steveo578

The Act is the 1894 Uniforms Act And quoting from the Statute Law web site 1) It shall not be lawful for any person not serving in Her Majesty’s Military Forces to wear without Her Majesty’s permission the uniform of any of those forces, or any dress having the appearance or bearing any of the regimental or other distinctive marks of any such uniform: Provided that this enactment shall not prevent . . . . . . any persons from wearing any uniform or dress in the course of a stage play performed in a place duly licensed or authorised for the public performance of stage plays, or in the course of a music hall or circus performance, or in the course of any bona fide military representation. (2) If any person contravenes this section he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [ level 3 on the standard scale]. It only applies to H.M. Forces and whether this could include countries who are members of the Commonwealth is unknown to me, it would probably require review by a judge or commisioner. I would think this is unlikely and should anyone be arrested or summoned for wearing the uniform of a Commonwealth country it would probably be kicked by the resident CPS officer. It is significant that the act not only predates the formation of the Commonwealth in 1949 but also the Dominion Acts. There is an Act of 1958 which deals with the service of U.S. personel in the U.K. so it may contraveen this act if some-one wore current U.S. service unifrom. Obviously wearing a unifrom with intent to commit another (serious) offence would certainly incure a heavy penalty. On the lighter side That would only be an offence if done as part of an attempt to commit another offence -for example fraud, there is no Fashion Police in the U.K.

122mm D74 field gun

That is the good side, although i'm surprised the hits on the right side didn't go straight through as the tortoise castings are believed to be mild steel. I thought the Comets on this range were down to 1 tank and at one time there were three Conquerors and at least one Chieftain W or P series but like the 17pdr who knows what has gone by now.

But still has the 6pdr without the shield, there are several Churchill variants at IAC Ahmednager including a bridgelayer and standard Mk7, the EMCE centre has a few ARv and a Bridgelayer. Steve

With regard to my mention of a Sherman BARV being exhibited at the Indian Armoured corps museum at Ahmednagar I came across an interesting photo blog, http://picasaweb.google.com/patilraosaheb/NagarTankMuseum# Again shows more exhibits from this relatively unknown museum including a nice view of the Sherman BARV show below, also evident on this site are a complete Grant CDL, an A9 cruiser and a T48 57mm armed M3 half track a type which most authorities claim were either sent to Russia or turned into personel carriers. DSC02223.JPG

Probably not I think Budge had a couple in the 1980s but I think they went to museums, the similarly tracked Universal, Bren, T16, Windsor and and Australian/NZ pattern are privately owned and have an advantage of being reasonably easily transported. Apart from the less practical Ram tank or Sherman my personal favourites would be would be a PBV 301 APC or the SPG the SAV 43, Swedish build quality, fairly easy to move around, down side probably all converted to fake WW2 Marder type SPGs by now. Steve SAV m43.jpg

I would be truly astonished if anything of interest comes of this, unlike an MA or MSc which can be awarded to an individual as part of a collaborative study, a PhD is the effort of an individual not of a university department or a museum. I would imagine that shed loads of HMVF members (especially those who have completed restorations) already have accrued knowledge equal to or better than many PhDs recipients. I also wonder by who and how the PhD is to be accessed- I am not aware that the University of Bournemouth has a department of armour engineering. It has an Archaeology and Heritage department, but it is worrying when the course synopses includes a course from the architecture & built Environment department,(sustainable construction), if the staff can’t get a simple public profile right- what chance academic rigor? The work of a PhD is a closed publication of the university therefore to read it requires a financial contribution to the copyright holders i.e. the university/museum, so is this another scheme thought up by the museums financial planners? I have read several synopses of PhDs on AFV history related subjects (admittedly not technical engineering subjects) and I have to say I am not impressed- none were presenting unique fundamental evidence or conclusions. One which became a well know book could in addition be regarded as fundamentally flawed in its conclusions and could be regarded as jingoistic. I doubt it is realistic for all MV exhibits at a museum or collection to be runners; it is a matter of cost- a few private museums in the U.S. aspire to this, but basically have an almost bottomless wallet. I agree with Safariswing the way stuff vanishes or is disposed of and in addition the attitude of boards of trusties is a mystery. The climate of Aborfield or Cosford could not be classed as severe, an externally stored exhibit such as Ferret or a modern aircraft is conservable without huge expense. Steve

At least a Crusader is in away little more than an underweight, capricious Cromwell variant, although few exist and probably none are mobile. The obsession with German armour bothers me too. The thread almost instantly became a "what's the favourite (fantasy) tank?" Even the immediate Post war period both the British and French ran what could be regarded as extended trials on Panthers, it took all the time to keep them running, neither army seem to have managed to keep them operative for more than a year, at a time when they were almost new, with a good supply of components, so what would be the chance of an amateur, 60 years on, keeping one mobile for any length of time. Currently after a huge some of money refurbishing the effectively complete Bovington Tiger after 77mile MTBF it is unserviceable until another tranch of £56K of appeal money/effort is forthcoming. Steve

A case of familarity breeds contempt, the presence of gas shells are a serious worry as even 90 years on a fresh crack caused by a pough could be enough to release sufficient content to be fatal if handled.

