50th Missile Regiment Royal Artillery

50th Regiment Royal Artillery
Active1 April 1947 – 31 March 1993
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeArtillery
Garrison/HQNorthumberland Barracks, Menden (1959-c.1993)

50 Missile Regiment Royal Artillery (sometimes nicknamed '50 Miserable'[1]) was an artillery regiment of the British Army. From the late 1950s it was stationed with the British Army of the Rhine in Germany, at Northumberland Barracks, Menden, equipped with 8-inch towed howitzers, the Honest John, and, from 1976, the MGM-52 Lance surface to surface missile.

History

On 1 April 1947 RHQ 4th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA was redesignated RHQ 50th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA. It was located at Stoneleigh Park Camp, Coventry.[2]

In April 1952 while stationed at Troon it was converted to a medium regiment, with BL 5.5-inch Medium Guns.[2] In 1959 it was moved to Northumberland Barracks, Menden, gaining the Honest John missile soon afterwards, and there in 1964 it was redesignated a missile regiment.[2] Almost as soon as the regiment became a missile artillery regiment, it moved to the 4th Armoured Division.[3]

24 Missile Regiment RA was amalgamated in February 1977 with 50 Regiment, as the Honest John was phased out.[4] In the early 1980s it was part of the Artillery Division.[5] Still stationed at Menden in 1991,[6] it was placed in suspended animation in 1993.[4] Towards the end of its history the regiment gained the nickname of the "Lincolnshire and Humberside Gunners" when it started recruiting mainly from that area.[7] 8th (Volunteer) Battalion, The Queen's Fusiliers (City of London), a shared TA infantry battalion between the Queen's Regiment and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, with its headquarters at the TA Centre at St. John's Hill, Clapham Junction, provided guards & security for the regiment in the late 1980s.[8]

References

  1. ^ Beevor, Inside the British Army, Corgi Books, 1991, p. 372.
  2. ^ a b c "British Army units from 1945 on - 50th Regiment RA". British-army-units1945on.co.uk. 1993-03-31. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  3. ^ The British Army in German (BAOR and After): An Organizational History 1947 - 2004. West Midlands, United Kingdom: Tiger Lily. 2005. p. 61. ISBN 0-9720296-9-9.
  4. ^ a b Watson, Graham E; Rinaldi, Richard (2005). British Army in Germany. Tiger Lily. ISBN 9780972029698.
  5. ^ Isby and Kamps, Armies of NATO's Central Front, Jane's Publishing Company, 1985.
  6. ^ "Regiments (Hansard, 11 July 1991)". Api.parliament.uk. 1991-07-11. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  7. ^ Louis Vieuxbill. British Army of the Rhine 1989 (PDF). p. 12.
  8. ^ Vieuxbill, BAOR 1989, p14.