Rlangham
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Posts posted by Rlangham
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Here's the rest of my photos, covering the WW2 vehicles and slightly post-war ones.
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Outside the entrance is this very rare Churchill Mk I tank, as used at Dieppe. As well as the 2 pounder gun in the turret, it also has the 3 inch gun in the hull.
One of the first vehicles you see in the WW2 hall is the Matilda I tank, armed with only a Vickers machine gun, and looks very frail. There's also the hull and turret of another Matilda I in the huge store yard outside the Tank Museum, that looks like it had been used as a range target.
Another very rare exhibit is this A9 cruiser tank, fitted with two auxiliary Vickers machine gun turrets. Used by the BEF in France 1940, and also in the desert
One of two Daimler Dingo scout cars
Thornycroft Bison armoured lorry - designed in 1940 when fear of German invasion was high, it's fitted with a concrete pillbox in the rear and a concrete cab. Not exactly designed for high speeds, it was to be used as a mobile pillbox
L3/33 Italian light tank, fitted with a flame thrower
Crusader III tank, which had a problem with the tracks coming off at high speed!
Churchill III tank, the turret from the Mk III onwards was a complete re-design from that of the 2 pounder turret in the Mk I. This one is an AVRE variant with the spigot mortar in place of the main gun
Tetrarch light tank, which is where the Daimler armoured car Mk I got the turret design from. Flown into battle in the Normandy and Rhine landings by the huge Hamilcar glider, this example is in a surviving section of Hamilcar
A13 Cruiser tank, another BEF tank, fitted with a 2 pounder gun
Vickers Mk VI light tank, only armed with two Vickers mg's
Panther tank
Couldn't get a decent photo of the Cromwell, but here's the BESA machine gun in the hull
Matilda II - completely different from the Matilda I, it was slow (as it was designed as an infantry tank, to stay with the infantry), but was heavily armoured and could take a lot of punishment
AEC armoured car, fitted with a 75mm gun in the turret
Staghound armoured car with a 37mm gun in the turret - the Mk III Staghounds had the turret off a Crusader III fitted
Japanese Ha-Go light tank
Soviet KV-1 heavy tank
Enormous Jagdtiger, fitted with a 120mm gun. They also had a Tiger, Jagdpanther, and two King Tiger's (one with a Henschel turret, one with a Porsche turret), but I didn't have enough memory left on my camera to take photos of them unfortunately
A row of 'Funnies' - Cromwell dozer, Sherman 'crab' flail tank used for clearing paths through minefields, and a DUKW
Stuart M3A3 light tank
M10 Achilles - this is the British version fitted with a 17 pounder anti tank gun
Humber scout car
Buffalo LVT4 amphibian, used for carrying vehicles such as a Universal Carrier, M29 Weasel (which is in the back of this one) or a Jeep, they were also used to carry British infantry across the Rhine
Canadian Ram tank, built on the M4 Sherman chassis. Only a few were used by the Canadians in NW Europe
Another troop carrier is this Ram Kangaroo - the Ram tanks that were available after being replaced by Shermans were converted into troop carriers by removing the turret and ammo lockers etc
The Morris light reconnaissance car Mk I - used by the RAF regiment as well as the army, with a Bren gun in the turret and a Boyes anti tank rifle for the hatch next to the turret for the commander to use
8x8 Boarhound armoured car, designed by the US and ordered by the UK, but only 30 were built out of 2500 ordered by the UK as they had poor cross country performance. In the Leicestershire Regiment there's a photo of one driving through Leicester
A43 Black Prince, an experimental development of the Churchill tank with a 17 pounder gun, which was later developed into the Centurion
And to finish off, the A39 Tortoise heavy assault tank, developed for clearing heavily fortified areas. It weighted 78 tons and was armed with a 32 pounder gun, with three BESA mg's
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Haha, easily! If I had to make one complain about the place, it would be that there's too many tanks, as it's a bit overwhelming and feel as if you have to rush past exhibits to see everything! Kind of like 'wow a Morris Light Recce Car Mk 1, wanted to see that all my life, but still have 100 tanks to go!'
