Land Rover GS Series 2 

The long wheelbase Land Rover is widely used by the Army in numerous roles. This is the basic cargo version used in some workshops and REME training units. Some have been adapted to carry mobile welding plant, others test equipment, while some have even been modified as light recovery vehicles. The first Land Rovers appeared in 1948

4x4 CT Austin Champ 

This vehicle is one of the standardised range of ‘combat' vehicles introduced in the 1950s and was intended to replace the wartime US built Jeep. It was used as a general purpose personnel and stores carrier in front line workshops, one being the personal vehicle of the officer commanding. The Champs remained in service from the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s but were always expensive to maintain and were uneconomical in their use of fuel. They were eventually replaced by the cheaper but adequate Land Rover.

The Champs used the smallest of a range of Rolls Royce designed standard engines.

The next size up from the Austin Champ in the range of ‘combat' trucks was the Humber 1 ton series. These were designed to carry one infantry section or equivalent, or one ton of stores. Various special versions appeared, one being an open armoured truck with a canvas canopy. The production version was completely armoured and was considered suitable for use as a front line ambulance, fitters vehicle or command post in some armoured units. Many special variants of the Pig were designed for use in Northern Ireland, the main external modification being a heavy grille at the front to remove barricades. 

In the early 1990s the Humber Pigs were replaced by Saxon wheeled APCs.

The Saxon Armoured Recovery Vehicle 

The vehicle has an armoured hull with four wheels and a front mounted Bedford diesel engine. The rear doors give access. Over 500 Saxons of various types were ordered for the British Army.

The Bison MRV

Bedford RL 

REME used various special versions of the Bedford RL and some cargo versions for domestic use.

Truck 3 ton 4 x 4 GS Machinery M Bedford QL 

The Type M was a general engineering workshop with a lathe, grinder, pillar drill and miscellaneous hand tools. Most carried gas welding equipment. Some were self contained with a small generator to produce current for the machinery but others depended on an external power source. The machinery Type M body on various surviving chassis was eventually supplanted by the Bedford RL. Some smaller REME units were allocated machinery trailers instead.

3 ton 4 x 4 GS Commer Q4 

Among the longest living of the Commer workshop trucks was the Telecommunications Repair variant, some being used into the late 1980s or later.

Truck 3 ton 6 x 4 Breakdown Gantry Austin K6 

By the late 1930s the Engineering Branch of the RAOC was equally involved in vehicle recovery and favoured, as its medium recovery vehicle, one of the then standardised 3 ton 6 x 4 trucks fitted with a gantry body and chassis winch. 

This vehicle is painted in the desert sand camouflage colour used on British Army vehicles in the Middle East, North Africa and Cyprus from the 1940s to the 1960s.

This 10 Tonne Truck used to house a Lathe and Work Benches

Wheeled Recovery Vehicle CL 6 x 4 Scammell EKA 

The EKA Company of Sweden pioneered an ingenious recovery vehicle system based upon the idea of the fork lift truck. The system used a hydraulically powered lifting boom which could slide under the front or rear of a damaged vehicle, lifting it clear of the ground before towing it away. Another unusual feature of this system was that the main recovery winch was fitted into the body of the recovery equipment, rather than the vehicle chassis. This allowed EKA bodies to be attached to any suitable chassis with minimal modification.

 Introduced originally in the late 1970s. 

Some Scammell EKAs remain in service.

6x6 Foden recovery Vehicle

4x4 Volvo Recovery Vehicle

AEC Militant Mk 3 Medium Recovery 6x6 

The AEC was in service from the 70's through to the late 90's and was used by REME regiments for repair and recovery duties.

The Alvis Stalwart 

This vehicle began in the late 1950s. It utilised the cross country mobility of its Saladin armoured car, and the load carrying capacity of its Saracen APC. As developed, the vehicle was capable of carrying 5 tons of cargo over very rough ground and could also traverse rivers and lakes using its inbuilt Dowty water jet propulsion system.

Disposed of during the 1980/90’s

Armoured Recovery Vehicle.

The Centurion Armoured Recovery Vehicle

 The Centurion tank came into service in late 1945. Early versions of the gun tank were converted to simple recovery tugs when the better armed Mark 3 was introduced. The tugs were themselves then used as the basis for the REME built Centurion ARV Mark 1. These were rushed into production during the Korean War (1950 to 1953). In the meantime the Ministry of Supply and the War Office were slowly developing the official ARV version of the Centurion which became the Mark 2 and was introduced, after extensive trials, in 1956. By the early 1960s most Mark 1 ARVs had been replaced. Some Mark 2s survived in service into the early 1990s.

Chieftain Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle

After a long development period the Chieftain tank began to replace the Centurion in the late 1960s. The Chieftain is fitted with a dual capstan winch, in which the stresses are taken by a drum with only one winding of cable, to prevent it being crushed. A secondary drum stores the cable. A second low capacity winch is also fitted and can be used to haul out the main winch cable to speed up recovery work.Chieftain ARRVs remained in use well into the 1990s.

The Half Tracked forward Repair Vehicle

Sherman Tank Recovery Vehicle 

The earliest British adaptation of the US Sherman tank was the ARV Mark 1 which consisted of a turretless tank fitted with lifting and towing equipment but no winch. The next British version, the Mark 2, had a dummy turret and gun, but the turret was a fixed housing for a winch which fed to the rear. A hinged spade anchor at the rear provided stability when winching. 

Trailer Dummy Axle 

These trailers were developed in the 1960s in an effort to provide a method of recovering vehicles by means of a suspended tow. This photo shows the heavier duty trailer (10 to 30 tonnes) was intended for loads of 10 tonnes and incorporated a small diesel engine to power a hydraulic system for raising the jib and operating the winch.