Tuesday 17th October 1944
I go to 206 today to arrange a L.A.D. All is well. I land a 8 tonner for the sergeant and get a forty foot by forty foot tarpaulin. Watch an ant-tank shoot.
Note: The LAD was a British cyclecar made between 1913 and 1926.
The car was originally made by the Oakleigh Motor Company of West Dulwich, London and was usually fitted with a single seater body although a few two seaters were made. Power came from a single cylinder Stag engine and drive was to the rear wheels by chain. There was only a single forward speed and no reverse so a gearbox was not used. Production stopped on the outbreak of war.
The car was revived in 1923 by LAD Productions of Farnham, Surrey in 1923 and the original was joined by a 350 cc twin cylinder engined model but the launch of the Austin 7 took away the market for such cars and the company closed in 1926.
You may be mistaken. An L.A.D. (note the full stops) might be referring not to a vehicle but a smart army unit of men. A “Light Aid Detachment”, was far as I can remember a British Army front-line mobile repair unit, often attached to a larger forward unit, so that they could have on-hand expert REME support for their vehicles, weapons and other mechanical equipment.
Thank you for your comment. That does make more sense in the context of the diary entry. It’s difficult sometimes to work out the acronyms used in WWII