Under Construction
Motto: Fidelity and Audacity
BRISTOL'S ARTILLERY UNIT HISTORY
[info from Maj. J. Smith R.A. [V] ]
On
the 22nd November,1859. the Gloucestershire Volunteer Artillery R.G.A.1 was formed,
making it's headquarters at the Artillery Ground, Whiteladies Rd, Clifton,
Bristol. On the formation of the
Territorials in 1908 it became the 1st [South Midland] Brigade R.F.A. [T] with a
further change of name in 1916 to the 240th Brigade R.F.A. [T], under which it
served through-out the First World War. On
being reformed in 1920 it became the 66th [S.M.] Brigade R.F.A. [T], then renamed in
1924 as the 66th [S.M.] Field Regiment R.A. [TA], in 1938 as the 76th
[Gloucestershire] A.A. Regiment R.A. [TA]. which it served as during the 2nd World
War.
In
1947 the 312th Medium Regiment R.A. [TA] was formed.
The above units served until 1954 when they were amalgamate to form the,
In
1937 the 223rd [Field Artillery] Signals Section, Royal Signals [TA] was formed
and after many alterations of role, became the 3rd Survey Regiment R.A. [TA] from
which the
In
1961 an amalgamation of 883rd Bty, with 311th Regt and the 43rd Div
C.B. Staff Troop
formed the
In
1961 HQ R.A. [Rear] 43rd Wessex Division [TA] was formed and located in the
Artillery
Grounds.
In 1967 the Territorial Army was reduced, under a review, produced by Generals Hacket and Carver [Hatchet & Carver?].
Thus 883rd Battery became, "A" [GVA] Squadron, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars [V] and served as part of the TAVR 3 force, with a responsibility for Home Defense, until 1969 when it was disbanded.
The main administration for the building and ground is now with the B.U.O.T.C.
[The Artillery Ground is held on a lease by TAVR/MOD from the Bristol Merchant Venturers, for a Peppercorn rent. I believe the terms of the lease state that the ground will be returned in the original state, if the army were to leave the site, in 1859 all that was there was a small building to the right of the out gate which may have been a Gin Palace?]
It
was left to the R.A.A. and the Bristol Gunner Club, meeting every Friday night
in the Gunners Arms, to carry on the Gunner tradition in Bristol.
On
the 1st April,1971. 266th
[GVA] O.P. Bty R.A. [V], was formed as a independent Unit and had the responsibility of
providing,12 and then later 18 Observation Post Parties to
regular gunner units in the time of war, together with a three gun troop of 25pdr
Field guns, the unit consisted of 22
Officers
266th [GVA] Observation Post Bty R.A. [V] was formed on the 1st April,1971.
[ Formed as a Independent Battery]
Commanded by Major Colin S. Harvey. M.B.E. T.D. [V], B.K. Capt Norman Webber. T.D. [V], with four regular soldiers, Capt Keith Dann R.A. as Training Officer, WO11 Robert Bryant M.S.M. acted as Admin officer, BQMS Brian Durance and Sgt Roy Tanner was the signals instructor, and a civilian establishment of five, Chief Clerk Mr. Fred Hawkins, Typist, Miss E. Denham, Vehicle Mechanic Mr. Ray Ducamp, a Driver ---- and a Limber Gunner Mr. Desborough were also on the establishment, the Battery Office and stores were situated in the main drill hall. It was some time later, that the battery moved into it's own accommodation in the original 1860's Gunner building, the accommodation in the old building left a lot to be desired.
The reason for this was that the Old Gunner building did not officially exist, as it was supposed to have been pulled down many years before, so it was difficult to get any money for repairs. It was not shown on maps of the 1970's of the area. It was only on the refurbishment of the main drill hall, that it was refurbished to a good standard.
The old drill hall was used as a garage and gun shed by the Bty for the first few years, later the guns were moved to a garage near the left main entrance and the space left in the old drill hall was made into a Puff range1a. this was a good training aid in the early years of the Bty and great use was made of it, by the Bty. This was supplemented and eventually replaced by a computer system called "Invertron" but as this was at R.S.A. Larkhill, it meant travelling to Larkhill on weekends to use it. So TAVRA 2. in conjunction with Westland's of Yeovil and Major R. G. McKenna the BC of the Bty, made a much smaller computer system called WIFT,3. this consisted of a Slide projector and screen showing a landscape, a Acorn computer connected to a Video projector mounted on the ceiling and special binoculars with graduations on the lenses to indicate distances. With this simpler system we could have High Explosive, Airburst, Smoke and Illuminating, it had it's limitations but it was a lot better then the Puff range, a good point was it was in the gunner's arms, nice and warm.
