No Signals

This photo is posted on WW2 talk, you may need to sign up/sign in to see it? To me the vehicle seems to have some kind of substantial hard top on it. I've not seen one before but no doubt others on here know exactly what it is. So... any answers fellas? 49th Div RA anti tank personnel. http://ww2talk.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=109328

Thanks for the input fellas. I didn't appreciate there was quite so much interest in old photos. The price started off at £50 so I don't see it coming down any more, the dealer said they had paid £25. But it looks as if I wont lose if I bought it at that price. Agreed it is sad to break up an album but, who knows, it may sell on again as an item.

I have not been one for considering buying old photo albums before so have no experience or idea as to whether they have a monetary value, but my guess is that some of you on here will have. I've seen an album on a local flea market that dates, at my guess, from between wars years 20/30's. It has lots of photos of blokes in uniform and quite a few with vehicles in them. At a quick glance most of them seemed to be somewhere in a desert type location. (Pretty sure it is not TE Lawrence's private snapshots :-\ ) The stall holder wants £30 for the album. I'm not particularly interested in it for a monetary value, I just want to take a longer look at the photos, but don't fancy being left with something I can't sell on and get my outlay back because I paid too much. Anyone have any idea what a typical old album of snaps fetches? Well outside my experience.

I’d driven past this spot up on the local moors for more years than I can remember before learning last year of its existence. The trees being good effective modern camoufalge! Anyhow I had a spare sunny afternoon today and went up to take a few photos and do a few measurements. By repute it is a tank wash from WW2 and the references I have seen, up to date, state of it being used by British Army Shermans. But other tanks may have been in use on the range as well. All sizes will be given in Imperial - as that is what it would have been made in. The overall length is about 74 feet and the width is 11 feet. Obviously it tapers with its depth, with the width at the cross members being 7 feet 10 inches (94 inches). Construction is of concrete (a report I read elsewhere incorrectly states the lining is wood!) with paving type slabs over a concrete foundation for the sides with strengthening ribs at reasonably regular spacing at around 3 feet 4 inches (40 inches). A central brick spine wall runs along the full length with the cross members built in to it. The cross-members are rebar reinforced concrete. The cross members are spaced as per the side supports at around 80 inches. (They vary at 78, 79 and 80, with no particular pattern). The upper surfaces of the cross-members are at about 29/30 inches below the outer top surface of the wash. The cross members show no sign of being load bearing for the tanks. Nor does the central spine wall show any signs of contact from vehicles. There are two large drainpipes that exit the tank, one at one end and the other nearby at one side. There may be some kind of sluice at the far exit ends of these but this was not checked at this visit. The spoil from digging the pit appears to have been used at either end to make a banking for helping ‘steering’ the vehicles in and out, but there may be another use for these piles? For me the interesting and puzzling feature is the series of concrete ‘beams’ that extend in a regular spaced pattern down one side. Apart from one initial short beam of 5 feet the others are of two lengths of 10 feet and 9 feet 2 inches, although some slight variation both ways exists on both sizes. Possibly they were all intended to be 10-foot lengths but the casting of them was done a bit hit and miss. They are spaced at 88 and 96-inch distance, with slight variations. We are talking a tank wash here, not CNC engineering! Two ‘beams’ have had slight breaks to them and neither shows any evidence of containing rebar. These features appear to be attached to the floor but I did not attempt to move them. If they are not fixed then I am very surprised that no one has pushed them in to the pit before now, or done other damage to/with them. Or re-arranged the careful spacing, hence my feeling they are fixed. I have no experience of tank washes so can someone who has tell me the likely use of these? My take on how it was used is that the vehicles were driven on to some form of steel girder arrangement over the pit and water either from the pit, or bowsers, was hosed over the tracks with the peat falling in to the pit. Either the drains are just an overflow or when the water reached that height they emptied down in to the ditches. Or the drains were sealed and the water reused until it was too thick to use again and then they were opened and the pit flushed. However if someone has a more accurate knowledge of its workings then I am keen to hear. Quite how the side beams fit in I don’t know., possibly something to do with locating whatever it was the tanks actually drove on to. There is no impact or abrasion evidence on the remaining internal features of vehicles ‘dropping’ in to the pit.

Wally will know, no doubt he will be along!

I can't contribute anything to this thread but have to say it is interesting and keep the research and help coming chaps. The answer must be out there somewhere. :-\

Battery Todt, Calais. Thanks for the very useful info utt61, and others. Everything will be passed on, and I'm sure will be appreciated. I also found a very good online site, but which takes a bit of wading through. Hereon Yahoo groups if anyone else fancies a look. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/railwaygun

Check your pieces of cork are the correct size and section. I had two 'correct' gasket sets with two very different sections of cork for the ends. One was never going to fit in a million years without some serious trimming. The others, although seemingly not as substantial and as snug a fit, worked perfectly. I used silicon gasket goo to hold them in place, double the sealing action.

