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Dorking covenanter recovery


eddy8men

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I hate to pre-empt Rick but here are some photos of the recovered wreck. Some photos have been published of the recovery underway but as it did not finish until late at night it was not possible to take sensible photos.

With Rick's go-ahead here they are, taken this morning in beautiful sunshineattachment.php?attachmentid=126154&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=126155&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=126156&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=126157&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=126158&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=126159&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=126160&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=126161&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=126162&stc=1

The damage caused by being a hard target is obvious - the only markings that I could see was a tac sign (51 on a red square) and a possible red/white/red RTR flash. Nothing that I could see to correspond with the first Covenanter dug up in the1980'sattachment.php?attachmentid=126163&stc=1

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Well done to everybody involved in this recovery. Looks to be a challenging restoration but it seems that the parts required are out there. Am I seeing things or is that a 79AD Bulls Head on the previous Covenanter recovery - and why...

Edited by simon king
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I remember doing a hike around there and coming across a firing range - is there still one in the area?

 

There is Boar hill between coldharbour and North Holmwood which I believe is still in use, we used to collect bullets from the sand pits at Milton heath between Dorking and Westcott as kids 50 years ago, it was a wartime range.

 

picture of a very nice turret
Possibly like this......:whistle:

 

Yes extremely like that, what a great start!

Edited by rog8811
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Well done to everybody involved in this recovery. Looks to be a challenging restoration but it seems that the parts required are out there. Am I seeing things or is that a 79AD Bulls Head on the previous Covenanter recovery - and why...

Yes Simon, you are correct.

Elements of 9th AD who used Covenanters were transferred to 79th AD when 9th AD was disbanded (27th Armoured Brigade for example) and so presumably they still had some of their Covenanters on hand to use for training. Speculation unless somebody can come up with more definite proof.

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Well done to everybody involved in this recovery. Looks to be a challenging restoration but it seems that the parts required are out there. Am I seeing things or is that a 79AD Bulls Head on the previous Covenanter recovery - and why...

 

There's some info on this thread : http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?22506-buried-and-abandoned-tanks&p=481222#post481222

 

Nice job Rick!

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Yes Simon, you are correct.

Elements of 9th AD who used Covenanters were transferred to 79th AD when 9th AD was disbanded (27th Armoured Brigade for example) and so presumably they still had some of their Covenanters on hand to use for training. Speculation unless somebody can come up with more definite proof.

 

Thanks Tony - interesting. A Covenanter was probably the last gun tank I expected to see carrying such a sign. If from the same original source, could this hull have been a bridgelayer by any chance? I suppose they just collected any Covenanters from storage for use as range targets though.

 

sorry for the diversion from the main event!

Edited by simon king
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long hard day but worth it, unfortunately i couldn't stay as my wife and daughter were caught up in the bombing on monday so needed to get home last night. i'll go back as soon as things settle down again.

look forward to having a good look at it in the daylight

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The Covenanter will keep Rick, I hope your family are ok.

 

The above sentiment seconded here. This has been a great thread to follow and I salute what you've done - events like those we have seen this week put our nerdy obsession with military metal in context. Hope you and yours are safe and well.

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