ROMEO RETURNS
Nick Percival
Nick is a self-confessed anorak and explains his strange obsession. In our last issue we carried an article by Robert Short, whose family car is an elderly RAFMR Land Rover, restored to its operational state. He is not alone....
The reasons behind my buying an ex-RAF MRS Land Rover go back some years before the vehicle was even built. As a teenager the end of my time at college was nearing and thoughts of a career were all too important and joining the RAF was at the top of the list. However, before I had managed to go too far down that path, the local constabulary advertised and I thought that I might as well have a go in case I didn't get anywhere with the RAF and I don't need to tell you about the pay comparison! I spent a day at the local headquarters in Bedford and left at the end of the day with a date for joining ‑ so much for a career with the RAF.
I retained an interest in many things aeronautical and for several years assisted the Air Cadets at RAF Henlow as a civilian instructor. Whilst doing this I acquired a Series 3 Land Rover which turned out to be ex-RAF, and have owned several since then, both military and civilian. In June 1997 I visited a friend who just happens to deal in Land Rovers and he had two Land Rover 110 station wagons sitting there that he had picked up from auction the previous day. They could best be described as being well past their best with dented panels, rotten doors and very dull paintwork. To a self-confessed anorak it was obvious that they were military and appeared to be ex‑RAF. As nice as they were the thirsty V8 engine under the bonnet got rid of any ideas I initially had about getting one.
I went home in my nice but boring diesel Land Rover and mentioned to my wife Julie about the two vehicles I had just been nosing around. Any of you out there who are married should appreciate how gob-smacked I was about to become. I knew we couldn't afford to run a V8 and had already dismissed the idea but Julie had other ideas. She actually persuaded me that we should at least consider trying to get one. Her reasoning was that as she was eight months pregnant, our existing three-seater Land Rover was no good for three and the dog, and who cared about the fuel consumption of a V8? Later that day we both returned to the yard and I had a chat with my friend who tossed me a set of keys and some trade plates. We checked over both vehicles, had a good drive, both on and off road, and I still remember vividly travelling at 50mph along a farm track with Julie driving, expecting her to give birth any moment. We left having arranged a straight swap of our Land Rover for the better of the two V8s.
I decided to delve into the vehicle’s past life. The military registration was 11 KJ 95 and it had a damn great letter 'R' on the back door. It had also at one time had an awful lot of stripes everywhere. Coming from Bedfordshire I had never come into contact with or even really heard of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service. Shortly before this I had negotiated with the MoD for members of a club to which I belong, the Ex‑Military Land Rover Association, to obtain military history details of their vehicles from the MoD records. The details duly arrived from the MoD and they showed that it had served at RAF Leeming from February 1990 to May 1997. By chance, that same day a friend of mine, Ritchie Parker, who was a supplier at that time at RAF Bruggen phoned me and I told him about the new Land Rover. He realised straight away what it was and
gave me the phone number of Pete Shaw who had recently left the RAF and joined the ambulance service in Yorkshire. It turned out that I had met Pete briefly whilst he was a carpenter at RAF Henlow but more importantly he had spent five years with the team at RAF Leeming. I phoned Pete that night and had a good long chat with him. God knows what he thought about receiving the call but he was very willing to chat and proved very helpful, even admitting to being responsible for the less than wonderful wiring on the blue lights and horns.
I had by this time decided that 'Romeo' as Pete had called her (or him?) should be returned to its former glory if possible and go to the various vehicle and military shows that we attended with our other vehicles. I wrote a letter to the team at RAF Leeming asking for help but didn't expect any reply. A few weeks later a reply came from Cpl Andy Maddison complete with a couple of photos of Romeo in service with them. Andy made the big mistake of asking that if I needed any further help to contact him. A few letters later and Andy had drawn full details of the radio fit, the centre cubby box and explained all sorts of odds and sods.
Over the next two or three years Romeo gradually took shape, and emptied my pockets. I found it impossible to find a second‑hand roofrack of the right type and eventually contacted Brownchurch Ltd, in October 2000, which had made the originals. The bad news was that the last one of that type had been made in 1986 and since then they had disposed of the jigs. The good news was that they were prepared to have a go at making one for what turned out to be a very reasonable price. Then came the same problem with the roofbox. Karrite could supply all of the fittings but had stopped making the Apollo pattern several years before. Oh well, it at least looked the part by this stage.