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As you all probably know, the Tank Museum in Dorset, UK has the finest collection of WWI vehicles in the world. Here's the pre-WW2 exhibits, mainly WWI but a few interesting and unusual between the wars designs. No tripods allowed but the lighting was very good so didn't use my mini pod hidden in my pocket! Best shop i've seen at a museum as well, picked up a great book by David Fletcher, the leading WWI tank historian and curator of the museum about British Tanks 1915-1919, and a 1/72 Whippet
An officer in part of the very large trench reconstruction, along with a friendly rat (I counted four at least!)
The first Tank you see in the museum (well, you would if the museum was open normally - it's currently under development so apart from the WWI section the museum is all over the place). Anyway, it's a Mk I Male, the oldest surviving combat tank, serving at the first ever tank battle, Flers, in September 1916
The first ever tank - Little Willie of 1915. It was originally planned to built these fitted with turrets as combat tanks, but it would give it too high a centre of gravity. The body style was instead used on WWI tanks instead, but with all around tracks instead. As you'll see later, the style of tracks was later used on the Whippet tank
The interior of 'Little Willie' - not much left except the chassis
57mm gun from a Mk IV onwards WWI 'Male' tank - for those that don't know, a Male tank was fitted with cannon as well as machine guns, whereas a Female was purely machine guns
German 77mm field gun, captured at the Battle of Cambrai
German Skoda 21cm Howitzer, captured by the British in WWI
1909 Ruston-Hornsby tractor, believed to the be the oldest surviving tracked vehicle
The first turreted tank to be used in action, the French Renault FT17 light tank, armed with either a Hotchkiss machine gun as shown or a 37mm gun. They were even used up to WWII by various countries
Mk II 'Female', with two Vickers heavy machine guns in each side sponson. This was built as a Male tank but fitted with a Female sponson post-war (sponsored removed on the left hand side so you can see the interior), personally I think it's a good thing they did this as the Mk I/II Female's look different to the Mk IV onwards, plus there's more Male tanks left than Female ones. This tank served at the Battle of Arras in 1917 and you can see some of the damage done to it
My favourite, the Medium A 'Whippet' tank. Twice as fast as the 'heavy' tanks, and armed with four machine guns, they were designed to exploit breakthroughs by the heavy tanks. Actions by Whippets include a company of Seven Whippets, whilst covering the British retreat during the German spring offensive in 1918, sped towards two German batallions cavalry style and completely wiped them out, killing over 400.
One, named 'Musical Box', broke behind German lines and spent nine hours shooting up infantry, transport and artillery, only ending when the tank caught fire after hit by artillery, the commander of the tank noting that although getting kicked in by German troops after bailing out was extremely unfair, at least it help put out the fire, as his clothes were ablaze!
This Whippet took part in the earning of the VC by Lietenant Sewell who rescued the crew of another Whippet which had turned over, by getting out of his tank, digging out the rear entrance of the sunken Whippet, rescuing the crew but getting shot as he went back to his Whippet
Peerless armoured car of 1919, with very similar bodywork to that used on the Austin armoured cars, used by the Russians and British in WWI
Mk IV Male
Mk VII 'International', much larger than the previous WWI tanks with a new body style. They were designed to be used in 1919 by the British and Americans, faster and more heavily armed and armoured than the previous tanks.
Mk V tank, still in running condition. This one fought at Amiens in 1918 - the white/red/white stripes seen on this and several others was to show it was a 'friendly' tank, as many tanks captured by the Germans were now being used by them, causing confusion (the Germans only made twenty of their own design of tanks, and they had a nasty habit of falling over!)
Rear firing machine gun on the Mk V
Mk IX troop carrier, nicknamed 'The Pig'. It was designed to carry 50 troops and was twin engined. Like Mk VII, it was planned for use in 1919. You can go inside this and the Mk V** (a stretched version of the Mk V, the Germans responded to the introduction of trench crossing tanks by increasing the width of the trenches, so we responded by making longer tanks!), although they look huge from the outside they really are very cramped inside, even I had to bend down a bit inside them
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1920 Rolls Royce Armoured Car, almost identical to the WWI version of Rolls Royce ac's but with disc wheels and a few other detail differences. Even Her Majesty has had a ride on this one!
