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The deck and a half Commer Commandos (by Shane Conway)

Last updated 24 September 2024

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THE DECK AND A HALF COMMER COMMANDOS

As regular readers of this site may be aware, Dick Gilbert was a keen fan of half cab single deck buses of all descriptions and styles. Alongside that, most likely from spending his working life in the air industry, he also took an interest in a batch of 315 Commer Commando buses built in the late 1940s which were originally intended to be used for getting passengers and their luggage to and from airports and airfields. He has mentioned them on page 1 and page 3 of the news and mail section, and on page 2 of the Australian part of this website. He had hoped one day to compile a page or two on them, but never got round to doing it. So this page is an an attempt to fulfil his wish.

A bit of background on them to begin with. The Commando was a mid sized chassis (about the size of a Bedford OB) and was produced in both truck and bus formats. The model first appeared in 1939, and five buses were built before hostilities halted production in 1940. It was 1946 before the sixth chassis was produced (number 17A0006), with a further 314 in a consecutive series (up to 17A0320) following over the following two years. It is understood that the original order would have been for 375 buses, but the final 60 were cancelled. London based Park Royal Coachworks bodied all of them with a 20 seat coach body, with the rear half of it raised to accomodate a large luggage compartment over the back axle. A further 328 chassis after these also received PSV bodies, but to a more convential layout, and therefore are outside the scope of this page.

They were allocated to just four concerns, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), British European Airways (BEA), Air Ministry and Ministry of Supply, but dispatched in a random order. BOAC took 115, of which 19 went to foreign airports where their planes flew to, while BEA's batch of 44 were all solely based in the U.K, except for one based in Vienna, plus a second one possibly in Berlin. The examples in mainland Europe were left hand drive layout. A further 64 were taken by the Ministry of Supply, these in turn being issued to a variety of industrial facilities such as aircraft manufacturers and government departments, while the Air Ministry took 92. While reg numbers are recorded for many of them, there are 84 for which the numbers are unknown. Below is an attempt to list what information is known about them, mostly original delivery dates and identities, and the lists are in chassis number order for each of the four concerns who took them. Away from the public gaze (mostly) these little buses quietly faded away during the mid to late 50s, as aircraft sizes had increased. The two airlines used some for crew transfers for a time. Sales were often to other smaller airlines, or to private buyers who saw the potential of them being suitable for conversion to motor homes or for band transport. Almost 80 years since they first appeared, the known survivors now total six (or maybe seven). As with other lists on this site, the data is incomplete, so any updates, corrections or additional material would be welcome.

AIR MINISTRY - total 92 (all placed in service with the Royal Air Force).

XAT 368 was delivered to the RAF (as RAF 138076) in April 1947 and served at various Yorkshire airfields, before being sold at Ruddington in October 1957. New owners Hull Cricket Club found it slow, causing the team to frequently arrive late for matches, although it was good for holding kit! However, a new gearbox cured this problem, but after two years, it was sold on to Newall Engineering, as a staff bus. It then passed to two commercial operators, Primrose Valley Garage and Coaches and W and H Lamb. Possibly due to the fact that it only had 20 seats, it proved uneconomical as a coach and was only in such service for seven months. It seems to have been mothballed before being sold to the British Auto Racing Club in June 1962 for use as a race control vehicle. This saw the removal of many of the seats and reconfiguration as a mobile office, with desks and tables. Sadly the bus fell into disrepair and was last driven at Silverstone in 1972, laying in decay until being bought by David Hardcastle in 1978. Despite David's intentions to restore the vehicle, it remained in this state until he donated it to the RAFBF and the team at RAF Cottesmore in October 1993.

BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS - total 44.

BRITISH OVERSEAS AIRWAYS CORPORATION - total 115.

LS-271 under the trees on the Zegir farm in use as a store room.

Mike Cornwall sent the picture above. He took it in Bathurst (NSW) in 1988, which was the first year that the bus was there.

And a side view of LS-271 in its BP livery.

