I am really puzzled about the year of manufacture. I suspect the label on the bottom indicates a service date. I am thinking 1954 to 1964 for the actual manufacture date. Is it hiding under the label? Reservoir is possibly a suburb in Melbourne and the army has depots across varying suburbs of capital cities. Thanks
Willis and Bates/Vapalux continued the Bialaddin M1 305 up to 1979, only marked Vapalux, year and arrow. Your lamp seems to be made up of a Bialaddin 305 top and a spare Vapalux tank of 1978. This is my explanation, which may of course be corrected. Matthias
I thought the "305" became the "M1" circa 1968. 1979 saw the M320 - but that has a different tank shape. The 1978 MOD sticker is when it was put into the stores, rather than made. (but may well be close) however I understood that the 305 had the large filler cap. the "civillian" one had the smaller filler cap. But of course the Oz military may have bought spares later. This has been said before - a bunch of soldiers putting together all the good bits to make working lanterns is not a hard thing to imagine.
I did a little research into paint colours used by the British army as I have noticed different shades and found that the British army changed the types of green paint it used at some point. This example 1952 Bialaddin 305 Military is in what I think was called "deep bronze green", in use from 1948. This however was glossy and reflected infra-red very well, giving rise to concerns about targeting systems (very new at the time). The new paint was designed to reflect the same amount of IR as the foliage of middle Europe. The old paint also absorbed chemical agents at a time when the British army was investing in NBC suits and improved gas masks. The matt darker green paint (NATO green) was adopted in '71 and rolled out over the next three years. The paint lost its IR capabilities over time so vehicles were re-painted every two years. Vehicles aside "war equipment" - like lanterns for example were painted "matt olive drab" from October 1954, until 1971 when the same NATO green paint was used for vehicles and equipment. I think that your tank is finished in matt olive drab so made before 1972. However the smaller filler cap indicates it would have been made between 68 and 79. so I think I have to agree that the top part is older and the tank is 68-71, being accepted into stores in 1979. I think "reservoir assembly" only relates to the description of the tank with cap/pump so would indicate it was a spare part. The NSN number did not give up much apart from the fact 99 is the code for the non electrical lighting part being managed by the UK. I did find this thread here tho Vapalux 305 -Military? Much conjecture here, sorry ! - but hopefully of interest.
@Fireexit1 Absolutely of interest. Sensational; at least to me it is. I am so curious as it is my first Bialaddin lantern and it ‘looks good’ and I wanted to know more but was puzzled by differing info. At present what @LatMag49 and you are suggesting seems best fit. Thanks for looking into this puzzle. I guess it is British military and that Reservoir is yet another name for font, fount, tank and not a suburb of Melbourne. Quite interesting.
@Sedgman @Fireexit1 Here's another example of a 1972 Vapalux showing the identical colours like the above one, which is matt olive drab of the tank/fount and the glossy green of the hood. Matthias
