I WAS one of the original apprentices of Leyland Motors Limited to have been transferred to the Ministry of Supply (MoS) factory in about 1952/3.

It was a huge open workshop, devoid of any machinery, but being equipped with machinery by German workers -- I never saw anybody work so hard.

I was sent to work in the research/mocking up/prototype department, which was a sectioned-off portion of the Tool Room, (adjacent to the drawing office and canteen). There we had a mix of all trades producing development wooden mock-ups and real working prototypes.

Doc Ball kept 'order in the house'. I was the only apprentice there and I loved it. I cannot recall a more interesting job before or since.

Jack Smith (Smudge), Art Hudson, George Dacey and the body builder/Pattern makers produced quite a few secret bits of Centurion and other types of tanks -- to my entire fascination -- and I did a few bits too. However, without a doubt, our biggest and best creation was called the FV1200. This was a truly enormous recovery vehicle (not to be confused with the 'Elephant' produced later). The whole vehicle was full of innovation, and we assembled it in that workshop from parts in the factory or supplied by the MoS.

The real point of all this tale is what happened to this vehicle?

Lots of photographs were taken of all its parts, and its final form, prior to its disappearance to FVRDE the MoS test facility. I can only presume that LML did not get a contract to produce them and so it disappeared, but where to?

The Thorneycroft 'Mighty Antar' appeared about that time, so maybe their vehicle got the job. I bet it wasn't as good as ours!

Can anybody tell me where I can find any of these photographs or information about the vehicle please?

Colin Thirlwall, Isle of Man.