11th Hussars 1940

[10thMountain]

Hello,
     What was the composition of the 11th Hussars in 1940?
Thank you

[Jemima Fawr]

I've got the organisation at home somewhere, but essentially they were equipped with Rolls Royce Armoured Cars of the later pattern with an open-topped D-shaped turret, armed with Boys ATR and Bren.  Squadron command cars were Morris CS9s with the same turret. 

A fourth ('D') squadron was added in September 1940 simply by attaching two Sections (6x armoured cars per Section) of No.2 Armoured Car Company RAF, which was normally responsible for deep security around RAF Air Landing Grounds in the Western Desert.  'D' Squadron was therefore equipped with the older pattern of the Rolls Royce Armoured Car used by the RAF, with a fully-enclosed turret mounting a water-cooled Vickers MG.  The entire top of the turret of each car was painted as a bloody great red/white/blue roundel.  These cars were invariably supplemented with twin Vickers 'K' Guns on AA mounts at the turret rear.  The RAF armoured cars were supported by Morris Tenders, which were softskinned trucks armed with twin Vickers 'K' Guns mounted on Scarfe Rings salvaged from old aircraft.

[Poiter50]

Ironic that the AA was using .303 MGs when the aircraft attacking them had 50 cals or 20mm Cannon. Any pics of those tenders?

I've got the organisation at home somewhere, but essentially they were equipped with Rolls Royce Armoured Cars of the later pattern with an open-topped D-shaped turret, armed with Boys ATR and Bren.  Squadron command cars were Morris CS9s with the same turret. 

A fourth ('D') squadron was added in September 1940 simply by attaching two Sections (6x armoured cars per Section) of No.2 Armoured Car Company RAF, which was normally responsible for deep security around RAF Air Landing Grounds in the Western Desert.  'D' Squadron was therefore equipped with the older pattern of the Rolls Royce Armoured Car used by the RAF, with a fully-enclosed turret mounting a water-cooled Vickers MG.  The entire top of the turret of each car was painted as a bloody great red/white/blue roundel.  These cars were invariably supplemented with twin Vickers 'K' Guns on AA mounts at the turret rear.  The RAF armoured cars were supported by Morris Tenders, which were softskinned trucks armed with twin Vickers 'K' Guns mounted on Scarfe Rings salvaged from old aircraft.

[Jemima Fawr]

Ironic that the AA was using .303 MGs when the aircraft attacking them had 50 cals or 20mm Cannon. Any pics of those tenders?

Yeah, it was purely because they were salvaged from obsolete and unserviceable aircraft lying around the Middle East (Audax, Wapiti, DH.9, etc).

Yes, there are some photos around, I'll see what I can find.

[Poiter50]

 

Yeah, it was purely because they were salvaged from obsolete and unserviceable aircraft lying around the Middle East (Audax, Wapiti, DH.9, etc).

Yes, there are some photos around, I'll see what I can find.

[Etranger]

You may find this handy - the War Diary for the period http://www.warlinks.com/armour/11_hussars/11huss_40.php & a nice collection of pictures here https://www.o5m6.de/western/ArmCars.php#ac_morris Given the subjects, the CS9's and RR ACs have to be from the Hussars. Mark may have more luck with the trucks.

[Etranger]

Some prewar pictures of RAF tenders in the Middle East:





from https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235052137-rolls-royce-armoured-car/ where it's stated that the tenders are on RR chassis.



Another (or perhaps the same) one. Some comments below.

Out of interest the wheels and the radiator look very much like a Rolls Royce. Also this type of vehicles was built for the RAF in 1938 on a Fordson 79, 30 cwt 4x2, of 1937 vintage and were known as Fordson Armed Tender Type F.

from http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4991&page=8



As to what these are, it's anyones guess from the pciture, but they seem to have Scarfe rings with Lewis guns attached behind the drivers seat. They probably belong to the Arab Legion. From https://hmvf.co.uk/topic/23692-inter-war-photographs-of-various-military-vehicles-together-in-the-middle-east/

[Poiter50]

Thank you.

You may find this handy - the War Diary for the period http://www.warlinks.com/armour/11_hussars/11huss_40.php & a nice collection of pictures here https://www.o5m6.de/western/ArmCars.php#ac_morris Given the subjects, the CS9's and RR ACs have to be from the Hussars. Mark may have more luck with the trucks.

[Etranger]

I enjoy perusing the more obscure corners of the web!



This is the Fordson described above, called here a Wireless Tender, but again with the Scarf ring. From https://hmvf.co.uk/topic/25870-fordson-wireless-tender/

[10thMountain]

Thank you. No Vickers light tanks yet?

[Poiter50]

Vickers Light Tanks were in Armoured Brigades not recce units at this stage of the war.

Thank you. No Vickers light tanks yet?

[Jemima Fawr]

Them's the fellas! 

Yes, I forgot that there were a variety of tenders from Rolls Royce to Fordson, Ford, Commer and Morris (Ian Fletcher's book only mentions the Morris), but they all had the same pattern of bodywork, with a Scarfe Ring above the left-side passenger seat.  Most of the pictures there seem to be pre-war or pre-Egypt, but there's a sequence of photos somewhere, showing the 'D' Sqn (i.e. RAF) cars in Egypt, all lined up and sporting twin Vickers 'K' Guns on a Scarfe Ring mount atop of the turret.  The crews all wear RAF grey-blue SD caps or forage-caps with KD uniforms.  One vehicle has a small triangular pennant on the radiator cap and all the turrets sport square signal-flags quartered white and a darker colour.

Note that these were all sporting pneumatic tyres rather than the solid rubber tyres of earlier times and in fact, the RAF armoured cars had their chassis changed to Ford Commercial chassis in early 1940, so were Rolls Royce cars only in terms of the bodywork (this was very common East of Suez, with Chevrolet chassis also being used to upgrade Rolls Royce and Crossley armoured cars).

As Poiter says, the 11th Hussars were exclusively an armoured car unit right throughout WW2.  The 7th & 8th Hussars were in Egypt with light tanks at that time though.