Huge 1930's Irish Leyland armoured car, fitted with a Swedish built turret
Vickers 'Independent', with five turrets!
1930's Crossley armoured car, designed for colonial use, looks like it was designed for shooting people on either side of the road!
1920's Vickers Medium tank
one of the Vickers MG's on the side of the hull. They also had, at various points around the museum, shooting simulators with a real weapon for the Vickers, Bren, Lee Enfield No 4 and a PIAT. The Vickers one was great!
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On my way back home from London for christmas, I stopped off at the Shuttleworth Collection as it's conveniently half way between London and Leicestershire for me. The smell of dope, oil and whatever else makes old planes smells so good that hits you as you walk into Hangar 2 made my day! It's a great place to wander around on a static day, the photos and information around the hangar walls are just as interesting as the aircraft. I can reccomend the Turkey and vegetable pie in the resturant too, fantastic pastry. As well as the Crossley, there's also a Fordson WOT2 radio van and two BSA M20's (both with the same C registration number!)
Storch in the workshop
Spitfire AR501
Sea Hurricane
Avro 504
Nice set up with the Bristol fighter and Hucks starter
Sopwith Pup
Gloster Gladiator
Southern Martlet
The gorgeous de Havilland Comet racer
Deperdussin
My favourite of the pre-WWI aircraft, the Avro triplane
Crossley Royal Flying Corps staff car, the tender version is in the RAF Museum
Crossley M5
1913 Morris Oxford
1901 Locomobile steam car
Pietenpol Air Camper
Lycoming engined Auster V Alpha
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Read about it on the other forum as well. Maybe if a band of volunteers had looked after it while it was at Sheffield it wouldn't have been sold to a collector. At least this way it will be restored back to its original condition and into working order, which surely is a better memorial than sitting there dead and lifeless, and also inaccurate
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That's a very nice Bren - at the Victory Show this year, I spent the saturday of the battling going through about 15 (or 20, can't remember) mags on the Bren gun, in the gunners position of a bren gun carrier. Fantastic!
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If anyone's got the book 'the wartime jeep in british service' or something similarly titled, you'll see that there's no such thing as a standard British jeep! As for roundels, I believe the white circle around the star on the bonnet was complete on US jeeps, but had gaps in it on the British ones? I normally just look for a serial number beginning with 'm' and any divisional insignia
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Yeah, considering how much stuff the IWM supposedly has, there's not an awful amount in the IWM that you won't see at any regular military museum (aside from the large exhibits). Had no idea the V and A has anything military, what do they have there? It's one of the only museums I haven't been to yet, so i'll have to give it a go!
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Just realised got the date wrong on this - it was 1915 not 1917! Went there yet again this week for a decent pint (hard to find in London!), and found a good old fish and chip shop literally round the corner from it, the first time i've seen one since moving here!
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I thought it was Dutch myself - I think it came across with quite a few vehicles from the same collection in Holland (Louweman or something like that, i'll check out the guide later), which has, among others, the 'Genevieve' 1904 Darracq
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Spotted this vehicle as a sort of support vehicle on the London to Brighton run on both the Saturday at the Regent Street event, and parked up at Hyde Park Corner on the Sunday morning of the run. Looking at the Bart Vanderveen pre-1940 MV book, there's a photo of a Pierce Arrow which looks similar but mentions 'heavier types supplied to British and French', so maybe this is one of the British and French ones? Probably something only Great War Truck can answer, but thought i'd post it and see if anyone else knew, plus it's a nice truck
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Wow, great layout Steve - i'm getting an 009 Simplex petrol tractor in the post soon so thinking of doing a WWI layout, gives me something useful to do with my model vehicles! Have to agree, without going into too much detail, I find those on the GWF a bit of the 'we're better than you because i've read more books/got a degree in history' mentality, plus they seem to look down on re-enactors etc despite the fact i'd consider that living as the soldiers did would give you more knowledge in five minutes as to what it was like, than five years of looking at books and photos
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This stuff is absolutely fantastic Tim, many many thanks for the heads up!
