Southern Command Plant Troop

Submitted by AndrewF on Mon, 2016-08-29 13:13

My father Lt Col Robert Douglas Ferguson was twice the Commanding officer of SCPT. Firstly he was sent to SCPT as a Captain (QM) at Perham Down near Tidworth in Wilts in 1952 . His next posting was to Longmoor as a Major DAAQMG at the School of Transportation (Railways) then to Aldershot as SO2 Works, then to Wainscot Kent as Chief Instructor Plant at RSME Plant Wing where he put together the Military Plant Foreman role for the Sappers.. He then returned to the Southern Command Plant Troop in Perham Down in 1966 and was there he moved the unit to its new home at Longmoor. During his second tour with SCPT, they were tasked with cleaning up the oil spills on the Devon & Cornish Beaches from the Torry Canyon Disaster, they also did numerous assistance projects for the civilian population, like dredging large section of the Avon & Kennet canals to open them up again including canal clearing around Upavon. They did a lot of track repair work including creating various knife edges at Bovingdom Armoured Training centre (I even had the experience of driving a Chieftain as a 17 year old over the said knife edge) He then with Lt Col Genet formed 66 Plant Squadron from the formation of all the 4 Command Plant Troops Southern , Midlands (from Walsall), Northern (Catterick) & Scottish Command at Longmoor , then for a short while taking over as OC 66 Plant Squadron before moving to command 63 Field Park Squadron which was formed immediately following the withdrawal of Aden to sort out the various items of Engineering Equipment Plant. His other role in Sharjah was Plant Advisor to the Head of RE Middle East and advisor to the UAE Crucial Oman Scouts. Other roles for SCPT were maintaining the various ranges on Salisbury Plan, Aldershot, Bisley etc

Squadron: 
Southern Command Plant Troop

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Submitted by AndrewF on Mon, 2016-08-29 13:35.

My father Lt Col Robert Douglas Ferguson was twice the Commanding officer of SCPT. Firstly he was sent to SCPT as a Captain (QM) at Perham Down near Tidworth in Wilts in 1952 . His next posting was to Longmoor as a Major DAAQMG at the School of Transportation (Railways) then to Aldershot as SO2 Works, then to Wainscot Kent as Chief Instructor Plant at RSME Plant Wing where he put together the Military Plant Foreman role for the Sappers.. He then returned to the Southern Command Plant Troop in Perham Down in 1966 and was there he moved the unit to its new home at Longmoor. During his second tour with SCPT, they were tasked with cleaning up the oil spills on the Devon & Cornish Beaches from the Torry Canyon Disaster, they also did numerous assistance projects for the civilian population, like dredging large section of the Avon & Kennet canals to open them up again including canal clearing around Upavon. They did a lot of track repair work including creating various knife edges at Bovingdom Armoured Training centre (I even had the experience of driving a Chieftain as a 17 year old over the said knife edge) He then with Lt Col Genet formed 66 Plant Squadron from the formation of all the 4 Command Plant Troops Southern , Midlands (from Walsall), Northern (Catterick) & Scottish Command at Longmoor , then for a short while taking over as OC 66 Plant Squadron before moving to command 63 Field Park Squadron which was formed immediately following the withdrawal of Aden to sort out the various items of Engineering Equipment Plant. His other role in Sharjah was Plant Advisor to the Head of RE Middle East and advisor to the UAE Crucial Oman Scouts. Other roles for SCPT were maintaining the various ranges on Salisbury Plan, Aldershot, Bisley etc