Churchill Gallery

for the interest of members of the forum -note the curved rail around the sprocket to allow the track to move without engaging the teeth.- necessary as the transmission compartment was/is still filled with concrete and it proved impossible to release the sprocket drive spline shafts.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the confirmation and showing what sometimes needs to be engineered to recover a range wreck. There is almost always more to it than to simply hook it up to a recovery vehicle.

The one shown below was close to a hard surface road but had a couple of tons of scrap steel on it. But back then it was in such a good condition it could have been driven out

Hanno

hi fella's

there's not so many churchills to be found in scrapyards nowadays but they're still out there to be had for those daft enough to try. i've a feeling that when the current churchill restorations are complete down at the isle of white and at rr services that a few hulls may become available when the necessity for spares is no longer required (so start saving up now)

eddy

mcspool

.....and showing what sometimes needs to be engineered to recover a range wreck. There is almost always more to it than to simply hook it up to a recovery vehicle.

Yes the curved rails were well thought out -in effect they were an extension of the standard rails on the upper sponson which the Churchill had in place of return rollers. However other things weren't so well thought out. For the most part the best way to recover a tank is to do it like the REME do, in this case it would require railway sleepers paralel to the side and jack up the side, pull the track through beneath the wheels and drop the tank onto the track- repeat on the other side. Reconnect both tracks.

The scheme (not mine:() for recovering Merlin was to jack up the rear, pull through the tracks as far as possible under the wheels, let down the rear and push/pull and winch the tank backward until completly onto the track. The problems were multiple, several left side bogies were trashed, additionally the 39ton tank it was completely full of concrete so the jacking up of the rear caused the nose to sink markedly and without a large recovery vehicle it proved impossible to firstly winch the tank backward onto its tracks with a small tracked bulldozer and secondly push it with a large truck-tractor unit. It was recovered months later after more suitable kit was bought in.

The first and second photos show the tank jacked up at the rear

With the tracks pulled half way through the tank was let down onto the track and an attempt was made to push the tank backward.

As an aside the blast plates from Merlin were used to support the jacks and were wrecked- blast plates are not that easy to manufacture.

The one shown below was close to a hard surface road but had a couple of tons of scrap steel on it. But back then it was in such a good condition it could have been driven out

It was certainly a nice Churchill -I wonder where it is now.

Steve

few pics of the eden camp crocodile.

the interior pic is the flame projector taken from the drivers vision port.

Apart from a touch of creosote on the track + 15 or 16 years of sunshine and rain I don't think much has been done with the Eden camp Churchill since I took this pic. Shame really even a rub down with an oily rag would help:(

Steve

I took these in Normandy in 2003. No digital camera back then and these are scans so not the best pics!

nothing much wrong with them - certainly debatable whether a digital or direct transfer from negs to computer would be any better.

The tanks are at the Battle for Normandy Museum and the Hill 112 Memorial tank -I could be wrong but that tank may have been recovered by Carl Brown from the Thetford training area. Unfortunately a Mk7 that is of later build date than the battle for which it is a memorial.

Steve

nothing much wrong with them - certainly debatable whether a digital or direct transfer from negs to computer would be any better.

 

The tanks are at the Battle for Normandy Museum and the Hill 112 Memorial tank -I could be wrong but that tank may have been recovered by Carl Brown from the Thetford training area. Unfortunately a Mk7 that is of later build date than the battle for which it is a memorial.

 

Steve

They look better on the forum than they do when blown up on my pc!

Yes that is right where they were located. Did I imagine it or has the Battle for Normandy Museum closed or closed down for a while, does anyone know?

The battle of normandy museum closed down, to become a 'peace' rather than 'war' museum. The site belongs to Bayeux so the people who provided (some of) the exhibits had no choice but to move them out. In my opinion this was a shame as it told story of the Normandy campaign very well - not the somewhat sanitised version it has now become. At the time there was a petition raised to try to keep it in it's original format (i collected some signtaures from this side of the Channel, but clearly not enough).

The part of the stuka dive bomber engine i have, which was shot down over Bayeux came (originally) through one of the curators of the museum.

The big hall at the 'back' which had the dozer, half track and diarama in it is i think pretty much unchanged, but the first big hall has changed considerably, and the part where the shot down german plane (i know next to nothing about aircraft so will not try to mis identify it) has all gone and become the gift shop if i remember correctly.

Ken

The battle of normandy museum closed down, to become a 'peace' rather than 'war' museum. The site belongs to Bayeux so the people who provided (some of) the exhibits had no choice but to move them out. In my opinion this was a shame as it told story of the Normandy campaign very well - not the somewhat sanitised version it has now become. At the time there was a petition raised to try to keep it in it's original format (i collected some signtaures from this side of the Channel, but clearly not enough).

The part of the stuka dive bomber engine i have, which was shot down over Bayeux came (originally) through one of the curators of the museum.

The big hall at the 'back' which had the dozer, half track and diarama in it is i think pretty much unchanged, but the first big hall has changed considerably, and the part where the shot down german plane (i know next to nothing about aircraft so will not try to mis identify it) has all gone and become the gift shop if i remember correctly.

Ken

Thanks for that Ken. I remember they had the gun barrel of I think a Tiger Tank (can't quite remember), I couldn't believe how long it was without the hull attached etc.

These two below were outside as well.

Sorry for sort of hijacking the Churchill thread!

The tanks are at the Battle for Normandy Museum and the Hill 112 Memorial tank -I could be wrong but that tank may have been recovered by Carl Brown from the Thetford training area. Unfortunately a Mk7 that is of later build date than the battle for which it is a memorial.

