Ed (unaware) and his family turned up at the farm where I keep most of the Ferrets. He was expecting a flight in a tiger moth and had real idea what awaited him. As he pulled in the yard he was amazed to find 4 ferrets staring back at him - ready for inspection! Ed used to be the commander of a Mark 2/6 in his days in Germany with the Lancers. He went straight to the 2/6 and spent about 25 minutes in her. I showed him all the kit I had with the Ferret, some of which he had never been issued with. He never got to fire a Vigilant missile, not even a practice round! Whilst Ed sat smiling in the Ferret many Ferret stories poured from him. His sons had got some of his old army photos framed as part of his birthday treat. In one of them was his old Vigilant armed 2/6 well bogged down after an aborted attempt to recover another 2/3 ferret from his unit. Excellent! We next moved on to the Mark 5 Ferret. Ed had actually fired Swingfire in his time, but from a 438. There is a nice picture of him with a Swingfire missile and me with a Vigilant missile. He spent a good while studying the Mark 5 and concluded that it was not any better than the earlier ferrets when it came to crew comfort! Ed then spotted the Ex-Gulf war 2/3 and made straight for it. He spent a while in this Ferret recalling yet more tales to his wife and sons.

Ed refereed to the Mark 1/1 as a "Field Mouse". Again he recalled many stories about his experiences with these Ferrets. He called them the "Sports cars" of the armoured Regiments. He said how easy it was to hide these Ferrets and how they were highly prized by RSM's and other higher ranks. We then loaded up the Mark 1/1 with Ed's sons and Ed took up the commanders position in the 2/6 with me driving. We then set off on a 5 mile "cabby" across country via single track lanes through classic "Ferret armoured car country". We then arrived at a nice country pub for lunch which was pre-arranged, the 2 reserved car parking places all ready for us. The pub landlord is into old motor vehicles and so was very obliging. The weather was great with bright sunshine, but it was cold! The Pubs log fire was very welcome as was the roast beef lunch. Yet more stories flowed especially between Ed my friend David (mark 1/1 driver) who is an ex- Royal Marine and a passionate Ferret fan.

After lunch, we headed back as the light faded and a glowing red sun started to dip below the hills and hedges and glinted off the armour plate of the ferrets as they crisis-crossed the country roads on our way home. Champaign was opened when we got back and all drank to Ed's birthday. It really was a great day.