Six of these buses served with BOAC in Australia, they were later sold to Australia National Airways. One of them survives with local rego LS-271 in the town of Seymour in Victoria. After a spell with St. John Ambulance in the early 1970s, it was sold to the Zegir family to become a camper in 1976, but then became a storage unit on a farm from 1979. Peter Sanderson bought it in 1988 and restored it, replacing the original petrol engine with a Chrysler V8 dual fuel unit and automatic transmission, plus painting it in BP colours. It makes an annual trip to the Bathurst 1000, a 1000 km car race on public mountain roads. Unfortunately no chassis or body number has yet been discovered, so its unclear exactly which one of the 61 unknown reg BOAC vehicles it is, or what the other five were. This sad looking example is probably one of the others, seen in Queensland in 2015. Obviously it had been there a long time......

The picture above shows one of the BOAC buses, probably at Northolt, appearing to deliver passengers to a Dakota aircraft bound for Lisbon. Its likely that this was a "staged" publicity photo, as BOAC was a long-haul airline and didn't operate flights to Lisbon. The bus is HLX 599, the second of these Commandos to be built and the first one delivered to BOAC (in March 1946), so that may be what this is all about.

This picture shows another BOAC coach (HUV 40 dating from June 1946) after sale to Skyways who were using it to promote their new coach-air service which ran East Kent AEC Reliances from Victoria Coach Station (where this photo was taken in the late 1950s) down to Lympne Airport in Kent where a Skyways Dakota would fly the passengers to France. By coincidence one of the Dakotas that Skyways used for a while was none other than G-AGYX - the same one as shown in the previous picture.

By the early 1960s Skyways had finished with HUV 40 and its fate was unknown to Dick Gilbert, until Chris Stanley very kindly sent these two pictures which he acquired from someone who, in turn, got them from a deceased friend. It's clearly the same coach and is apparently rotting away in a field in Sellinge, which is within spitting distance of Lympne Airport, so that makes sense. Dick was a Skyways employee at Lympne from 1965 to 1969 but never knew that the coach existed nearby. By the look of the paintwork it had clearly had another owner since Skyways days - perhaps as a mobile home - and someone has removed the engine. It was originally a 6-cylinder 4-litre petrol engine, but the picture at Victoria Coach Station shows it with a Perkins diesel badge on the radiator grille. However it didn't look to be in a bad condition overall.

MINISTRY of SUPPLY - total 64.

Notes: A photo exists of one bus registered TJ 72731 at Johannesburg airport, while another photo shows two (or maybe three) of them at the same airport. Presumably sold by BOAC to South African Airways, but individual vehicle identities are unknown. Another photo depicts a BEA one in Berlin with the reg 2833 BZ, but this is not a German plate, so maybe the caption is wrong? One was known to be with Short Brothers in Belfast, a poor quality shot suggests the reg was HYT 813.

Another one was (possibly) at Rush Green Motors (see UTM 752) with a large tree growing though it. That reg does not appear in the lists above, so it may be a former RAF example with a civilian reg number.The two examples working in Malta required special approval to enter Valetta Bus Station due to their double deck configuration. Survivors in 2024 include one in British Columbia (originally HYT 598), four in Britain and one or two in Australia.

John Humphrey writes: "Just been looking at the Commer Commando article and I have been reminded that, when on holiday with my parents in Weymouth in 1959, we took a day trip to St. Peter Port (Guernsey). Just before boarding the ship for the return crossing, I noticed one of these vehicles in BEA livery parked opposite the bus station and I am pretty sure that it had been re-registered with a local registration. Sorry I don't remember any more, but I thought this would still be worth sharing with you". Thanks John.

This sad looking example is probably one of the six that went to Australia, where it was seen in Queensland in 2015. Obviously it had been there a long time......

A book from 2010 (Sri Lankan Buses Past and Present) includes a photo of one of the Commers with the registration 33-Sri-4093, thought to be an ex RAF vehicle which was exported during the late 1950s or early 1960s. Again its original identity is unclear as of now. If anyone can help with the above queries, or provide further information, please contact me.

Apart from the half dozen (or seven??) full size survivors, the type has also been produced in 1:76 scale by Oxford Diecast, in no less than eight versions, as below:

  • XAT 368 in RAF livery, real vehicle is preserved
  • HXF 339 in BOAC livery
  • TMG 114 in BEA livery (reg not in vehicle lists above)
  • NYP 635 in Billy Smarts Circus livery (reg not in vehicle lists above)
  • LS-271 in Australia National Airways livery, real vehicle preserved in BP livery in Australia
  • TJ 72731 in South African Airways livery
  • HUV 40 in Skyways livery
  • CC 1947 in Coca Cola livery possibly fictional reg and livery?

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