 

Steve

You are correct Steve! Here it is in 1993 when still used a a recovery aid and again upon recovery for the memorial.

It was a shame really, it was automotively complete and a little unusual in that it was not a crocodile. It would have been a relatively easy restoration.

My involvement was the manufacture of a dummy gun and air inlet boxes.

I thought I would put a few more up from my files.

A selection from Salisbury Plain.

This was a Crocodile from Pounds that ended up on the Plain as a hard target before being selected for recovery to go to the Victory Memorial Museum at Arlon in Belgium.

It had been pulled to a road but one of the tracks had received a hit and it broke.

A group of Friends were tasked to re-fit the track to enable further recovery. We did this by jacking up one side of the tank and pulling the repaired track underneath before rejoining it.

It got to Belgium ok but upon the Museums closure, it returned to the UK and is now on display at RAF Honnington.

great pics and an interesting background story, thanks for sharing them with us.

eddy

The tanks are at the Battle for Normandy Museum and the Hill 112 Memorial tank -I could be wrong but that tank may have been recovered by Carl Brown from the Thetford training area. Unfortunately a Mk7 that is of later build date than the battle for which it is a memorial.

After Adrian's "before" pictures, here's a couple of "after" pictures. Taken in June 2009 during the wreath laying ceremony.

Like you said Adrian, this Churchill should have been restored to running order. But it is a fitting tribute to those who suffered at Hill 112. The gentleman in the centre of the first picture is Albert Figg, the driving force behind the memorial. See http://www.hill112.com/ for more information. He is still full of energy, telling the school kids about his wartime experiences and not afraid to comment on what the veterans were subjected to a few days earlier.

Jack, wouldn't this be a great feature for your magazine?

HTH,

Hanno

Two more Churchills in Normandy, both AVRE´s. There used to be a third one, but its place has been taken by a Centaur IV.

The three AVRE´s were placed along the coastal road within a dozen miles of each other. This "AVRE alley" led to some confusion among tank spotters: "Did you see the AVRE in Normandy?" "Which one of the three?!?" "Three!! You are kidding!?! I only saw two and that made my day already." It does spoil the fun a bit if there are so many of one type to be seen at one place. It is a bit the same with jeeps at a HMV show . . .

It got to Belgium ok but upon the Museums closure, it returned to the UK and is now on display at RAF Honnington.

Good to hear it didn't disappear like some other items. The Dakota in the pole at that museum was the one that got wrecked in Holland recently.

H.

Adrian Barrell

You are correct Steve! Here it is in 1993 when still used a a recovery aid

thanks for confirming that -out of context Mk7s have a tendencey to look the same -although this one has spaced armour mounts (as does Winston and of course the Mk7 at bovington). I was surprised how complete it was -I saw a photo of the drive train -although the gearbox might have been a problem as the access panels were removed.

Hi Hanno

Is the missing AVRE the one that was dug up from under the road?

Or is this the first shown in your post (position of the turret)

Steve

this is the first one , the missing one," Bulldog" is now at Duxford

Two more Churchills in Normandy, both AVRE´s. There used to be a third one, but its place has been taken by a Centaur IV.

 

The three AVRE´s were placed along the coastal road within a dozen miles of each other. This "AVRE alley" led to some confusion among tank spotters: "Did you see the AVRE in Normandy?" "Which one of the three?!?" "Three!! You are kidding!?! I only saw two and that made my day already." It does spoil the fun a bit if there are so many of one type to be seen at one place. It is a bit the same with jeeps at a HMV show . . .

 

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Why on the Barrel has one got a steel plate affair welded on top, and the other got something very similar but welded below the barrel? What is this part of the gun, and are both versions correct?

For those who want a photographic list of surviving Churchills, look ye here!

http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Churchills.pdf

Interesting to see a couple plus a turret have been found in Iraq.

The weapon in the AVRE is the petard mortar -which is a spigot mortar similar to the PIAT. The large plate on the side covers the breaking spring the weapon breaks external of the turret like an upside down shotgun. Note the plate beneath the barrel protects the breaking handle

To load the loader in the hull gunners position opens a sliding hatch which replaced the normal co drivers hatches on the Churchills roof. Grabs the opening handle which with the assistance of the large balance spring (see later photo) causes the barrel to open presenting an open breach to the open sliding hatch. A Petard bomb is manhandled into the breach and when in position, the loader pulls the handle to close the weapon by swinging it down. The loader slides the hatch close. The weapon is now ready to fire. In the turret there is a large spring case (like that on a Piat but bigger), A spigot in the case is holding the spring under pressure, on firing the spigot flies similataneous with an igniter -a revolver style tube magazine is visible above the spring case, unlike earlier spigot mortars an igniter initiates the Petard propelling charge which throws it slowly down range (hence the name flying dustbin). The recoil shock is absorbed by reseting the spring in preparation for another round. A chain winch is stowed in the turret for inital cocking and releae after action.

Break/balance spring is visible in this photo.

The flying dustbin bomb- comprises a charge and tail section with the propelling charge in the tube.

counterweight on spring case

Spring case and tube(igniter) revolver

A loaded petard

Rather long complex explanation -I hope it helps

Steve

great post mate, it's good to see how it all works.

cheers eddy

Walking a wood in Kent today and came across this turret in a manmade depression/pit.

It appears to have been attacked with the oxy-acetylene many years ago, but still an interesting relic.

I was told by the ranger that it is a Mk1 Churchill. Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks

John