steveo578

That's another question answered, it sounds like a comparatively utility conversion, does it retain the original transmission system?

No problem mate, you didn't .....lack of cash is not rare- maybe there should be a sub forum for the indigent:cool2:

Perhaps Jordanian Ferrets were re-engined using a variant of the power train designed for Ferret 80 using a Perkins T6/3544 - the dieselisation kit for the cvrt, surely some-one used the design effort for the Ferret 80. :??? Steve

there was also the FV436 Green Archer FV437 pathfinder neither type seems to have gotten into general service.

The differences in the width on FV432 are down to the ventilator on the right and in some cases the the exhaust pipe on the left and ancillery components such as tent racks on the Command carriers all of which extend beyond the trackguards. The Abbot does not have anything protruding beyond the mesh screens above the trackguards.

Personally I wouldn't value it highly from what I can gather its a prototype with no service record- AFAIK it isn't even a modified verson of a service type, so in effect it has no history -what are people going to do put a cross on the side and try to pass it off as a SdKfz 231 6rad perhaps:-)- seriously the turret that was designed for the 4x4 APC Valkyr and the Saxon was taken to the scrap yard. Personally if i was looking for a post war 6 wheeler I would still go for a Saladin or Saracen -b***h to maintain but lots of history and character.

Didn't realise you were a RSP -happy new year:-D:yay::dancinggirls::clap: It was just at the right distance for the missile firer to easily pick up the target but it deteriorated much more when it was painted white. Of course quite a few went into the interior before exploding chewing up the interior. Steve

On the day I took that photo KOALA was meant to be a runner and had a mechanical failure -hence the open engine compartment and extinguiser- I didn't ask what had happened I did not want to see a grown man cry:cry: Thanks for advising me of the correct location of the two tanks, again on that Budge open day the scrap MkVI was still being resorted hence my statement it was semi-restored I was well aware that it was restored from a tank that had its metal work cut away to make scrub busting blades -the photos of its found contition were also on display - but really if I have to start checking in minutiae or getting my brief to look at my posts I don't think I'll bother Steve

Yes it was a total restoration and I think it may part of the Littlefield Collection but I'm not 100% sure -they tend to be all similar- and once repainted it becomes diffficult be sure its the same vehicle. There was a second one which was semi-restored and I don't know were that one went. Steve

I couldn't find this one earlier but prepared to be shocked:shocked::shocked::shake: Steve

There you are then owt to keep you happy:D Vickers VIB one of two brought back from Australia in the 1980s by A.F. Budge

I believe it was a prototype probably as a competition for the same market as the Armscor company that Tony B mentioned (Kenya Nigeria other African countries which the old Vickers company had an interest). It or a similar one hung around the back lot at Vickers (BAE) Newcastle for years I can remember talking to the PRO at Vickers about it in 2002 -not that I had any interset in it I was just explaining that an interesting relic (03DA26 the Vicker Falcon A/A spg hull) was parked between the 6x6 A/C and an old Transit. Both 6x6 and the transit have now gone the 6x6 I last saw around 2-3 years ago, the Flacon hull is still there -prototype No2 in the Abbot series it was used to move complete warrior turrets around the factory during an upgrade. So what about the Mk11 its a failed marketing prop. I can't remember if the then Vickers-Alvis managed to sell any at all -but I don't think so. Steve

If I remember correctly the Bovington A11 Matilda -the mobile one -ex OTA - has/had a Rover 3.5litre (a wedgie?) motor in place of the ford V8.

Spooky:shake: Some people reckon its due to uncontrolled discharge of energy- but no-one knows, most often on ranges I shake from being flaming cold and wet:-D. Anyway some photos of the white conq on OTA ATWG2 its either a Mk1 or one of the rebuilt FV221s these photos are from about 1998-9 when it was pulled off the be replaced by a chieftain the track snapped but re-accessed and detracked it was placed broadside on to again serve as a target. At this stage it was possible see clean through the hull from front plate to back plate. When I first saw this tank it was almost intact with light damage- and just before the complainers respond this visit was a fully authorised. Steve

What Vickers do you mean there are two .303 vickers on milweb both are priced -both quite high very much higher than on D & B militara. BTW calling something a Vickers without being more specific is very vague there are many Military things made by vickers from Battle Tanks to tractors (one is even mentioned on the forum at present) guns from huge cannons to LMGs -even P08 pistols can be found with vickers stamps.

So effectively it was used as a log skidder or the basis for a dumb tracked trailer or grain hopper. Is the complete trackwork still there (the tracks in particular will be difficult to obtain) and which country is it in? it's a factor in whether it worth the effort in transporting as obtaining a motor and rebuilding the structure are not a minor consideration and would have to be taken into account to make an offer -otherwise it's only a donor vehicle. Steve

thanks Richard i had a look through the fence at lydd (the west end -where the old rail sections were) in the early 1990s didn't see anything significant - in my mind it isn't that far from folkstone because I was driving from Windsor to Folkstone to get a couple of motors rebuilt and is the only military range I was aware of in the area. Steve

With regard to the Churchill Gun carrier -BTW excellent photo Meteor 4B, can anyone advise where exactly it came from- I was told folkstone -which I thought would be Lydd ranges and although this range had some Churchills in the late 1980-90s I am not certain about this. any ideas :??? Steve

Mod edit..topic has gone so far off topic so thread locked

I really like that:-D I believe the Mollins company made precision machinery esp. for cigarette manufacture (so probably killed more people than the Conqueror ever could). Of course the environment in a tank with huge lumps of hot brass being flung around it was unlikely to succeed. With regard to "soul" the photos of the restored loyd carriers shown in the Loyd restoration thread cetainly have a special British thing about them -that simple does what its meant to do mechanicals could not be from any other country Steve

