Facebook: Friends of the Tank Museum

[fsn]

Astron Chick and Hen: Bat-s... crazy, but interesting. 

[nigel drury]

Alresford is still very recognisable.  The pre WW1 RE camp at Cheriton is interesting, wonder how close they were to the ECW battle site.

[fsn]

A Ghost Army soldier with an inflatable rubber Sherman tank. It took about 30 minutes to inflate a single tank.Credit...


I insert this photo because some 10mm manufacturers (NOT Pendraken) seem to have used this as their reference material for their Sherman tanks.

[Raider4]

Well that's not going to fool anyone! That is clearly the wrong turret for that body.

[fsn]

I thought so ... more like a Challenger

This one ...

[fsn]

You have to admit the inflatable soldier is much more realistic.

[fsn]

Welding is a complicated process. One of the factors that can affect the strength of a weld is the angle at which the welding rod is held, known as the work angle. The best way to achieve a consistent work angle is to keep the welder still and angle the pieces being welded. This isn't so easy when you're dealing with a Centurion tank. Huge moveable manipulators like this were needed. They can rotate and spin to give the workers (all women in this photo) the best work angle.

 

[Orcs]

So what your saying FSN is ;-

You should always get your woman at the best angle for the activity in progress 

[fsn]

Indeed.

Huge moveable manipulators can be very useful in this regard. 

[fsn]

Portrait of a woman, Alaska, circa 1899.


She looks like she has a wicked sense of humour

[fsn]

Early 1943 the appearance of Tiger tanks in Tunisia forced the British to rush their new 17 pounder anti-tank gun out to Africa as a counter. The need was so great that there wasn't time to finish the proper carriages. Instead the first 100 guns were fitted to 25 pounder field gun carriages like this. They were named 17/25 pounders and given the codename Pheasant.

Interesting close up of the loading process

[fsn]

Moving heavy equipment on long campaigns was an obstacle every commander had to overcome during the Second World War. Weighing in at around 1,200 kg depending on the variant, the 6-pounder gun was no lightweight. Tanks like the Valentine pictured here were then needed to take up double duty, as both fighting vehicle and tractor for towed weapons. The trouble was worth it though, as the 6-pounder proved a match for the heaviest armour deployed by the Axis throughout the war, even the much-feared Tiger.

[paulr]

They look to be infantry riding on the Valentine so I'm guessing the 6pdr crew were in a following truck which was also carrying the ammo

[fsn]

So why not just attach the 6pdr to the truck? 

[paulr]

Weighing in at around 1,200 kg depending on the variant, the 6-pounder gun was no lightweight.

Add the weight of the ammo, crew & kit to that and its a lot for a truck cross country. I suspect trucks were in pretty high demand so using two may not have been an option. Also the Valentine is already heading that way.

It might even enough combined arms operations

[fsn]

The RAF flypast of 3 Vulcans, 4 Lightnings, and 2 Phantoms over Buckingham Palace for the Trooping of the Colour in1980.

Somewhat evocative.

[T13A]

Ah yes, the days when we actually had an airforce.

They seemed to be making a fuss yesterday in the news when we sent 2 aircraft (yes two aircraft, not 2 squadrons) as reinforcements to Romania. 

Cheers Paul

[paulr]

The RNZAF did a fly past last weekend

Avenger, Spitfire and 2 T-6 Texan II trainers

[fsn]

Pictured is a Churchill Lakeman ARK (Armoured Ramp Carrier), an experimental version of the Churchill ARK. Unlike the original ARK, its bridge was to be used as an attachment to a standard Churchill, maintaining the turret and armament. The advantage here was that it could still be used to fight, however it was deemed too impractical due to the resulting high profile combined with a long and steep ramp. As a result it never saw combat.

What worries me is what Colne is going to do now. Jump?

[fred.]

Very cool photo 

What comes next would seem interesting... Colne jumping down, or reversing back down the ramp. Neither seem much fun.

Not quite sure what problem the fixed ramp carrier was trying to solve. Seems the number of times you would need to get up a 10' to 12' barrier would be fairly limited. The facine or SBG variants seem much more generally useful as could be used to help cross a vertical barrier, or the more common ditch / trench barrier.