Pat. They are operational at some local flying club airfields there is 1 in North wales at Carenafon in yellow. these operated between 1970 upto approx 1990 generally. 900gal water tank+60gal concentrate. regards Bob
When this appliance left the CAA training School at Teeside it went to Gloucestershire (Staverton) Aiiport were it was painted yellow. It is now at Welshpool Airport in Wales.
Added by Mike Bradbury on 29 November 2008.
I remember driving this machine at CAA school at Stansted and thinking wow! RIVs were a newish concept then and this seemed to tick all of the boxes, nice to know it is still giving service.
One point sir, The fire training school has two letter S' in its name, like this ''Teesside''. As a Teessider, I hate seeing Teesside being spelt with only one letter S.
the chassis is bedford M.K 4x4 and the rear axle could not handle the torque on it's own so hence the all wheel drive. It was the same on the Mk 1 version with the Chrysler V8 power..
Come on, Chris, if you're going to pick people up on their spelling, you could at least get your own spelling right!
What does S' mean? Do you mean Ss, or S's or even esses? Each is acceptable in written English; whereas S' means nothing!
Personally, I reel at the widespread misuse of apostrophes, which is so common among contributors to this site. But there's no point moaning about it; no-one's going to listen to little old me! Merry Christmas by the way.
According to the map; it is the "River Tees", in NE part of England; and the urban community that lies upon its banks, or, side, is "Tees Side"....run together for "Teesside"
Gotta get it right, for this fine little rig's home.
Whats in a Name The borough of Teesside was formed in 1967 combining the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton on Tees, Billingham, Thornaby, Grangetown and Redcar. The borough only lasted until 1974 when further local authority changes created a further larger area now known as Cleveland. The airport, formally the RAF station Middleton-St-George (steeped in RCAF WW2 history Pat!!) was first called Tees-side (Middleton) Airport, then Teesside Airport and recently Durham Tees Valley Airport !!!! To complicate the matter further...Cleveland Counry Council was abolished several years back and does not now exist....however both the fire service and the police in the area retained the Cleveland title. Complicated init !!!! I served in both the airport and Teesside FB.
the chassis is Bedford including both axles transfer box and steering geer ,they were built at Winkleigh in South Devon on the old airfield where Reynolds Boughton also built their Vactor units(drain cleaners)..the body/hamper was Chubb at Feltham two stage Coventry Climax pump,high pressure for hose reel, standard pressure 3 inch side lines
The Pegasus was built using a Bedford frame modified to give a wheelbase of 10 feet.The first few had Salisbury (I think) axles, like the ones on the Interfire vehicle.These had poor braking and steering,plus the fact that the diff oil ran out the end of the axle on the tilt test! Modified Bedford ones were used after that,which gave better braking and improved roadholding due to the much wider (about 10")track.The body was widened accordingly as well.The transfer box was made by Boughton, it was a single speed with an automatic locking third differential to give permanent four-wheel drive which was part of the original concept.The power steering was a ZF integral unit unlike the manual Bedford box. Merry Christmas to all, (it was cold this time of year at Winkleigh)
Added by Roger Mason on 24 December 2009.
Sorry to be such a pain but I do believe these were chassied by Reynolds Boughton (RB) with top-hamper by Chubb. RB built the Pyrene/Chubb Pathfinder 6x6 Griffin chassis and many others. Bedford never built heavy-duty crash tenders only light ones by the likes of HCB-Angus etc. Maybe Reynolds Boughton, Chubb and all the experts have been wrong all these years and Bedford secretly built these heavy-duty chassis. Please can you divulge your information source. Many thanks if you would do this as it will bring to a close years of mis-information.
Alan, checked my course notes from Stansted ( 1979) they state a Reynolds chassis. I remember the engine as a RR B81 with auto box and permanent 4wd, Bobe is right about the pump and fit. The handling was good but a very powerful engine for the weight, some of the more idiotic students got a verbal hosing from the staff because of stupid driving.! It would be a suprise to me if it is a Bedford chassis, but then I could be wrong.
John, it was marketed under the Reynolds Boughton banner so I presume that they and Pyrene/Chubb wouldn't have got it wrong. Yes, it could have originally been a modified Bedford chassis but still the end result is marketed as Reynolds Boughton regardless. If it was Bedford then that name would have appeared on the front panel of the vehicle and not the name Reynolds Boughton which appears in other views of this vehicle and others in the range. It looks a heavy piece of kit just by its presence. AEC Matador 4x4s were converted by Douglas after demob I believe and they called them Douglas with no reference to AEC (except on paper) but that's a different story. RAF Instructors could be and were the same on the Mk6 course at St Athan and Catterick.
Alan, I know a lot of companies made licence agreements, and still do, to copy or adapt chassis and axles etc. This was a good design and I seem to remember Heathrow had a few. I remember the 6 course well, especially reversing up the mud ramp at speed and your right about the instructors, giving a healthy respect for a machines capability was vital.
John, I need to check some details of the BAA Fire Service (Heathrow and others) vehicles as I think they were different to this one. The BAA ones were the Reynolds Boughton 4x4 / Chubb Spearhead if my memory servces me well. They didn't have a roof monitor I'm sure. Duxford Aviation Fire Service had a number of them on their inventory. No doubt someone will correct me. There's still no match for the Mk6! Alan.
After stalking a firefighter Facebook i had seen a photo of this appliance serving at Brunei Fire Brigade fleet under the palace fire post where it is used for providing ARFF cover for the Sultan aircrafts.
Hi everyone who has an interest in this fire vehicle, I am employed still at Reynolds Boughton (Devon) Ltd. When I started with the company in 1978 they were just finishing one of the last pegasus chassis that were fitted with the Chrysler V8 Engine, after that they built more with the Rolls Royce engine. The chassis was a Bedford chassis that was modified to boughton spec to make it their chassis. The reason for me looking at the fire truck now is that as a disabled biker I have always wanted a Trike and on visiting www.wildcattrikes.co.uk I found a monster trike featured there using the Chrysler V8 as once used on this chassis. If my memory serves me correct there were 40-50 of these chassis built and exported around the globe
Added by Robert Ewing on 19 November 2008.