Op Banner photos - some memories for the old and bold

[br9mp812]

my mate got pinged to provide fire cover for A/C moves after the bus bomb attack on the L I, as they got to the gate to drive to airstrip they were told you cannot go out unarmed so sent to pick up pistol and mag, get to gate stopped again weapon taken off them as not on weapon card, they pointed out they were going to cover a C130 full of troops landing so off they went, driving a BFO red airfield fire tender with Royal Air Force Fire Service in bold letters on the side

 

[greenbaggyskin]

Have to agree. Two of us did regular runs from Lisanelly Omagh to Sydenham circa 79 - 80 and only carried a browning 9mm shoved in our pockets with a single mag of 10 rounds.
Ridiculous when I think back.

ETA

And we always went via bomb alley Dungannon.

I used to put mine under my thigh. After a while you get used to it, to the point that you occasionally open the car door forgetting it's there, only to be sharply reminded as it clatters to the ground.

 

[Stonker]

Bit better than an SMG(+10 rounds) in a duffel bag.

@Bubbles_Barker will know the details much better than I, but in the killing to which I referred earlier, ISTR one or other of the ambushed vehicle's occupants had an SLR loaded, with a full mag, but it couldn't be got at, because it was stowed in a footwell, under a seat.

Driver having been fatally shot, car crashed at the junction, leaving passenger trapped by his feet, and unable to arm himself, whilst at same time taking multiple rounds to the body.

If memory serves, he managed to vacate the car, and struggled, bleeding heavily from multiple GSW, back up Whiterock Road, trying to reach the gate of McCrory Park base, about 300(?) metres away.

He was - as I recall the story, though I never saw a report on the incident - pulled into one or more doorways along the way (not that there were very many in that vicinity as I recall it) by locals thinking to succour a Brave Republican under attack by Tyrannical Brits, only then to spot the DPM trousers and army boots below the civvy top, at which discovery they promptly hoofed him back into the street for the 'RA to continue their very inefficient attempt at a double murder.

I believe he made it to the gate, and survived, unlike his oppo.

 

[Bubbles_Barker]

@Bubbles_Barker will know the details much better than I, but in the killing to which I referred earlier, ISTR one or other of the ambushed vehicle's occupants had an SLR loaded, with a full mag, but it couldn't be got at, because it was stowed in a footwell, under a seat.

Driver having been fatally shot, car crashed at the junction, leaving passenger trapped by his feet, and unable to arm himself, whilst at same time taking multiple rounds to the body.

If memory serves, he managed to vacate the car, and struggled, bleeding heavily from multiple GSW, back up Whiterock Road, trying to reach the gate of McCrory Park base, about 300(?) metres away.

He was - as I recall the story, though I never saw a report on the incident - pulled into one or more doorways along the way (not that there were very many in that vicinity as I recall it) by locals thinking to succour a Brave Republican under attack by Tyrannical Brits, only then to spot the DPM trousers and army boots below the civvy top, at which discovery they promptly hoofed him back into the street for the 'RA to continue their very inefficient attempt at a double murder.

I believe he made it to the gate, and survived, unlike his oppo.

He certainly was ‘called in’ to various doors as he staggered towards McRory Park but the irony was that when he got there they wouldn’t let him in at least at first, being a blood covered civvy etc.

Edited to add:

Who on earth thought that an SLR was a usable response weapon in a Mini?

That’s a real Mini BTW, not the 4x4 version that you see today.

 

[sonofgreenfinch]

3 R ANGLIAN in Oct '79. The other occupant of the car survived although badly wounded and was later my Coy Int Sgt - I've mentioned this elsewhere so won't repeat it all. @Kinch also has the details - the 'Lost Lives' version is accurate including the plates.

Just read it, Paul Wright

 

[sonofgreenfinch]

Here's a wider version of the FRU picture:

View attachment 370476

Bodie, Doyle and.....

 

[mcreature]

Have to agree. Two of us did regular runs from Lisanelly Omagh to Sydenham circa 79 - 80 and only carried a browning 9mm shoved in our pockets with a single mag of 10 rounds.
Ridiculous when I think back.

ETA

And we always went via bomb alley Dungannon.

S&W or Webley 38 with 5 rounds escort to monster driver, Bessbrook to Belfast for vehicle spares.I wasn't happy,but I was not about to argue with the grizzled QM C/Sgt. 1976 and I was still 19.
Kids pinged me as I sat in the car and monster was in getting the spares.
I think the driver had 9 mil---------- and 10 rounds(easy to count!)

 

[robroy]

He certainly was ‘called in’ to various doors as he staggered towards McRory Park but the irony was that when he got there they wouldn’t let him in at least at first, being a blood covered civvy etc.

Edited to add:

Who on earth thought that an SLR was a usable response weapon in a Mini?

That’s a real Mini BTW, not the 4x4 version that you see today.

I did hear a tale and knowing what went on in the very early 70's suspect it might be true, car stopped at the load/unload bay and the passenger produced a .30 Browning from behind the front seats(sad to say they were Cav).

 

[Rodney2q]

Have to agree. Two of us did regular runs from Lisanelly Omagh to Sydenham circa 79 - 80 and only carried a browning 9mm shoved in our pockets with a single mag of 10 rounds.
Ridiculous when I think back.

ETA

And we always went via bomb alley Dungannon.

In 1980 I was dicked on my day off (after a night shift) to go and pick up a Ford Transit from HQNI in Lisburn. Drove up from Drumadd Barracks in Armargh with one of the MT Pl drivers in a covert car. We signed for the van, the MT bloke said follow me back and jumped back in the car while I hopped in the transit. Both of us were armed with a 9mm and a full mag...

