steveo578

The reason I think it may be a Cov. is that on the nose plate are two central fixings which held the central headlamp on Covenanters but were missing on most Crusaders -although it could be the remains of a prototype Crusader which did have the central headlamp -prototypes are/were fairly common on Pirbright due to proximity to MVEE. On my attachment the lower lug is visible the upper lug has been lost along with the headlamp cover but fixing hole is visible Steve

Hi eddy It's probably one of the Covenanter on this range:-D

The approved method is light oil and some soft wood (pine) wire wool will take the parkerisation(blackened surface) off.

M31 recovery vehicle -got a sticky key problem perhaps:-) Fairly sure M33 was only used in Italy and I don't know of any photographic evidence of M34 being used on active duty- M32 TRV were fairly late into service too. Steve

The 75mm gun M6 was originally the AN-M9 aka M5 gun as mounted in B25H medium bombers, the only thing M24 and M551 Sheridan had in common was service in Vietnam.

The problem with recovery of this tank is its status, unless it is classed as struck off as a range target, it may have to undergo MADP deacivation -normally this requires the turret and hull armour being extensively cut, which can be very brutal, many ex MADP M48 in Greece were reduced to scrap iron -possibly because an M48 was still a viable MBT, but some vehicles turned up in civilian scrap yards un-cut, however I don't think any of the highly desireable M18 TDs have been seen.

The Sherman mounted R.L. sometimes called Calliope and numbered T34 and T34E1 fired the fin stabilised M8 rockets. there were two late war delelopments of the M16 rocket as fired by T66 towed mount, the Sherman M16 developments were T72 and T99 -neither were used beyond testing. A similar device to T99 was fitted to M26E3 Pershing again as a test.

It's very unlikely that any exists outside a few ordnance museums stateside as it was very late arriving in service, only one batalion 282 FA Ist Army received the weapon before Germany surrendered and unlike the M8 type fin stabillized rockets it doesn't seem to be used in the Far East or Korea. The T27 (M8) launcher also shown in the clip was easier to man handle especially in terrain like the Philipines. The British and Canadian Armies used a similar weapon to the T66 in Europe called the land mattress. No8 Mk1 had 30 tubes and an earlier type used by the Canadians during the early stages of the Scheldt operation had 12 tubes -so in a way similar to the US T27 launcher- being lighter. Steve

Bluebird at the time of the crash was running on a 4500lbf Bristol Orpheus engine (type used in Gnat light fighter/trainer) it had replaced the Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl MVB.2 3,850 lbf jet used earlier. Steve

Possibly one of the classic U.S. AFVs M24s were used almost everywhere in the west and U.S. MADP states, U.S. and British use in WW2, almost universal in NATO, service in Vietnam ,Cambodia and Tailand, Pakistani Army in 1965 and 1971 and Iran upto the Iraq-Iran war. Would make a fantastic practical collectors tank- this one was snapped in the 1990s at Donnington park, don't know if it still in the U.K. Steve

Looking at the photos of the t72 the tracks have a distinctly German look -ie Leopard 1 style, although difficult to judge on one photo the end connectors look different in size and spacing from the normal T72 track (which would mean a revised sprocket). The Mt-lb additionally seems to have revised wheels although they may be the heavy duty type theat appeared on the repair/recovery version.

Deserts are often kinder to heavy wheeled vehicles than European or temperate conditions, consider the number of Classic WW2 AFVs that swanned around the North African desert, Sinai, Iraq even in the Qatarra depression, heavy 4 x 4s like the AEC and the classic German 8 wheelers Sdkfz 231. Indeed apart from areas of Beau Gest sand dunes (date box terrain) heavy wheeled vehicles did very well in deserts- possibly better than tracked vehicles due to reduced mechanical strain. Anyway you didn't say why the M109 was so unwell - transmission failure perhaps?:cheesy: regards Steve

It's the direct telescopic sight from later model Shermans such as M4A3 75

Unfortunately the Landy was a farmer- if it had been Army I would have hoped he would have backed up a few yards onto a disused A/T platform - I couldn't believe it when the Foden drove onto the verge to let him through, something I did fairly regularly to allow other vehicles through, but no problem for a 600Kg car. The recovery was fairly straight forward, although I've never liked seeing crews banging anchors into the ground,- being mindful of the amount of UXO around.

That's very debateable, Fodens are really road vehicles, the old hands used to reminisce about Scammell SV and Explorer and again this is debatable too. The Foden shown in the photos put its near side wheels onto the soft edge of the road to allow a Land Rover to pass and was promptly bogged down requiring a self recovery. Steve

Some joke, many years ago I was discussing the "relative" merits of the Tyne/Wear Metro with a jobsworth civil engineer who worked on the QE2 metro bridge (across the Tyne) the conversation went like this- Me " The system doesn't work, it's inflexible and fails to cover many areas particularly those that need it due to social isolation/poverty etc- it's a Hornby OO train set to keep the councilors happy, it would better to be a diesel-electric wheeled system that could emerge from culverts/tunnels to service outlying estates." Civil engineer "Why? it's a great system." Me "It doesn't help people to get around -the so called integrated service leaves passengers waiting in the rain for infrequent connections." Civil Engineer " You're stupid what do passengers have to do with it!":undecided:

Many thanks, really interesting photos Steve

Stock photo from Sherman by Hunnicutt M7 1st AD in Italy 29-8-44.

The photo of the BvS10 was a good one too and RRV photos are a bit like hens teeth at the moment, an interesting vehicle. I'm actually surprised that it has the full machine gun mount. Steve

I think most of the differences will be details only -for example different reticules due to lower elevation limits of both T2 and M4 mount which were both -5 to +35 degrees. According to the numbers I have, both had the same basic sights M16 elbow direct sight telescope and M12A2 panoramic telescope, range quadrant M4 and gunners quadrant M1- as on the towed weapons, although the mounts may be different I only have located M21 for the M12A2 telescope on the M7-M7B1. From what can be gauged from photos the SPH and the towed mounts have similar arrangements of elvation traverse balance controls and crew dispositions, albeit rather cramped in the SPHs. Steve

Mount M4 is the designation for the mounting in M7 and M7B1/2 SPH, what M3 is I don't know I can only speculate that it is a pre-emptive designation for Mount T2 (Substitute/limited Standard designation) which was the mount for the M2A1 howitzer in the T19 SPH Halftrack. Sometimes in manuals the expected standardised designation is used -the most blatent example of this was the T17E1 Staghound Armoured Car where VRNs were marked as M6 in anticipation of full standardisation. Similarly the M37 full tracked howitzer was an M4 howitzer on Mount M5 formerly T14 Although the M37 (105mm How on Chaffee tank) and the T19 were similar in production run, the M37 was otherwise classed as satisfactory for future production whereas the T19 were only ever an emergency conversion. Steve

In my day-ie when Victoria was queen, we didn't dump them landfill, they had to be washed and re-cycled:shocked:

The last one is the Viking repair and recovery vehicle the one marked Viking RV (XC52AA) is a standard Viking BvS10, its not easy getting the captions in the right place. Great pics

I wasn't aware that unexploded nappies were that dangerous:nut:

Are the last two post not meant for the Springs 105mm howitzer thread there's over 1000lb of metal rotating around the elevation arc so unless you are just doing it for cosmetic reasons it would be best getting it done by a gear cutter as Rob has suggested, otherwise it will break and or jam. Steve