For those interested in tanks and armoured fighting vehicles

[sir douglas]

Cambridge 1981, in a wagon book.

 

Jpz 38T or G13?

[petethemole]

Possibly a 38t, as its muzzle brake, although covered, appears to be the Panther type, fitted to some WW2 38ts, rather than the type fitted to late war Pzkfw IVs or Stug IIIs & IVs, which was adopted by the Swiss for the G13.  The exhaust layout isn't clear due to the low viewpoint. 

[Fat Controller]

49 minutes ago, petethemole said:

Possibly a 38t, as its muzzle brake, although covered, appears to be the Panther type, fitted to some WW2 38ts, rather than the type fitted to late war Pzkfw IVs or Stug IIIs & IVs, which was adopted by the Swiss for the G13.  The exhaust layout isn't clear due to the low viewpoint. 

In one of the Paul Shannon books on post-1968 Rail Freight, there is another view of this vehicle being unloaded by crane at Cambridge goods yard. Presumably being taken to Duxford for restoration?

[petethemole]

I wonder why this idea didn't get anywhere?

[jjb1970]

Oops, that must have been quite a knock..... No idea whether or not this is real or photoshopped but it's going around the Internet.

 

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

Oops, that must have been quite a knock..... No idea whether or not this is real or photoshopped but it's going around the Internet.

 

As  gun fitter I use to warn the tank crews not to traverse the turret more than six times clockwise without at least going once anti-clockwise as they would unscrew it. Don't gun fitters tell the crews these days?

 

Seriously, it is a Polish Leopard 2 destined for Ukraine, it was in a collision with another tank. There are track marks on the hull top where the other tank mounted it. Reports I have seen on the interweb says it has now been repaired.

[Clive Mortimore]

2 hours ago, petethemole said:

I wonder why this idea didn't get anywhere?

They just got bigger, the Martel one man tank, the bren carrier, the FV432, and now the Warrior.

 

There were armoured sledges designed to fit a single infantry man in towed by tanks made in WW2. Six or so would pulled by a single tank. They were not used in the role they were designed for but were used on D-day to land supplies. On board the landing craft the loaded sledges were stowed under the tank to the rear of the the tank tugging them.

[jjb1970]

In WW1 there were lots of shields, body armour and devices to try and protect soldiers, but most of them seem to have been so heavy and unwieldy as to be of limited real value. Though the Russian army kept wheeled carriages with shields for their Maxim guns and even some later air cooled heavy machine guns into the Soviet era and WW2. Armour seemed to return in the 60's and 70's as advances in fibre and composite technology made effective bullet proof vests and helmets practical without requiring too much weight or limiting mobility.

 

Something that does seem odd is that armoured personnel carriers took a long time to be really adopted other than a handful of outliers and that when they were adopted the level of protection wasn't that great. The British army had the Mk.IX tank in WW1 but that was a false dawn. The Israeli Army has heavy armoured personnel carriers with MBT levels of protection (the Namer is derived from the Merkava) and Russia was developing an APC version of the Armata combat platform but most APCs seem to be designed to give protection from small arms.

[spikey]

On 19/04/2023 at 16:09, Clive Mortimore said:

... There are track marks on the hull top where the other tank mounted it ...

 

And I always thought tanks were built in factories ...

[KeithMacdonald]

"Maestro" - The Story of How a Russian T-90A Got Stranded in a Louisiana Rest-Stop

 

Quote

Today we have the brief but ‘stranger than fiction’ account of how a Russian T-90A tank named ‘Maestro’ ended up briefly ‘abandoned’ at a gas station in Louisiana several weeks ago, after the truck towing it to a U.S. army testing site “broke down”. The tank was left sitting overnight with no security in the parking lot of Peto’s Travel Center and Casino, on I-10 near Roanoke, Lousiana.

 

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/maestro-the-story-of-how-a-russian

 

[kevinlms]

DUKW's

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-25/the-war-vehicles-built-by-women-still-in-daily-use/102261912

Edited April 25, 2023 by kevinlms
More info

[jjb1970]

The MCA (Coastguard) in the UK hate duck tours with a passion, if they had their way I suspect they'd ban them.

[Hroth]

52 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

The MCA (Coastguard) in the UK hate duck tours with a passion, if they had their way I suspect they'd ban them.

 

Two "duck" trip boats sank in Salthouse Dock in Liverpool in 2013.

 

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/sinking-yellow-duckmarines-blamed-poor-8300288

 

The Queen had travelled on one the previous year...

 

Given that they were WW2 military vehicles with limited life expectancy, its about time they were retired from modern commercial use!

 

 

[Barry O]

You are probably unaware of a (then) Major Alistair Miller. He was an integral part of getting Thermal Imagers fitted to Chieftain and Challenger as well as well thought  through approach to UK tank gunnery training. 