Driving back along the main street through Portadown the back doors on the transit came open and were swingiong about all over the place. I pulled over to close and lock them (before they caused an accident) and found myself standing in the main road, 9mm stuck down the waistband of my trousers wondering where the other car had gone - he hadn't seen me stop and had carried on.

I drove back on my own and was very glad to drive through the gate into Drumadd.

A good friend of mine used to do the covert stuff in the mid-80s and regularly drove round some very dodgy places on his own, armed with just a 9mm. I don't know how he did it - that one occaision was enough for me. I didn't mind going out mob handed and tooled up but I realised the sneaky beaky stuff was not for me...

 

[overopensights]

In 1980 I was dicked on my day off (after a night shift) to go and pick up a Ford Transit from HQNI in Lisburn. Drove up from Drumadd Barracks in Armargh with one of the MT Pl drivers in a covert car. We signed for the van, the MT bloke said follow me back and jumped back in the car while I hopped in the transit. Both of us were armed with a 9mm and a full mag...

Driving back along the main street through Portadown the back doors on the transit came open and were swingiong about all over the place. I pulled over to close and lock them (before they caused an accident) and found myself standing in the main road, 9mm stuck down the waistband of my trousers wondering where the other car had gone - he hadn't seen me stop and had carried on.

I drove back on my own and was very glad to drive through the gate into Drumadd.

A good friend of mine used to do the covert stuff in the mid-80s and regularly drove round some very dodgy places on his own, armed with just a 9mm. I don't know how he did it - that one occaision was enough for me. I didn't mind going out mob handed and tooled up but I realised the sneaky beaky stuff was not for me...

I traveled out of Armagh in a Mini, no escort veh, mainly on the Keady, Glenann, Newtowm Hamilton Bessbrook roads almost daily between 1975/76/77, To drive, I wore a 'Flashers Mac' (Combats underneath) and with an SMG under the coat across my lap, I felt that was the best option.
Once an SAS chap told me that he carried a pistol and an 83 Gren White phos, His theory was, that if you can't take them with the pistol because of numbers, then just 'fry the bastards.'

 

[Bubbles_Barker]

I traveled out of Armagh in a Mini, no escort veh, mainly on the Keady, Glenann, Newtowm Hamilton Bessbrook roads almost daily between 1975/76/77, To drive, I wore a 'Flashers Mac' (Combats underneath) and with an SMG under the coat across my lap, I felt that was the best option.
Once an SAS chap told me that he carried a pistol and an 83 Gren White phos, His theory was, that if you can't take them with the pistol because of numbers, then just 'fry the bastards.'

Good TTP - smoke was regularly carried in a lot of car bags, especially in rural areas.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

It was a mere forty years ago, but I seem to recall it was a fairly spontaneous event. The consensus was dogs and brews rather than weapons.

That long ago and you managed to get a Muslim woman into your group.Very inclusive .

 

[Stonker]

That long ago and you managed to get a Muslim woman into your group.Very inclusive .

Well spotted.

Even so, you missed the one that's clearly in the early stages of gender reassignment.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Well spotted.

Even so, you missed the one that's clearly in the early stages of gender reassignment.

There's just the one?

 

[ordinaryforces]

In 1980 I was dicked on my day off (after a night shift) to go and pick up a Ford Transit from HQNI in Lisburn. Drove up from Drumadd Barracks in Armargh with one of the MT Pl drivers in a covert car. We signed for the van, the MT bloke said follow me back and jumped back in the car while I hopped in the transit. Both of us were armed with a 9mm and a full mag...

Driving back along the main street through Portadown the back doors on the transit came open and were swingiong about all over the place. I pulled over to close and lock them (before they caused an accident) and found myself standing in the main road, 9mm stuck down the waistband of my trousers wondering where the other car had gone - he hadn't seen me stop and had carried on.

I drove back on my own and was very glad to drive through the gate into Drumadd.

A good friend of mine used to do the covert stuff in the mid-80s and regularly drove round some very dodgy places on his own, armed with just a 9mm. I don't know how he did it - that one occaision was enough for me. I didn't mind going out mob handed and tooled up but I realised the sneaky beaky stuff was not for me...

Rodders just out of curiosity, why were you going through portadown? when there was a perfectly servicable motorway from lisburn to Dungannon,
I cant remember any ban on us using the MI.

 

[Bubbles_Barker]

Well spotted.

Even so, you missed the one that's clearly in the early stages of gender reassignment.

Or was perhaps even female.........

 

[Stonker]

Or was perhaps even female.........

I leave it for others to determine in which direction the reassignment is heading . . .

 

[mad_mick]

Showing Spearhead on TV, like watching squaddies (Actors) in 1978 run around in lightweights, DMS and Puttees with SLRs with the cocking handle out in Pretend NI. This will float your boat. The radio voice procedure is close to correct, best we can expect for Infantry. Sunray minor out.
And with those flak jackets that made you moonwalk for about 30 seconds after you took them off after a patrol.

 

[AlienFTM]

Rodders just out of curiosity, why were you going through portadown? when there was a perfectly servicable motorway from lisburn to Dungannon,
I cant remember any ban on us using the MI.

I was met by a shuttle bus at Belfast docks to be taken via various locations including Lisburn to Omagh. February 1976.

I was astonished to find there was a motorway in NI, and on learning that it was "the M1", was exceedingly sceptical, cos any fuel no the M1 ran from London to Leeds.

 

[mad_mick]

A trip down memory lane............ don't anyone take offence. or do the maths.