Packhow75

Righto... hope the following is of interest:

Rather than posting photos, here are some already available elsewhere:

http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving..._Fireflies.pdf

http://www.afvregister.org/Downloads...Brasschaat.htm

My vehicle is the first Sherman Firefly in the 3rd section down on the afv register page.

Very fortunately, this still retains paint markings giving the Census number and Tank name:

Tank Name - "GAUCHO"

Census Number - "T-289477"

I've been advised that this vehicle served with the Canadian 21st Armoured Regt (Governor General's Foot Guards), Canadian 4th Armoured Div from July 44 to July 45.

On that basis, it will be restored as such... just need to start gathering info to get the markings correct.

Still on the hunt for 17pdr parts.

Tim

I have a nice photo of 75mm pack howitzer, airborne trailer and ammo on palletised platform with chutes which appears to have just landed but i think is staged...

Dear All,

 

This is indeed not very much by standards of the recent past. However the good news is that MOD is planning an Ex SAIF SAREEA in Oman and that will be significant. The last one was a godsend because it was just before the Op TELIC and it enabled us to sort out one or two weaknesses.

 

John

Am assuming that what the MOD are planning to do is already knowledge in the public domain?

My sister used to keep goats on the farm where my vehicles live. One day I found that all the safety tags on the fire extinguishers in the barn had gone missing and I scratched my head for a bit until I realised that they had been green in colour ...

 

Andy

My step-father had a goat... he also had a nice old Rolls-Royce.

One hot sunny day he left the windows on the Rolls open...

Later that day, he found the Goat had eaten all the seats.

Sounds like you had a lucky escape if all that went missing were the fire extinguisher tags.

Tim

Derek I was going to see how long the nostril hair would run, by then the goat would be released from prison, currently charged with political agitation & non-payment of a parking fine.

 

Lovely goat you have there!

I got a few scammers after my Cromwell ad on milweb. I thought I would string one guy along just for fun and got him to send his cheque to

 

m. mouse

20 park drive

Berkley

sh1 te

uk

 

he still didn't twig, in the end he got a little upset and threatened me with " much blood" he didn't realise it would have been his if we had met. (if he was much smaller than me )

 

the scam goes like this, they send you the asking price plus say £5k extra. you deposit the cheque which shows on your bank balance but hasn't cleared yet. in the meantime they get you to send the £5k back thru money gram and that's that !

the cheque will bounce and you will have paid £5k to be educated on buyer/seller transactions.

 

rick

This scam takes advantage of the British Bank Clearing system in which all banks which have signed up to the agreement agree to clear cheques within I think 5 working days... so the funds appear to be in your bank account after this period of time... your statement says they are there.

But, there are some smaller banks out there which arent subscribed to this system... so whilst your bank shows the funds in your account (because of the agreed system)... the bank the cheque has been drawn against hasnt yet processed the cheque... so not cleared by them.

After many many days later... perhaps as much as 20 working days... the small bank tells your bank that the cheque has bounced... your bank then tells you and removes the funds from your account.

It is now your problem to resolve the bounced cheque... not your banks.

So if you've sent them the money and any goods, you are now out of pocket... and screwed.

Someone tried it with me a few years ago - their cheque went to the police and not my bank...

Tim

Some data I picked up a few years back - alas I dont have the whole publication these pages came from...:

I have some more pages somewhere as and when I get around to scanning them.

Hope it's of interest

Tim

Adrian

Very helpful... Good to know am only missing the Alidade sight and not the blade fitting too.

Thanks

Tim

Adrian

Very helpful... Good to know am only missing the Alidade sight and not the blade fitting too.

Thanks

Tim

For the photo fans...

From someone else's Sherman turret (the owner frequents this forum, so may recognise it):

Am aware the two fittings circled are sights - I dont know what they are officially called though, so lets say A) Left and B) Right.

On my turret roof... I only have the mount for (B)...

My questions therefore...

1) Can anyone please tell me what these are called

2) Are they both British Army Modifications

3) If so, when were they introduced and why

4) Should I have A and B - I've noticed that all turrets I've seen pictures of have B, and only some have A.

Many thanks

Tim

Hi guys, my name is Paul and I'm an aircraft engineer living in Cornwall. I've always had quite an interest in military vehicles, especially (given my trade) aircraft support machines.

 

I'm currently working at the Classic Air Force museum in Newquay where as well as quite a collection of aircraft, we have a few ex-RAF vehicles and GSE which I also get to play with. So apologies in advance but I'll probably be asking lots of difficult questions!

Welcome

Have you joined the MVT - Cornwall bunch are a friendly lot.