 

He conducted a trial of IR18 (a Barr & Stroud TI system) on Chieftain at ATDU in Bovinton. His report and further campaigning in the MoD(PE) resulted in TOGS (the Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sight) being procured and fitted to Chieftain and Challenger MBTs.

 

He was promoted and became an advocate of a system of training for tank gunners and commanders which became PGTE - the Precision Gunnery Training Equipment for Challengers 1 and 2.

 

He then followed this with a lot of work on Coursework and the analysis of training data.

 

I first met Colonel Miller at the range in Hohne while visiting the Cherry Pickers. It was a night shoot and he personally evicted the BBC from the Fire Control tower  as they wanted to video the TI screen in the tower.

 

He became a great friend and acted as both a knowledgeable and questioning "friend.

 

He has passed in his sleep overnight..I have lost a great and knowledgeable friend who supported me first as PM TOGS, then as PM CHIP/CAIP, then as PM PGTE 

Mente et Manu

Baz 

[DavidB-AU]

 

[Hroth]

T 55s?

 

The phrase "poor bl00dy conscripts" springs to mind.

[Barry O]

3 hours ago, DavidB-AU said:

 

TARGET!

T55

HESH!

Loaded!

Lasing ...

FIRING!

Target..STOP...

 

BAS

 

[DavidB-AU]

Ukraine has Challenger 2s and Abrams now, plus Leopard 2s. Ask Iraq how that worked out.

 

This is like the UK pulling Centurions out of storage and sending them into action.

 

But even the 105mm L7 gun from 1958 (used on the Centurion Mk 5, M-60 and Leopard 1) was specifically designed to take out a T-54/55.

Edited May 1, 2023 by DavidB-AU

[jjb1970]

The Ukrainians have a handful of Challenger 2 and Leopard 2 tanks (many of which are the older A4 model which was lightly protected) and have been given quite a lot of Leopard 1 tanks which are no better protected than the T55. 

[exet1095]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The Ukrainians have a handful of Challenger 2 and Leopard 2 tanks (many of which are the older A4 model which was lightly protected) and have been given quite a lot of Leopard 1 tanks which are no better protected than the T55. 

But both Leopard types and Challenger 2 have stabilised guns which can be fired on the move. Not so the T55.

 

Paul

[jjb1970]

9 hours ago, exet1095 said:

But both Leopard types and Challenger 2 have stabilised guns which can be fired on the move. Not so the T55.

 

Paul

 

I've no idea how the Russian's plan to use the T55, but they have been using the T62 similar to the German assault artillery concept, mobile protected fire support for infantry and as defensive weapons to add firepower to less heavily armed units. Given that there are also pictures of trainloads of T90M tanks with its advanced fire control and active protection systems to add to the large numbers of T72, T80 and T90 tanks already in theatre (including a lot of modernised models) I'd be surprised if the T55 is going to be deployed as an MBT. There is some talk that the T14 is also being deployed, which if they have managed to make its engine work should be a formidable tank. I just hope the Ukrainians are also planning to use the Leopard 1 as an infantry support artillery weapon and not as an MBT.

[DavidB-AU]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

There is some talk that the T14 is also being deployed

Both of them?

[Ozexpatriate]

Less seriously than many of these posts.

This was a local news story, now picked up by CNN as a 'humourous' story.

 

CNN: Teen's grand entrance steals the show at prom

 

The prom was downtown Portland at the Portland Art Museum. Camus is across the Columbia River in Washington. The local news article identified the tank as a M3A1 Stuart. The high schooler used a 'go fund me' to help pay the $1,000 rental.

 

Note also, Portland's 'unipiper' - a kilted bagpiper on a unicycle, and yes, there are flame throwers in the drones.

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Ben B]

On 02/05/2023 at 20:38, Ozexpatriate said:

Less seriously than many of these posts.

This was a local news story, now picked up by CNN as a 'humourous' story.

 

CNN: Teen's grand entrance steals the show at prom

 

The prom was downtown Portland at the Portland Art Museum. Camus is across the Columbia River in Washington. The local news article identified the tank as a M3A1 Stuart. The high schooler used a 'go fund me' to help pay the $1,000 rental.

 

Note also, Portland's 'unipiper' - a kilted bagpiper on a unicycle, and yes, there are flame throwers in the drones.

 

 

When I was at school in Gloucestershire, the 6th Form prom regularly featured interesting vehicles, back in the 90's. Big chunk of the kids were from Fire College or Army families, so there were often borrowed Green Godesses, older appliances, Landies, 4-tonners and an odd armoured car :)

[spikey]

What's all the gubbins on top of this turret?