You obviously have very little faith in the Scottish legal system which has ordered that DNA samples must be removed from police files if the accused is not found guilty of an offence or removed in the case is NFA -in the remainder of Great Britain even if an accused is acquitted or does not get to court (NFA) the samples are held on file -which by inference means the accused person has a defacto "criminal record". how will you feel in the future if insurance companies are allowed access to police files -as they have been with DLVA records? DNA like finger prints is assumed to be foolproof it is not. scientific DNA is (I routinely give samples for university hospital research) police gathering and crime lab methodology is not foolproof and one of the scientists involved in formulating the current forenstic DNA protocols has publicly said that he is unhappy with the routine retention and poor scientific control of DNA in the English legal system. I would be happy to have an independent body possibly by one the universities who have real expertise to hold a register of all UK citizens for the purposes of identifying anyone killed or seriously injured in an accident, but except for convicted criminals no records should be available for investigating authorities to trawl- they are not by defination dis-interested persons. Steve

Red banner behind the logo:argh: I say sir are you one of those dammed anarchists:??? Steve

Howard To be fair it is probably wrong to call the Conquerors Powered gun control a stabiliser in the accepted Chieftain, Centurion even Sherman term, it allows the gunner to target track and the commander in the FCT also being able to track independently on the move, but cannot fire on the move as the gun is out of alignment with the gunners sight in elevation and possibly the commanders sighting equipment in both elevation and traverse, on stopping the weapon aligns with the gunners sight in elevation -it is already aligned in azimuth unless the commander decides to override the gunner with his FCT controls. It was the loader that was the main reason why the Conqueror was not designed to fire on the move- the rounds were too cumbersome to be safely loaded underway. Remember the M103 the US equivalent had two loaders but didn't have any form of advanced gunnery control, stabilisation was discontinued after Sherman until the M60A3. It's not a bad system for its age- trying to make an effective on the move gun stabiliser for a 68ton tank on Horstmann suspension with 1940-50 vintage electronics for a very large weapon -the Conq gun being 2854kg (bare) as opposed to 1780kg (bare) for an L11 (Chieftain) would be asking a lot. The stabiliser for the Centurion although capable of holding both elevation and azimuth did so only because of a comparatively slow traverse. but even the Israelis renowned for using Cents both with 20pdr and 105mm L7 gun armament, would rarely if ever fire on a spot (tank) target on the move- they tracked targets on the move in stabilisation and fired while momentarily stationary. One of my first letters from Bob Griffin was about this very subject –I assisted Bob in minor ways on both his Conqueror and Chieftain books. Page 15 of Rob's book discuses the concept of the Universal Tank something F.M. Montgomery advocated in his February 1945 paper- in that the Comparative Class System should be eliminated. The result was the FV201 which was actually a barely changed version of the A45 infantry tank -the companion tank of the A41 Centurion Cruiser. Work continued on the FV201 until it realised that FV201 was incapable of being a tank for all seasons and it was officially discontinued in mid 1948. However work continued using the FV201 hull as the basis of a Heavy Gun Tank then numbered FV214 (with the FV221 as a 20pdr interim vehicle). The development of FV214 like the M103 (T43) was the result of the deteriorating European situation (Czech crisis –Yugoslavia and Berlin Blockade) followed shortly by the outbreak of war in Korea in the summer of 1950 left the US and British with a tank park apparently little more advanced than it was in 1945 –hence both tanks were designed around the same heaviest practical gun available the 120mm M58. For Britain this meant little more than designing a new turret big enough for the 120mm L1A1 carried on a virtually unmodified A45-FV201 hull. The FV214 was never available in sufficient numbers to replace the Centurion although that was the original plan to have 1830 (Conqueror page 29) that is sufficient for a 50% requirement of 936 –that is about 18 full strength regiment in WW2 configuration or up to 40 light regiments which is easily up to the standard of BAOR when equipped with Centurion or Chieftain and would have in effect been the Capital-Universal-Main Battle tank (as the bard said what's in a name). But that was what it should have been, Britain faced with severe economic crisis and imperial retreat would not stump up for that number of new tanks so as a compromise scheme closely akin to the wartime Sherman Firefly was proposed and this would be an interim until something better could be developed. Fortunately in fairly short order the 105mm L7 gun for the Cent. and then the Chieftain. As to the Conq being a limited tank killer –post war the British tank became little more than a tank killer in particular Chieftain used the same limited ammunition pallet relying on HESH as an explosive round.

"received inteligence" is part of an inregular noun, We have "received inteligence" You have "unsubstanciated rumour" She has "gossip" The police are very good at going off half cocked (sic) as he is the chairman of a local shooting club an initial enquiry at low level by the FEO would probably been sufficient to ascertain whether an offence had been commited. The problem with being "bailed pending further enquiries" the accused under English Law can be DNA tested and the result held on file forever. Again low key enquiries by the FEO or even an instructed officer would have resolved the matter, there is too much media inspired policing in the UK today (who tipped off the press?) -obviously they wanted their own 15minutes of fame. Remember heedless of the end result this will be classified in "home Office Returns" as a major fire-arms incident justifying additional resouces at a time when budgets are about to be cut -if that's not too political. Steve

Sorry haven't got a copy either I was only in W.H. Smith to get out of the rain and thought I would amuse myself by looking at what still hasn't sold, there some vehicles in the clasifieds that are so familiar I almost think they are family members.:-D Of the Chieftains one was a liquided project -sort of half way through a re-build -for example the de-ac had been obtained and spares were mentioned -I can't remember what the other one said- it was a much smaller ad. Sorry I can't be of more assistance Steve