Cats @ Little Casterton weekend 20-21 Sept

Just a question for the fundi's:
The D2 is a J-series model, the transmission end had the serial # of a R2: 6J130SP. I did not get the owner's details. 😕
The machine was very well kept/maintained/restored and according to the hour meter, had only done 1319 hours, and the undercarriage showed that as well. The levers all felt very tight, not the sloppiness one would get from a high-houred machine.

To me the moment of wonder happened when the owner gave us teh OK to take her for a "spin". After 25 years off a D2, all of a sudden it all came back to me (Could almost hear my father's voice again)... To be able to engage gear, open the throttle somewhat, and feel the clutch to let it snap overcentre, and off you go... Man that was worth all the effort to get there! And then sadly, you have to park it, throttle down to a slow idle, disengage the gearshift to neutral, and set the clutch after you engaged the parking barke... Dad must have been smiling... You got clobbered if you got of a Cat without "going through the drill" first. It still works!

So back to my question:
Is this a D2? or would it qualify as RD2?

Hi, Wish I'd met you at Casterton, I was there both days ! Did you enjoy the Battle of Britain Memorial flight flypast ? (Lancaster on Sat, Lancaster plus Hurricane plus Spitfire on Sunday).
My guess is that the R2D2 ? is in fact an R2 that has been re-engined with a D2 engine at some point. maybe from a D2 that was being scrapped for some reason. This happened a lot as the R2s were quite thirsty.
I'm pleased you enjoyed your visit.
(ACMOC Chapter2 Treasurer.)

Oh that flypast was something!!!!
As a kid you remember all those old wartime movies and you'd get that vibe in the bughouse movie-house when the bombers are on their way, and that's the same feeling we experienced with the fly-past! Heart stopping moments, but also very humiliating moments: Remembering all those "flyboys" in those planes who fought for freedom, and of whom quite a number did not return to see the fields of England all those years back!

Hi Thys

I've been waiting for this post! Yes that was quite a moment when we shook hands on that beautiful day!

Here are some pictures I took over the weekend: the Lancaster flying over the field, how we came to the show & how we left.

It's a small world...😄

All the best
Marcel

Just as an aside to this story:
We saw this huge old Rumely Oil Pull on a low-bed trailer at Casterton, and asked the guy if the Rumely would be in action the following day. I commented on the other guy's ACMOC cap, and that's where the connection was made. Cel spoke with an unmistakable French/Belgian accent, and he picked up our South African accent as well, and then we realized that we're all subscribed to the ACMOC BB! CheshireCat was the other guy "flying" the ACMOC colors.

Cel, myself and my brother Nic, could speak in Afrikaans and Flemish to one another, and we could understand each other perfectly with Afrikaans being a "daughter" language to Dutch and also closely related to Flemish! ChesireCat was left out of the conversation till we realised that we're being rude!!!

On the Sunday the Rumely was very uncooperative, throwing quite few loud bangs and pops and trying to loose some of it's plumbing and intake goodies with backfires! Cel took no notice of this, and she was duly pull started with a Case crawler, and even then it was still huffing and puffing out of sequence, but what a joy to see and hear her huffing uphill on the day with an impliment behind her! Cel, you had more than Dutch courage there!

Once all my other DVD editing is done, I'll make a DVD about the event. Cel, Cheshire Cat, Arthur Hitchin and Ron Knight are on my list to get some examples.

Hi Thys, A few more pics of the Lanc as you liked it so much !!

Well, I still had to get used to the OilPull as we picked it up that same day. Every tractor has its own starting characteristics; We got home monday morning, and monday evening after work I gave it a try and she started up from the first crank and ran perfectly.
Gauntjoh, nice pictures!

Great pic's of the tractors and the Lancaster Bomber. What a team we made back then in WWII. The RAF bombed by night and the AAF bombed by day. I hope to able to see and hear a Lancaster or Sterling bomber before I check out. They must really sound sweet with those Rolls-Royce Merlins. I have seen and heard a P-51 Mustang with the Merlin in it, hearing four merlins at one time must really be an eye and ear opener. 😄

Yes, thanks for all the pictures! I've always had an interest in the WWII era aircraft, that Lancaster would have been awesome to see in person. I can't even imagine the spectacle of the "thousand bomber raids" that were being flown over Germany late in the war. I once read a US soldier's account of action in Normandy, France. He described the occasions when large B-17 bomber formations passed overhead, they called them "The Heavies". He said it was as if the constant low, ominous drone of the engines were warning of what was about to come.