Picture of old Gunner Drill Hall.1860's To be added, see Andy Stevens.
It was about 1972 when the MOD, gave the Bty, a half Battery of Q.F. 25pdr Field guns [3] which was used as a training aid and increased the establishment of Observation Parties to 18.
*Q.F. 25 pdr Field Gun
For a detailed History of the gun and organization see
http://members.tripod.com/~nigelef/
*****
On the reorganization of the T.A. in the late 1990's the unit was Re-designated as
266 Para [G.V.A.] Battery R.A. [V].
On the 1st July,1999. the unit became a member of 100th Field Regiment R.A. [V].
[Regimented 1st July, 1999. from independent status]
[Questions were asked in the House of Commons and the House of Lords by Lord Cope of Berkley, who was a supporter of the Bty, as to the reason and justification of having a split unit, which was on the opposite sides of the country 125 miles apart]
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199899/ldhansrd/vo981208/text/81208-04.htm
*****
The unit is tasked to provide a gun battery in support of the regular army and is equipped with two x L118 105 mm Light gun's, the latest Light Field Artillery gun.
It has an establishment of -------- all ranks.
Under FAS it will now be affiliated with 29 (Commando) Regiment Royal Artillery
*****
*Quick Firing
1. The training of the members of the 1st GVA RGA [V], took place at the Artillery Ground, Clifton, men would turn up for a hours drill before work and also in the evenings. Officers and Men would have to pay for their uniforms, consisting of a dark blue uniform with red strip lined facings with 1st GVA Embroidered on the shoulder epaulet, a belt and bayonet frog also a water bottle made of wood. the headgear worn was a Busby generally made of fur with a bag on the left side that is covered with coloured cloth, it was worn by Engineer, Artillery, Fusilier, and Rifle Regt's at various periods, originally manufactured by Busby of London, thus the name. On the left side of the Busby was worn a silver Grenade with a white hair Cockade. The discipline was imposed by monetary fines, for being late on parade, not properly dressed etc. The live firing training was carried out at the Portishead battery also the unit trained on the rifled muzzle loaders RML's at the Brean Down Battery between 1874-1879. see http://www.palmerstonforts.org.uk/pdf/brean.pdf . The unit had a good shooting team and many prizes were won at various shooting matches. The unit also won prizes for 40 pounder Armstrong Gun Drill, Sgt Ashmead 's gun crew came 1st in 188? and the competition was held at Shoeburyness. Being a member of the Volunteer Corps was seen by many at the time as a social thing, as parties and dinners were held regularly in the Victoria rooms and upstairs at the Crown & Dove public house, Rupert Street. opp what is now the Magistrates courts. Musical entertainment was supplied by members of the band, guest pianists and guest soloists, some of these came from other units within the city.
1a. A miniature range called the Puff Range was built, this comprised a gallery overlooking a mocked up scene of the countryside painted on Hessian cloth, suspended on a chicken wire frame. With miniature tanks and other targets placed/painted on it, also a 12 volt D.C. system with bulbs was used as a means to indicate a moving target. Under the Hessian countryside scene, the map coordinates were duplicated on the floor. A carriage made from Dexicon moved around on wheels in unison with the orders from the Observer, when it was placed on to a target grid, and when "Shot" was given from the guns, a little smoke blown with a delay of the given time of flight by an instructor under the target area. Using a pump this would give quite a good illusion of a single gun firing. The "smoke" was made by passing ammonia vapour through conc. sulphuric acid. When the pump broke down, the smoke was then blown through a old broken Ariel. [ I said blow not "suck" you idiot], unless you had a smoker in your party which most of them did, who would volunteer to blow smoke through the pipe. This system for O.P. training was used to great effect in the early years of the bty, but it took up a lot of space about a third of the old drill hall.
2. T.A.V.R. =
Territorial Army and Volunteer Reserve
Association.
3. Wift = Westland Indirect Fire trainer ?
A method and apparatus for simulating artillery and other types of indirect field of fire gunnery, as an aid to training gunnery observers it comprises projecting onto a screen of a terrain photographic image. Computer generated artillery shell bursts are overlaid on the terrain photographic image at locations commanded by a trainee observer by projection through a video projector which is connected with a computer [BBC Acorn]. Instructions are entered in the computer by an operator who may also be a training instructor.
******
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This page was last updated on 14-Jan-2008.