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Extremely bad! I've only seen the dogfight clips on youtube but they say it all - WWI biplanes with agility that would put an Extra 300 (the type of plane you see in the Red Bull Air Races) to shame. The worst bits either have to be the fact that all enemy planes are completely red Fokker triplanes, the bad guy is so bad his plane is completely black, to show how evil he is, and worst of all the part where an American pilot intentionally manages to rip off the top wing of a Fokker triplane by going slightly higher whilst being chased, and then slowing down, using his undercarriage to rip off the upper wing. His own undercarriage isn't damaged whatsoever!
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E-mailed Kew and apparently ten years ago it was handed over to someone called Dennis Brandt at Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire. Looking at the website it's more of a posh wedding/corporate event style place, sent them an e-mail off using the general enquiry form anyway so will wait and see if I get a reply
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Speaking of replicas, one of the many items in Peter Jackson's toybox includes a Mk IV tank replica, built using a caterpillar bulldozer (D6 I think), looks spot on in all the video footage and photos i've seen of it. Also has a Rolls Royce A/C replica too but only seen that from a distance in a video
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Sorry :bow: Blame the Yanks, they were allegedly used in the recent WW1 flying film, wings of angels? or whatever.
Ah, no doubt that eye-stingingly bad film 'Flyboys'!
I'm tempted to go down the Model T route, however aside from the US ambulance version I haven't found any photos of the 1917 onwards version of the Model T (with the nicer looking non-brass radiator), does anyone have any? Apparently a lot of one ton trucks (1917 onwards) were used by both the British and US, however as these were normally supplied without a cab or rear body I don't know what they'd look like. The 1917 pick up in the RAFM has a replica cab and body so don't know how accurate that is.
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Tim, is the Foden viewable at Kew? As i'm rapidly turning into a WWI buff (i've learnt more about WWI than anything else since starting University, and spent more of my loan on books than anything else, including alcohol!), i'd love to see it, especially as WWI softskins are so thin on the ground
Cheers, Rob
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Closed down now unfortunately - although a replacement opened in Camden called 'Squadron HQ', but it's one of these 'Camden retro/weird fashionable' type shops so ridiculously expensive - only had one pith helmet, and it was £60! And it was the same as the sort as previously mentioned, the sort you get at military shows for about £10-20
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Yeah, i'm looking for the ones you see at just about every militaria show/stalls at vehicle shows, normally go for about £10-£20. Hoping to try one on first though as i'm not sure which i'd prefer! Thanks for the hints though guys will give them a go
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Does anyone know of any decent militaria shops in London? Ideally near a tube station! Fancy a tat-spending spree, namely a good decent pith helmet but not sure which sort to go for (either the Wolseley or the other sort as used in Zulu). Only one i've seen so far is one in Camden Market which was actually well priced, but didn't have one there unfortunately or much else in the way of WW2 stuff.
Cheers, Rob
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Today I made the journey over to Holborn to visit The Dolphin Tavern, which, on the night of 9th September 1917, was hit by a high explosive bomb dropped from KapitanLeutnant Mathy in Zeppelin L13. Three men were killed, one of them, Fireman Green, dying of burns while trying to put fires out in nearby houses. The tavern was rebuilt and is still open serving a decent selection of beers and food (among other alcohol but I wasn't paying attention to those!). Hanging on the wall is a clock which stopped when the bomb hit and was later found in the wreckage. Afterwards I went to the IWM Museum to see the WWI Zeppelin and anti-aircraft exhibits.
Me outside The Dolphin Tavern
The clock
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Unfortunately you can't see the photograph well but it shows The Dolphin after the bomb hit, with the windows smashed and the entrance to the pub blown out, looks very surreal especially as I walk past many of these street corner style pubs every day. The writing says;
'THE DOLPHIN TAVERN - hit by an H.E. Bomb dropped by Zepp L.13. on the 9th of Sept 1915. 3 men were killed. The old clock was recovered with the hands stopped at 10.40 p.m. - the time the tavern was hit.'
