eddy8men

thank you michel

i appreciate you taking the time to write a very comprehensive reply and i'm pleased to discover it was used on the 88mm, shame it was used to only set up the gun and not aim it but beggars can't be choosers, quite how it's used to measure distances and angles is still a mystery to me so i think i'll do a little more digging as i've seen on another forum that these sights were used to aim ww1 artillery although not this model number they are nearly identical externally.so maybe i was right on my first post when i said this was the most flexible sight ever made although i said it in jest

if i get anymore info i'll let you all know.

thanks again

eddy

thanks steve

once again thanks for the info, i've pm'd a guy on the forum called mlespaul who specialises in german optics only trouble is he hasn't used the forum for a while so it's a long shot but i'll keep plugging away til something comes up.

cheers eddy

hi steve

thanks for the info, i was thinking along the same lines as you with regard to it being from a small flak gun the magnification looks to be about x4 where as most of the larger allied gun aa sights seem to be about x8, so that might suggest a small calibre but this is just guess work. somebody out there will have the answer !

cheers eddy

hi fella's

just aquired this sight and i'm struggling to id it ,i've googled it and come up with panoramic mortar,88mm flak ,pak 40 and a stug so this is either the most flexible sight ever made or the above answers are mostly wrong.so any assistance you can offer would be much appreciated.

the sight markings are -

rblf.flak

djg

kf

nr.12775

M h/6400

thanks eddy

no it was 26 fd,they were originally an abbott regt but the great minds at the top decided to retrain them on 109's for deployment to the gulf,i was originally from 49 fd which was a 109 unit in lippstadt but the regt and guns got split up to bring the other regt's up to strength.

this is why the abbott trained reme didn't find the fuel pump fault straight away.

the recy mech was l/cpl daz bibby from blackburn a good bloke (for a recy mech)

eddy

went down there a couple of weeks ago and no access to the common but i did manage to get a pic of a crusader :-), well i thought it was until i was quickly put back in my place by those more knowledgeable than me, which seems to be just about everybody else on the forum! It's actually a covenanter, bloody tanks all look the same to me.

it would be nice to get on the range for a closer look but it still looks active as an antitank range so not much chance i'm afraid

pic is of the left side

eddy.

very valid point steve, the deserts of iraq are generally flat and stoney ,so not too much of a challenge i suppose, but you know how things are with vehicles you've been around for a while,they sort of grow on you.

ref the m109 fault the pack was diagnosed as lacking power so the turbo's were replaced then when that didn't work the gearbox was replaced and when that didn't work it was too late to carry on trying to fix it so me and the recce mech had to drag it around the battlefield from one fire mission to the next,which was a bit hairy as we were in a foden and everyone else had armour plus once they'd finish a fire mission they'd all pack up sharpish and scoot off so as not to get hit by iraqi counter battery fire,trouble was we were still stuck there trying to get the hollybones attatched to the back of the 109 in the dark. Still, no harm done and the war was soon won and we all went home for tea and medals :-)

the fault on the pack turned out to be the electric fuel pumps fitted to the tanks (a 20 min job)very common fault on the 109 and 578.

the offending 109 with me posing

eddy

hi all

why not do both? subscription for those who want to receive pathfinder (i do) and a donate button for those who don't,i came to hmvf from another forum www.warrelics.eu they have 120,000 members and keep going thru donations so what's the harm in doing both here.it works for them!

personally i don't care what you ask me to do to help the forum, just consider it done !!!

eddy

sounds like a great idea to me

steve

ref the kirkcudbright comet ,if you look on the surviving comets web site there's a pic of one on kirkcudbright ,call it a hunch but the training area on the hartziel pic looks like kirkcudbright.

have a look and see what you think.

eddy

thanks richard

it would be nice to see dave again,he was living in worcester last i heard,maybe i'll see him at an event one day.it's a small world.

eddy

try www.warrelics.eu/forum/ a very good forum with a worldwide appeal,especially eastern europe.

eddy

don't think it's these two mate,the one on hartziel says it's from garlstedt but the training area looks more like kirkcudbright to me?

eddy

these were definately targets,they look like they'd spent 50 years on the impact area as you can see.

does anyone know what happened to them?

eddy

just had a look thru wheels and tracks and the article is on page 3 issue 38,it shows two comets outside a workshop in munsterlager,incidentally the pics and article came from dave whitehouse,i served with sgt dave whitehouse at 29 regt rlc lad in 96 , i wonder if it's the same guy.

eddy

thanks for sharing the pics steve,adrian mentioned a comet earlier was this the one that was shown in w&t ,can't remember which issue, i just remember seeing it outside a reme wksp.

it does my nut in to think that for years i was driving on the training areas in germany and never gave any of these wrecks a second glance, now i'd give my right arm for one !

eddy

thanks for the kind words guys, it makes me laugh to be so far wrong ,( i only got the location right)

eddy

thanks adrian i wrongly assumed that the visible angled tubes i could see were suspension dampers.so apart from it NOT being a crusader and NOT having torsion bar suspension it's all good,it was definately pirbright anyway (i think)!

i'm still not worthy

eddy

yes steve i think you're right having seen that pic you posted i'd say it was a covenanter not a crusader.

i thought i could "mix it" with the big boys, i thought wrong :blush:

i could see that the area next to the drivers compartment was flat and missing any components and i wrongly assumed that it had been an early crusader with mg turret that had been removed.

i'm not worthy:D

eddy

hi steve

definately not a covenanter if you click on the last pic and enlarge it you can see the slope of the glacis plate and drivers vision port to the left.

eddy

hi fella's

just happened to be passing pirbright training area this morning whilst on the way to the shops for a loaf of bread (i live in manchester):nut:.went down for a range recce but couldn't get on the area due to the 8ft fence around the perimeter,although i did see two tanks from the perimeter,one about 200m away i couldn't identify but the other was right on the fence line,it apears to be a crusader at first i thought it was an a10 until i noticed the dampers for the torsion bar suspension which ruled the a10 out as this used same set up as the valentine.there wasn't a right lot left i could see no running gear or final drive but that seems to be the norm with wrecks.i did find the steel plate shown in the car park 50m from the tank i'm assuming it was a cover for the suspension but it might also have been a sign for the naafi shop,i'm sure someone will recognise it,if you want it it's in the car park near to where the pylon line crosses red road.

sorry about the crappy pics,must get a better camera

eddy

should know to keep my mouth shut !

definately not an m7 priest, looks like an m3 lee with the turret and sponson gun removed.

eddy

sorry to hear about that adrian,sounds like it's going to get expensive,don't know if it's any help but there's plenty of 671's on us ebay for around £1500+shipping,anyway good luck.

eddy

nice find