CAF is on my list of places to visit this year when it warms up a little - will make a nice afternoon out in the Jeep.

Cheers

Tim

Photos of my cart - wheels detach and cart folds:

Anyone any idea?

Tim

Firefly`s are just soo cool Tim, looking forward to some pics.

Tim

Will sort some out in due course when popping over that way next.

Cheers

Tim

fair enough ..that told me then.........

.....at many vintage / classic shows I've been to ... the most interesting vehicles are the ones where they have a story board propped up next to them with a stack of pictures and info showing / telling the story of how they came to be found and subsequently saved ...and from an owners point of view I 've always liked hearing other owners stories about that too ... ....and if you were to do that on here ?....

it's just a different version of that I'd have thought ?......but...if you don't want to share that part of it?.. thats up to you of course

Never have for any of my vehicles to date... My "thing" is the vehicles historical context, getting the kit right and educating people about the what and where of the unit it may be restored to represent.

Tim

Chicken!

Cluck. Cluck.

yep def agree...piles of rusty stuff now make the final pictures all the more appeciable !

plus !..full details of:......how did you find it ? where? how did you manage to buy it ? how long did it take to negotiate the deal ?...? ...?....? etc etc hahaha !

Perhaps some pics sometime.

The what, where etc... Bought it from someone selling it...

Tim

Hi Tim,

 

Fantastic news.

 

We like to see photos here, rusty pile of bits or not.

 

What are you planning to do engine wise?

 

All the best of luck, Richard

Thanks.

Wont be multibank.

Tim

All

Have bought a Sherman Firefly for restoration... VC variant (M4A4 Hull)

I do not plan to post any photos until things get going as at present it's just a big pile of rusty parts which barely resemble a tank.

Does anyone here have a Sherman Firefly manual of any description in any language which they'd be happy to let me have/buy a scanned copy of please?

Anything is great, but am specifically interested in the 17pdr gun system.

Many thanks

Tim

You on FBI's most wanted list now?

One big give away for me was that one of the photos had an Australian Flag in it and a sign on the wall which said "Tank Museum"!

Doh!

For Info Only.

I put a post on Milweb after 17pdr gun parts.

Mr Bob Green emailed me to say they were "breaking a 17pdr anti-tank gun" (really??? Why???) and had the parts I was interested in which could be mine shipped from the USA to the UK for $2400... he included photos of the gun in question.

Alarm bells immediately...

1) Who would break a perfectly good 17pdr

2) The parts I want are Breech Block, Firing Mechanism, Cleaning Rods, Bore Brush, Rammer and Recoil Guard... were not visible in any of the photos and he was unable to send me any more photos which included them

3) Felt sure I'd seen the pictures before somewhere

4) Price of $2400 including export licences and shipping to the UK

Anyways... long story short.

The 17pdr in question lives in the Royal Australian Armoured Corps museum... and is definitely not being broken up for parts or sold!

Mr Green's name and address appear on other vehicle forums where he's also tried selling people things in photos he's found online.

No doubt he will reappear as another name in another town... but if he does happen to contact you... best avoid.

Tim

Ps - He also goes under the name of Rob and Bill, and it appears has a telephone number you can call him on which is in PA, not TN.

I have some thing similar... But folding with canvas bucket not wire. Will find some pics sometime. Tim

Anthony,

 

Similar to first design of WWII Airborne pintle, but bolt pattern does not match those original ones I've seen on Mk1 NoI 10 cwt lightweight trailers.

 

Photo below for reference:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]100849[/ATTACH]

Hmm... but this is the pattern required to tow the 75mm Pack Howitzer (as per your pic) and this has a slightly wider jaw than most of the hooks out there... simple rule to measure...

2 finger width = trailer hook

3 finger width = Pack howitzer hook

If the hook jaw is only 2 finger width, the 75mm Pack Howitzer tow eye will not fit.

There may be another reason for the difference, but towing a howitzer behind my trailer from time to time has resulted with the observation.

Tim

I assume no unexploded rockets still to find?

Nice work - have signed up to the June event will bring White SC.

Tim

Hi All,

 

My name is Adrian, originally from the UK Midlands, but settled in Annecy, France for ten years now.

 

In the UK I was quite involved with re-enactment (in the pre Saving Private Ryan/pre Ebay era), with few repros available then. Some may remember my name as Prof from then. (-:

 

Vehicle wise, I still have a 1941ish Willys MB, ex British Army, and an SS cars 'Airborne' trailer, though they are little used now.

 

I also have large collections of documents and original vehicle dataplates, which I hope to use to contribute here.

 

Thanks,

 

Best Regards,

 

Prof

Prof

Nice to see you on here.

Tim