REME - 002

Whilst at the Larkhill workshop on Sunday, I took the opportunity to get an update on the restoration work currently underway. At the moment attention is focused on refurbishing one of the Army's gate guardian 25-pounders ('paying the rent' as Keith put it). The gun is currently in several bits, the barrel and recoil mechanism having been removed, together with the wheels, shield and platform. The paintwork is in the process of being rubbed down ready for re-spraying, and various moving parts that had seized (such as platform handles and traveling steady) have been freed-up. The wheel-hubs also need to be stripped down, cleaned and lubricated before the gun can be painted and re-assembled. Once this gun has been finished and returned to the Army, work can recommence on the MKIII, which is currently gathering dust in the shed next door.

The MKIII has had some provisional work done to it, so it's in reasonable nick, but will require a full stripdown, renovation and repaint before it is ready for use at a Garrison event. One of the great advantages we have at Larkhill is the shed space available to us, which means all the guns and vehicles can be kept undercover. As such, once a gun like the MKIII has been cleaned up, it can be left for a few months without fear of it deteriorating in the way as a gun left exposed to the elements would.

The other restoration project currently on the books is a No.27 Ammunition Trailer (or limber as it is more usually called). These went out of service much sooner than the 25-pounder guns, and as such tend to be somewhat rarer. Whilst perhaps not as exciting as the guns, limbers are nonetheless a vital part of a WWII gun-set, and it will be very useful to have another one up and running. The limber currently under the knife at Larkhill has been stripped back to bare metal, and is in the process of having any areas that are too rusted to be repairable removed and replaced. There's a lot of surface area on a limber, so quite a bit of work still to do on this one, but hopefully it will be back in action sometime next year.