I've not seen this one on here before, apologies if it has appeared previously.

RAF recovery unit in action.



Going by the teles the nearest one maybe a Matchless? And my guess at the other is a Norton. Interesting to see how this rider carries a standard tin helmet over his headlamp. Is it just somewhere to hang it or does it double up at protecting the, presumably masked?, unit from breakage from stones etc? Both still retain their front number plates.

My memory is not any more it never was and never will be again, but could this be at the Depienne improvised airstrip near Zaghouan? The hills in the background could be Djebel Oust.
Hans
who worked in Tunisia 1960-62 on road programmes

email (option): viaconsu [at] planet'dot'nl

It seems it may be an airstrip of sorts...There is another plane in the background of the photo...Ian

Sorry, was interrupted earlier on and did not finish adding the detail. This is the 'blurb' that accompanied it.


Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943.
A Repair and Salvage Unit, possibly No. 108 R&SU, at work on a damaged Supermarine Spitfire Mark V, being supported by a Coles crane, beside the road near Medjez el Bab, Tunisia. On the opposite side of the road a salvaged Hawker Hurricane awaits attention.

Date between 1941 and 1943

This post reminded me of photos in Jack Dienst's book, "A Civilian in Uniform". He posed for DR shots for the film From the Hills Beyond (1943), which I don't think I have seen. That is Tunisia and Jack says that stills were widely published in m/c mags at the time. If you have not read Jack's self-published book, then you are in for a treat. Highly irreverent and perverse - just like the man himself! He died a few years back but I met him and his son and I got some bits from them. He impressed me as a mischievous rogue! The world is a poorer place without these blokes. Ferg

email (option): Fergusanckorn@icloud.com