Four London buses used in WWI to go on display outside Transport Museum

Four First World War “battle buses” are to go on display together in Covent Garden to commemorate the daring role of London bus drivers getting troops to the front a century ago.

The buses are survivors of the 900 that were requisitioned, repainted from their red and white livery to camouflage them, and used mainly as troop carriers. They will be displayed outside the London Transport Museum tomorrow from 10am to 3pm.

Visitors will have a chance to climb aboard and see how drivers lived as they ferried troops and supplies to Flanders and France, as well as took wounded for treatment behind the front line. Some buses also served as mobile lofts for messenger pigeons.

Two of the buses come from private collections and the others are kept by the Imperial War Museum and London Transport Museum.

The B-type buses, introduced in 1910, were the first reliable mass-produced motor vehicles to replace Victorian horse-drawn carriage on London’s streets. They returned to their regular routes in the capital after the war.

Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 7BB, ltmuseum.co.uk