It must have been one hell of a big desk :wow: But I understand what you mean. Thanks again everyone so far.

Thanks for your suggestions so far fellas. I will pass on all suggestions thanks, keep them coming.

A pal of mine is in to 'model' engineering and asked if I knew of any plans for any railway guns. Short answer was that I don't but I knew a forum where someone might know of having seen some. Any references to any books or publications that have technical drawings/diagrams/schematics/ that kind of thing or good photographs of the side, front etc. Accepting that there are quite a number of different ones from different countries. Could start with the East Coast mobile guns and the South Coast heavies? Thanks.

Yes.. Mmm.. OK the location is genuine, never doubted that part. Not wanting to digress from a potentially entertaining thread but what has all that to do with a Dodge masquerading as a British vehicle in Europe? Point being it is a dead give away that it cannot be genuine. Don't mind Dodges, had one myself, but some things they ain't! - spoil the effect. P.S. goldfish very healthy.

Sorry mate, no-one is going to be convinced by a poxy Dodge in British markings!

Hardly a true military convoy last year, shared with a car club!! Mk1 Cortinas, modern CHIPS motorbikes, fire engines, A35's. Very diluted and disappointing, wont be there again. Shame, as it used to be worth the trip.

Is there really anything nice about Guy Ants ? :-D

Springs now on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171069146223?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649#ht_350wt_962

I'd love to be able to post it as well, but I'm afraid I don't have it. The chap had quite a few photos from the war, some of them he spoke about but I never got to see them. Some others I did. Since he passed away his family have shunned all his old friends and neighbours and I suspect the photos have been binned. People react to bereavement in different ways, but I still find some things difficult to understand.As for the combined ops badge on the tank I would have to look that up. In theory some insignia that appeared on other vehicles were not expected to be applied to motorcycle tanks. These days we tend to like to see them though so most owners exercise a bit of artistic licence and put them on.

As Ron say, lots of other duties in most arms of the service. A late friend of mine was an artillery sergeant, I have done my machine and kit based on a wartime photo of him that he showed me. He spent his time blatting up and down the convoys of vehicles keeping them together when on they were on the move. The photo showed him wearing complete standard army BD kit and boots etc - no DonR stuff except for the DR helmet . Not the standard tin helmet, but he told me he had one of these as well. Leather jerkin with webbing over it. Pistol on his L/H side and pistol ammo pouch on the right, one larger pouch visible behind on the right, which by its position must have been of the MT type. He carried a DR long waterproof coat on his bike carrier. He said he had used both the large, chest mounted, respirator and later got hold of a smaller one that he had on the back of his belt on the left. This was just one squaddies 'take' on the kit. When I quizzed him about the various bits of kit he just grinned and said that before the war he was a sales manger and he knew how to get anything ! :-) He said his BD was a Canadian one as these were considered better than the British ones and were much coveted! No idea what he traded to get it. If you look at the various photos on the web you will see all sorts of variations on kit and equipment including Brits wearing US and Canadian stuff and Yanks wearing British BD! I imagine kit was a very flexible thing particularly nearer the front, and blokes wore what they could get and what worked for them.

I would recommend everyone steers well clear of Spy Guard. It is just the opposite (allegedly! ).

I think I have four of these. When I am back home next week I will check them out and if correct put them on to ebay for you all to have a 'dib' at.

I don't know if there are lots of this kind of stuff, or whether they are well known, but I came acroos this plane on one of the 'historical' area photos on Google Earth. Although it is very grainy my first thought is that it looks a bit like an Anson. But I'm sure there are no end of experts on here who will have a better idea.

I can confirm this event is NOT on. The FF website has not been updated since the event was cancelled, obviously an oversight on their part.

Agreed a very good event and so thought everyone involved with it, especially the organisers (Eventplan) but not it seems the new NT bloke. It could be the sites you have seen it on are just listing it based on old calendars? Assuming it will still be on being as it was so successful. My view is they have it wrong. I will be well dischuffed if something is now happening, as I've now made other arrangements.

You sure about this? Earlier in the year Eventplan circulated info to the effect that the new NT site agent had cancelled it. Certainly there is nothing on the NT Clumber Park website about it on that weekend.

Undoubtably some fine flying of the first order. Skillfully echoed in the film - take a look at the film where a Lanc, in one of the practise sessions, comes up in front of the cameara from close to the lake. (It happens to be Windermere) If you have the dvd freeze frame it, you can see the reflection in the first shot, work it out for yourself from the wingspan just how close it is to the surface at the start of the sequence. Now that was confident flying. I reckon less than 20 feet and the props swing at 7.5! Ok not under fire etc, but !!!!