rear hull
Large Red/White/Blue roundels on the side-doors
Very large Red/White/Blue/Yellow roundel on the bonnet (the yellow ring was narrower than the other rings, but unlike aircraft roundels, the white ring was not narrowed - this type of roundel was only used on vehicles)
White stars (un-circled) on the hull sides and possibly somewhere on the front/rear
A circled white star on the tarpaulin covering the rear compartment
RAF registration number front and rear in the format 'RAF 123456', sometimes with the 'RAF' above the number
2nd TAF vehicles also sometimes had the wing number roughly painted/chalked on the front and/or sides and rear, for example TAF/84 for 84 Wing of 2nd TAF.