Scammell "Snow White."

Hi

Thanks for your reply. I haven't applied for his service records as yet, I think my mum has to do this as she's next of kin?
I'll speak to her soon and try to find out his actual unit. All i know at the moment is he served in North Africa and also retreated from Dunkirk, but the crew took a different route home as they didn't want to lose their vehicle!

Many thanks again, be back soon!

 

Named 'Snow White' because there was a crew of seven on board! Therefore Snow White and the 7 dwarfs!

Two transporters were sent to france with the expeditionary force, one remained after the retreat from Dunkirk. Snow White was brought back to England because her crew were not prepared to leave her, they were stranded in a small town in Northern France because all the roads to Dunkirk and Cherbourg etc were blocked, So the crew took her south to a small town on a river (name uknown) which had a port. There was a cargo boat in the dock waiting to take refugees to England.
The crew asked for passage with Snow White, the captain of the cargo ship agreed but stipulated that Snow White and the tank she had loaded on board would have to remain on quayside because there was no way of getting her onboard or she would have to be dismantled and very quickly!
This was done with the Tank being left behind, the crew and transporter 'Snow White' were brought back safely to England.
To dismantle Snow White and load her on a small cargo vessel was a task in its self and would probably have involved assistance from the refugees that were onboard.

After a period of leave, troops were sent to Egypt with the 8th Army, Snow White in good order and with another transporter went with them.
Snow White was part of REME 7th Armoured Division 8th Army. Snow White and its crew were involved in the recovery of allied and german tanks. Tanks that had been disabled often had the remains of their crews still inside which had to be removed by the recovery crew before the tanks could be repaired.

Snow White and the Dwarfs were lost in the desert for a period of three days and were discovered/rescued by a forward recon special forces patrol who escorted them back to their lines.

One private soldier was the main driver of Snow White for the whole of the war, the only one who could keep her going! She was very temperamental.. it is not known by the writer if the original crew kept together throughout the war or indeed even survived.
But the driver did survive and returned home after the war, His name was Harry 'Dusty' Miller who passed away on the 4th August 1970, My Grandfather.

Snow White cam ehome and finisshed her days with a road building company believed to be Tilbury Erat, Towing road laying tar vehicles and tools etc.

The above was written by Hazel Miller widow of Harry Miller.

This is all the info my family has on Snow White. I hope it is of interest...

 

Great information. Thank you for posting it. Would you happen to know the WD census number by any chance?

Cheers
Kevin

 

Many thanks for that, I've always been intrigued by Snow White's story and that pretty much lays the whole thing nicely to bed!

 

Bim

Thanks for this fascinating new information. I have been investigating which unit had these transporters in France and my initial thoughts are that it was the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, GHQ Troops Workshop. I would be keen to hear what unit your grandfather was in when he served in France with Snow White.

Is your earlier post taken from some handwritten notes of your grandmother?

Regards

Andrew

 

Hi

Thanks for your replys, Yes the post was written up by me from my Nans had written notes..
Kevin T - Unsure what you mean by WD cenus number?

Simon.

 

Wow! What a result for this thread.
Fascinating story Simon, you must get a copy of 'Dusty's service record to fill in the full details. With information from the service record members here will be able to search unit diaries etc.

 

Did a bit of searching and the 'ERAT' you mention Simon appears to be EARAT (East Anglia Roadstone and Transportation Company), now absorbed into the Interserve Group.
From HMVF and Classicmachinery.net it appears EARAT had several (possibly ex-military) Scammells and one or two might still be about. As I am not a member of either site mentioned I can't view any of the pictures posted there. Snow White would probably have been repainted when with EARAT and lost her name but if serial numbers can be found it might be possible to trace her post-service life.

 

Hi

Thanks for your replys, Yes the post was written up by me from my Nans had written notes..
Kevin T - Unsure what you mean by WD cenus number?

Simon.

Hello Simon,

As originally pointed out by Owen the VRN ( vehicle registration number ) carried by SNOW WHITE is RMD 31 but at some point I would have thought that she would have carried one of these "H" census numbers on either the bonnet or side doors. The "H" stands for Tractors and Break-Downs.
Not knowing if that is a 20 or 30 ton transporters it is possible that the census is one of the 44 listed below.

Cheers
Kevin

 

Hello Simon,

As originally pointed out by Owen the VRN ( vehicle registration number ) carried by SNOW WHITE is RMD 31 but at some point I would have thought that she would have carried one of these "H" census numbers on either the bonnet or side doors. The "H" stands for Tractors and Break-Downs.
Not knowing if that is a 20 or 30 ton transporters it is possible that the census is one of the 44 listed below.

Cheers
Kevin

Hi folks,

Having recently modelled this combination (Modelling section) , let me share some information.
The unit is the older style detachable bogie trailer which was a 20 Ton trailer. The tractor is one of the earliest as it has the old style trailer coupling arrangement compatible with the early trailer.
I used Dan Taylors BEF Softskin transfer set which contained the WD number H3310103 which almost fits with the Scammell census numbers for the 20 Ton and would be the second one so numbered in the series. The problem is I think the second 3 should be an 8 as that fits with the Scammell number series. I also have a good closeup of one of these early combinations and it is clearly numbered H3810105. Looking at a closer view of Snow White in Neubourg it does look as if it could be H3810103 the last 3 being fairly distinct. It could be a higher number ending in 3 but as I understand it, only 6 of these early trailer units were built before the more modern rear ramp trailer came into production.
Just my thoughts.

Cheers,

Neil

 

I think that you're correct on the number series, Neil. The first two digits of the 1930s numbers indicate more or less the year of commencement of the production run (they appear to date from somewhere between the Contract Date and actual production)

In any case, it was not until 1937, presumably as re-armament increased that the census numbers allocated reached seven digits. 1933 didn't even get into six figures and ended at 33995.

If 'Snow White' saw service right through, does that mean that it was later converted to pull the standard trailer ?

 

We do know that in Africa, it still had the original older trailer. I guess it depends on where it went from there. As Simon mentioned, it survived the war so if it returned to England before re-assignment to Europe, it may have been retro-fitted with the later trailer. That remains to be determined.

Cheers,

Neil

 

I've just read through this thread and it is amazing to see the details of Snow White and her crews story.

I think only the first 4 TRMU20's had the knock out back axle trailer. The first two numbers of the H number are the year into service. The contract details I've seen for the R100's show different years for the same contract. The H number being H3810103 makes sense and would make the chassis number 2463. There are some TRMU20's left so there is a chance that she has survived. I know a few people with Pioneers so will ask around. Very interesting as Snow White was built 42 before my own gun tractor.

Regards
Ed

 

Snow White's desert sister Molly...