Meteor mark 4B

When I worked at FVRDE I was sent off on my own with a Chieftain Dozer to do some tidying up. Due to the already mentioned lack of vision, I had to reverse about 50 yards each time to see what I had done!

Quite right. The Conq was there to combat the JS3 heavy tank. As far as I know the Cent easily defeated Russian armour in the Arab-Israeli wars.

Those who think the T***r is great should have had the opportunity of seeing (and hearing) a Conqueror Main Battle Tank with a good driver thundering across Soltau Training area in Germany, or Salisbury Plain. Like the T***r, the Conqueror was over-engineered, overweight and unreliable, but magnifient when it was going. I once wrote to the Tank Museum asking why SO much money was being spent on the T***r when there was so much of interest in the "unseen" collection, and they advised that the T***r brings in the punters.

Apologies, my PC is unable to print the full word, T***r, there it's done it again.

For a couple of years, when we held our annual MVT event at Mt Edgcumbe, (still do), we trundled out to Millbrook to view progress on the S130, and interesting it was too. However, for the last two years .....nothing, no contact, or at least no replies. A couple of members did a recce, and the site looked somewhat inactive.

There used to be a few Centurions at Manby.

Reviews on my old comrades web forum are somewhat less than complimentary......

From an Aden Veteran:

The Beast,think they experimented with over-size tyres.Might have even been off a Dakota?

.....do you think the Mods have nothing better to do than moving threads into the correct boards?

Not necessarily my choice of words, but then perhaps mine were not necessarily yours.

So I'm happy enough to forget it all, life's too short.

Incidentally, an ex Army mate drove Army Minis in major car rallies, as well as Army Austin 1800s.

OK. Bye

Well, my "help reqd" thread did thankfully achieve one reply before it was unceremoniously hiked off to much more obscure "other chatter" section. Oh well.....

Many thanks, I'll pass on the details.

Not a military vehicle but...

My son in law has a late "proper" Mini. He would like to find a good enthusiastic repair garage for odd jobs within perhaps 15 miles of Portsmouth. He actually lives in Denmead. No need for it to be exclusively Mini, someone who repairs " enthusiast" vehicles would be ok.

Thanks in anticipation!

Excellent photos. Some included soldiers of the 11th Hussars, my regiment. On row 3 picture 7, the guy without beret was reputed to have been able to carry 4 full Jerrycans of petrol, two under each arm, and two in each hand. He also threw around Centurion roadwheels with little effort. He once grabbed me by the lapels and lifted me off the ground when I forgot to pass on a message from him! (why for you no take message? He was Polish) Someone mentioned the lack of badges, we only wore a badge on our peaked hats, not on vehicle park berets. The 11H ceased to exist in 1969.

From my Old Comrades web forum:

Clino was set in daylight for night shoot and also when obscuration was expected after first round was fired ie in dusty conditions like a desert.You could add 200 for example on range drum,level bubble,fire,drop 400 on range drum and fire again.Traverse indicator had to be zeroed throughout this procedure as well. (Anyone bored?).This does not look like the ones we had fitted on Centurion, no knurled knob in view here. Saladin?

Cornwall MVT annual rally over the August Bank holiday weekend 2013 at the stunning Mount Edgcumbe Estate on the Rame Peninsula in Cornwall is ABSOLUTELY FREE! Good pub, good company, good camping, good entertainment, (well that's debatable, some of it is Karoake!) I could go on and on.......

Thanks for the replies so far, much appreciated.

1960s no poles, after slaving over a hot pencil producing this sketch

A bivvy for a Cent ( in the 1960s at least), was tied to the side of the tank, it never had any poles as mentioned. It had a back, (up against the side of the tank), and a 45 degree sloping roof, and two triangular sides for entrance and exit. I might have a picture somewhere......

Correction here....the 16/5th amalgamated with the 17/21st, not the 15/19th. Still doesn't sort out the track pad mystery!!

I've been advised by FJ that premiums are up by 30% to 60% this year. Mine with them for my LR has certainly gone up substantially. I've checked out a few others, one or two have low mileage clauses, one was 4500 max. One suggested £291 for a 5000 mile limit. Can't be right I cried. Apparently it is. Adrian Flux (6000 miles) and Lancaster (10000 miles) seem to be the most competitive at £109 and £106. My vehicle is used regularly and not just for shows by the way. Any thoughts on here?

General feeling on my 11H old comrades forum is that the regiment is the 15/19th Hussars, now amalgamated with the 17/21st, and soon to be amalgamated again. Still doesn't tell us why the tank has hush puppy tracks......all the UK Cents I saw used the metal tracks shown in the picture above.

Never came across any hush puppy tracks in my time on Cent in the 60s. The driving lights are definitely early 60s though, Mark 5 Cent and older. We had normal round headlights, ie Mark 6 Cent and later, and then twin lights 2 with IR ability, well before Chieftain arrived with us in 1966. However, the Netherlands army had Cents with rubber pads at that time.

Recall seeing Churchill AVRES "careering" along at 12MPH flat out. At night you could see the road wheels glowing red!

I drove one of those once while at FVRDE, ghastly thing, no further comment necessary.........

There's a thread on here somewhere with similar pictures of vehicles in Hong Kong.