French 75mm field gun. These were used on lorries by the French and British for anti-aircraft work on a different mounting, on the night The Dolphin was hit the newly arrived motorised 75mm was used by the RNAS to drive away Zeppelin L15 which was attacking the nearby Inns of Court.
British one pounder anti aircraft gun mark two, the first gun fired in the defence of London. Although a naval design, this was issued to the anti-aircraft station at Gresham College. On the night The Dolphin was bombed, it shot at (and missed) Zeppelin L13 (which bombed The Dolphin). The officer in charge of the gun that night later became the first secretary and curator of the IWM.
Sopwith Camel 2F1, the type of Camel developed by the RNAS to defend the fleet against Zeppelins, which shot down Zeppelin L53 on 11th August 1918, the last German airship to be shot down in WWI, piloted by Flight Sub-Lieutenant Stuart Douglas Culley.
Be2c that flew with Home Defence Squadrons in WWI
British 13 pounder field gun. Like the French 75mm it was used as an AA gun using different types of shell, mounted on the back of lorries. They became widely available when they were replaced by the 18 pounder, and along with the 75mm, one pounder and 3 inch AA gun they were the standard anti-aircraft guns for the UK armed forces in WWI.
Observation car from Zeppelin LZ90 which fell off it on the night of 2/3 September 1916 (the same night William Leefe Robinson VC shot down Schutte-Lanz SL11). These were used by Zeppelins to lower an airman thousands of feet below a Zeppelin via cable to see beneath clouds while the Zeppelin remained hidden. When it fell off LZ90, it was being lowered unmanned when the winch went out of control.
Control panel from Zeppelin L33, shot down in Essex in the early hours of 24th September 1916
Triangular girder section from a Zeppelin brought down over England (there were no further details unfortunately). The two small bomb like objects are Ranken explosive darts, containing high explosive, phosphorous and black powder which were designed to ignite when the dart penetrates the Zeppelin's skin. The tail has spring loaded vanes which opened and lock into position to make sure the bomb stuck into the Zeppelins fabric
Postcards showing Schutte-Lanz SL11 being shot down by William Leefe Robinson VC and a signed photograph of him. The fuel gauge on the left is from SL11 too. The Maxim MG08 machine gun is from Zeppelin L15 which chucked it out to gain height after being damaged by AA fire on 31st March 1916, however it later came down in the sea north of Margate.
Incendiary bomb dropped by Zeppelin LZ38 (for those wondering, LZ denotes a Zeppelin used by the German Army, and L by the Navy) on London during the first airship raid on London, 31st May 1915.
Large model of Zeppelin L33 hanging from the roof. L33 came down gently in Essex just after 1am on 24th September 1916 after being damaged by AA fire after a raid on London. When it came down the commander of the Zeppelin tried to warning the inhabitants of nearby cottages that he was going to set it on fire, however one house didn't answer the door, deciding to hide in a cupboard instead.
When they tried to set fire to the Zeppelin, there was so little gas left which had been leaking out since hit by AA fire, apparently all it managed to burn was the envelope of the Zeppelin and singe the fur of a white terrier dog sniffing around!
The photos I posted a few weeks ago of RAFM Hendon show the gondola car of British airship R33, which entire structure and gondola design was a copy of L33.
Hope the photos are of interest, cheers, Rob
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Ahah! That's the one, thanks so much guys. What are they like for reliability, ease of driving etc? Think i've just found a cool alternative to buying a VW camper next summer....
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Right oh chaps, i've been trying to find a vehicle for a while but have no idea what it is. Basically, at the War and Peace show near our display (so it would have been close to if not exactly opposite the 'Rolling Thunder' display), a few military vehicles from Eastern Europe, including one that looked like a VW camper van, that wasn't. I presume it's probably Russian or Czech but have no luck in trying to find it on the internet, anyone know of any vehicles that I might be thinking of?
James ML 'Clockwork Mouse'
in Motorcycles
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Does anyone know how much the James ML's go for, or how common/rare they are?
Cheers, Rob