Another heavy duty Bedford truck joins Oxford’s military range – the Bedford RL - which Bedford built from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s. Like many Bedford vehicles, it served its time primarily as the British military’s main medium weight lorry of the period. It was based, however, on the civilian Bedford S truck and was used in a non-military capacity too. With a split windscreen and the signature Bedford radiator grille, the truck had all-wheel drive and bigger wheels for optimum ground clearance. Originally a 3-tonner, it was increased to 4 tons to facilitate its cross country payload requirements. During its lifetime, over 74,000 rolled off the production line and many of these survived in civilian use well into the 1990s, being used by the emergency services, commercial operators and the like. Our Bedford RL makes its debut as used by the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue, decorated in Air Force blue with a dark grey canvas back and a yellow cab roof. It has an additional small roof board denoting its Mountain Rescue role. The cab interior and seating reflect the RAF blue grey body colour. Registered 11 AJ 61, the front of the cab features a yellow bridge plate with No. 9 printed on it, the RAF roundel beneath the driver’s windscreen and white bumpers. To the rear, the Mountain Rescue name features again at the base of the bodywork while the number plate is off-centre behind the offside wheel arch.