It's called a FCM2c not Renault but Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterraneehence the FCM name. Powered by 2 x 250hp Maybachs, in some ways similar to a Maus- Maybachs, electric drive, totally useless ten were built most destoryed by there own crews. Steve

fesm ndt Nice pictures fyi the rail thing shown in #8 is Whickams Rail Car, also used by the Portuguesse in Goa and the South Vietnamese army in the 1960s, The carrier in #16 is a GM Ct15a and the Armoured car in #20 is a Daimler Mk1

All ranges can be dangerous. The primary rule is don't pick up stuff ever,:nono: Although some of the stuff in my photo (not warcop) is painted blue this does not mean it is not dangerous many so called inert weapons carry an element to mark the impact on the target. Steve uxo.jpg

Possibly the offending tank, think I was in the museum library when it happened. Steve iraqi t55.jpg

KV1, mostly KV1s were still in use during the clearance of the Baltic States and Belorus in mid 1944. Because Is2 were primarily organised in the so called shock armies other units had to get by with what they could cobble together- there is a photo in the new vanguard book N017 of a KV1s in the Baltic states with a 1942 model KV1 square edge turret, an obvious case of Soviet make do and mend. As Rick W mentioned the Finns used KVs, 2 are displayed at the Finnish tank museum at Parola they are a KV1 with bolt on re-enforced armour and a model 1942 with the heavy cast turret. Bovington has one too, again a model 1942 with cast turret. Steve

There is a 6 page colour article on Opfor at Batus in the 1st issue of military Machines Int. from june 2001, should you not be able to find one PM your Email and I'll copy it. Steve

Especially as it was recovered from a river, there are a some others in Poland, ranging from complete to pile of rust. Steve

Fantastic amount of imformation on a much neglected subject, considering the number built there seems to be comparitively few remaining. Thanks Steve

I should have realised a Mk1 turret wasn't right for your tank, I doubt anything on the Mk1 is externally interchangeable -even the pistol ports look different. Its probably a garbeled retelling of the story of your 6pdr turret, that I was told- I suppose it was cut up for smelting. The MkVIII-MkIX thing is interesting was it a case of inability of AEC to supply sufficient motor or a deliberate decission as GM motors would simplify the lend lease requirement. Steve

Yes and some rover scout car bodies in the first pic. Lots of good stuff- but is this the melbourne scrap yard? Steve

At a guess it is probably a mechanical voltage regulator Steve

As I posted in response to Hawk's post Bovington used to have a reasonable system (see photo Coventry Bovington) the easel is moveable however the Imperial War museum stand (Shown in photo Mk7 IWM) is fixed which can get in the way. Steve coventry bovington.jpg mk7 iwm.jpg

Nice tank John do you have the factory type? The western ally tank it should realy be compared with is the A34 Comet, both tanks are the final type of a divergent line reaching back to the M1931 Christie tank, and in many ways are pretty similar. Steve

I would imaging that they are interchangeable panther motors are (600bhp) Hl230 p30 as were Tiger 2. Tiger 1 motors were HL230 p45 (700bhp) the change in performance could be the carbs. Generators should not vary much or at all as the electrics are all a muchness. The French used a number of Hl230 motors on protoype tanks in the post war period and if I remember correctly a fleet of 60 ARL44 tanks, with motors classed as 575Bhp and a very very limited use of a few Panthers Post War. So it is probably not surprising that a number of HL230 parts are around. Wheels and tracks reported two crated HL230 about 20 years ago. Actually I think you should go for a ARL44 or a AMX50 rather than a Panther now that would be a head turner. Steve

could be, either from a panther or tiger -the generator of P3 and P4 is GTLN 600/12-1500 so possible the 700 is for the larger HL230 motor. Steve

John Again thanks for the info, my map ref isn't where you found the Valentines ( I used multimap as reference as some-one borrowed my Warcop map and didn't return it) , The escarpment you mention is part of Middle Fell , you will find a photo of the M10c that was gutted in my post #12, these have been cleared by now, I remember the old Churchill with the inverted turret- a remanufactured model with applique hull armour. Certainly when I was there I only saw one ferret, between the churchills and N ridge, but my visit was not a comprehensive as I would have wanted. I would think that they were targeted by artilery and mortars -the area on the escarpment still shows shell holes, can't ever remember see any ref. of the use of aircraft on this range. I remember seeing a newsreel of Valentine hard against a rock face being burned, targeted with grenades and explosives- but may not be Warcop. I always wondered about the story that your tank turret was assembled from pieces, the jackanory I was told was that you got it from the old Mk1s on Sennybridge,- your rebuild is certainly a source of many AFV myths. The M47s were down on the tank target line which is shown in my post #6 and 12. and obviously these tanks don't survive that long Regards Steve