One of the shows we attend is the War and Peace show in Kent in July, which is the largest military vehicle show in the world. We took Romeo there in 2000 with unexpected results. Firstly I spotted an Apollo roofbox on a trader’s Ford Galaxy (I said I was an anorak!) and eventually persuaded him to part with it. It confused the hell out of him because he was there to sell badges and medals and not parts of his vehicle. The next day we took Romeo into the arena and the commentator mentioned the vehicle at some length. There aren't any mountains in Kent and a green and yellow Land Rover sticks out like a sore thumb at a military do. Having finished in the arena I drove back to our display stand where I was met by a fairly fit looking but obviously knackered young man who seemed keener than most on the vehicle. When he had got his breath back he introduced himself as Andy Booth and that he was a team member at RAF Leeming. He had heard the commentator whilst in another field some distance away, dumped his kid with his friend and legged it across the field to the arena just as I drove out the other side. He had then legged it back across the same field just in time to catch me. As a result of this Julie and I received an invite to visit the team and this we duly did on 10th November 2000. Andy met us at the main gate and took us to the MRT building where the team leader, 'Jimmy' Cletheroe had laid on a superb welcome. We spent most of the day there and various people helped us with a few detail improvements and corrections to the vehicle where I had got things wrong. A truly superb day made better by an invite back on the following Monday! Needless to say we accepted. On the Monday Andy took us over to the POL stores where we met Paul le Bon who has also been of help in restoring Romeo.
Since that visit Romeo has been completed externally and is now about as accurate as can be with the information I have. We are now starting to gather the internal equipment for the rear of the vehicle. This is where I really do need some help please. As I've already mentioned I come from the Home Counties, and the Chilterns don't count as mountains. I'm also a wee bit wary of heights and have never partaken in anything vaguely related to rock climbing and the like. I have taken countless photos of the equipment carried by the Land Rovers and have identified some of the manufacturers but I would welcome any help offered. I want the interior to look right visually without necessarily having the contents inside the various bags and boxes. It has taken me four years to get this far so I'm not in any great rush but obviously the sooner the better. I understand that the Leeming vehicles had a wooden equipment box on the floor in the rear
Robert Short’s LandRover fully restored - see last year’s issue for the story
and that some of these are still lurking about as tool boxes and such like. An original one would be wonderful but if anyone out there can sketch or photograph one and get the dimensions it would be greatly appreciated. Not only would help in locating bits and pieces be greatly appreciated but I am still looking for any photos of the vehicle in service. Any photos are of use even if it only shows part of the vehicle from behind a group of people. The one view that has eluded me so far is of the rear of the vehicle. I will gladly cover any reasonable costs incurred and I would return any photos by return of post. I would also like to know a bit (well actually as much as possible) about what Romeo did in service or what any of you did with him / her.
This vehicle and the ex-RAF Stafford Series 3 Control vehicle owned by my friend Rob Short (who coincidentally works for the Fire Service, or 'Trumptons' as they are known down here) create an awful lot of interest at shows even after four years on the show circuit. As far as I know they are the only ex-RAFMRS vehicles to be 'preserved' other than a vehicle at the RAF Millom museum. As for the future, I intend to keep Romeo for as long as possible and have no plans to dispose of her / him. It is my everyday vehicle and has now done 159000 miles, 65000 of those with Julie and me. I am however on the lookout for another ex-MRS Land Rover station wagon to replace our other Land Rover. I know of the whereabouts of the second one that my friend bought at auction. That one was 11 KJ 84 'Juliet' and has been 'civilianised' and lives in Northamptonshire. There are others about but they rarely appear for sale. Why do I have an interest in the RAF MRS and your vehicles? I haven't got the faintest idea. It certainly isn't the blue lights and sirens; I've had enough of those at work for the past 20 years. It might just be that very, very few people in the south know that the RAF MRS exists and even fewer know what they do.
That's why these vehicles create so much interest, I suppose.