An unashamed plea for any info that people might be able to provide about this beach-gradient measuring equipment that seems to date either from the end of the Second World War or soon afterwards. (Full disclosure: the COPP Survey site is one I'm building.) More pics and background in the link: COPP Survey | Beach-gradient measuring equipment I'm especially interested in anything that might hint at when it was developed or by who.
Not strictly what you seek Rob. Yesterday in an article on the Falklands War forty years later there was this: The comment was by a then young diver who was: Link behind a pay wall: The Falklands’ deadliest day: ‘People were screaming and jumping into the water’ I think 17 P&M Regmt is still active and based at Marchwood. Might that offer a way into what you seek?
That first quote is very interesting – thank you! I think 17 P&M were more the logistics side (i.e. doing the unloading) but I'll look into it. I posted a similar appeal on another site frequented by commando types and learned that this very piece of equipment was in use up until the 1990s and even into the early 2000s, but with no hint as to when it may have been introduced. And also no hint what the 'mystery' item might be. Presumably they had more recent webbing on it by then, though!
I do like the style of your site, Rob. Conversational, detailed, nicely illustrated. Have you tried reaching out to the Royal Geographical Society, instrument collectors or similar? Appreciate it looks like V specialist military kit, but there's a whole other layer of people with an interest in beach profiles that the equipment's form could conceivably ring a bell for.
Could this group help: https://citizan.org.uk/ The 'About' starts with: On the basis that our "cousins" indulge in such work, might the answer lie in the USA? Plus, the advantage of less secrecy, a plethora of interest groups and FOI.
Thanks for the suggestions, chaps. That's a great idea about trying a few 'less connected' organisations - one that springs to mind now is the Hydrographic Office, which I think has quite an archive. Someone in the Commando Veterans Facebook group has posted photos of this actually being worn, taken in (possibly) the mid-1960s.
