Adrian Barrell

Jack, you were going to reveal all on Tuesday of last week as to a location etc.....

Adam, just about right. Cent ARV2 has a Meteor for main engine, RR B80 for winch generator, the winch itself being electrically driven and a Morris 10 engine for auxiliary generator. The aux gen engine is standard in all Cents, it's purpose being to provide battery charging when the main engine is not running. The main engine and the aux gen do share a cooling system but it is only circulated by the main engine IIRC. The transmission oil does not even have a cooler. The winch engine is entirely independant of the main engine and shares nothing in the way of systems.

Incidentally, my maternal grandfather ran an Ordnance depot in India assembling Jeeps during the war and my uncle was a sargeant in the same place. I recently saw some photo albums of my uncles which covered his entire war and there are several pictures of Dodge WC52s as well as Valentines and other vehicles. I am trying to get copies.

Or possibly Czechoslovakia....

The emergency line provides air to firstly charge the trailers own air tanks and then to keep the trailer relay valve closed. In the event of a trailer breakaway, the removal of the emergency pressure against the relay valve allows the air stored in the trailer air tanks to apply the trailer brakes. Hence the 'emergency'.

Quite and I don't think many of those lessons were learnt in WWII. Many of the faults radiomike lists are much more apparent in a low use, peacetime army than they were in wartime, intensive use. A petrol engine may be generally less reliable than a good diesel but you have to have a good diesel (in that there is less to go wrong) to start with and it took a while to get one of those in a heavy British tank.

What lessons?

That's fighting talk where I come from, you're lucky I moved! On another matter Hanno, sorry I didn't get back to you about the Ram cupola but it is going back on the tank it 'fell' off originally. I think I can get you another though, I'll let you know as soon as I hear. A

Waddya mean, the rest of the world? Everybody knows the left side is the right side and the right side is the wrong side. UK, Eire, Japan, India all drive on the left as indeed did Sweden until fairly recently. They phased in the change over two weeks with the trucks going first and the cars a week later.........

I have all of those in every vehicle I drive. It's called my brain.

Cheers Neil.

Graham, what item number?

Well?

Well I'm up for it! Subject to location and costs, I could bring my M5 HST as well as the Sherman. Lots of seats for guests....would need a driver though! Personally, I don't feel it has to be 'in a town' to be different. As long as there is enough area to play in, preferably with lots of roads/tracks to drive, that would be enough. There is nothing worse than just parking in a field of shunting around a small arena. I did a film job once using someone else's Sherman and we had to move it from one set to another at the end of filming one day. It was only about a mile or so but was on a dirt track through some woods just as it was getting dark. Weaving amongst the trees, picking the route out as I went was great fun. I do appreciate though that if sponsorship is to be obtained, some element of public interaction would be required and this usually results in a static display or arena based movements. Even the Beltring arena seems small when you've driven round it a few dozen times and that was built for the purpose. Maybe being based in an out of town site with the tracks or space and then a move into town for a public display would be a good compromise?

Yeah but we all survived!

Glad they got the motto right, most people think it's 'through mud and blood to the green fields beyond'. This (from mud, through blood to the green fields beyond) is the origin of the regimental colours, brown, red and green.

Very fake! After the wing 'detaches' the aircraft goes into a spin but it's spinning the wrong way, it would spin into the detached wing. The landing looks very fake, he would not be able to correct the attitude at the last second to land on the wheels. A german pilot has since recognised the airfield as the one he flies from and knows of no such incident. It's not impossible for an aircraft such as this to fly with one wing missing just using engine power but I don't think it's ever happened in anything other than a model. It was made as an ad and is quite well done but still a fake.

Not a great deal to be honest, I've generally paid between £5 and £10 each in the past. Most people who sell them have no idea what they are for.

Thanks again Martin, I'm working on getting them collected.

They are drinking water cans for Centaur and Cromwell tanks. The early style has a screw cap and is made in three parts with edge joints, sometimes in brass. Later models were fitted with a flip cap like an American water can and were made in two halves with a centre seam like a British/ German jerrycan. The gun tanks had three in the turret, the Centaur Dozer had a single one on the hull side. They seem to come with the cross and without. They are often seen fitted externally to Cromwells in service, either on the rear or on a trackguard, presumably to free up some space inside.

Be aware of the possibility of small woodland creatures living up the sleeves though.....

I would have thought any fleece of Jacks would be big enough for the four of you......!

Many congratulations to you both! I could have sworn she was going to be a boy... just shows how much I know! I thought I saw a stork with stars and bars yesterday afternoon!

Joris, it's the same here but I thought I would let someone else make the assumption! I think a fuel sponsor would be more likely as they have a large retail customer base whereas a transport company, particularly one who does heavy haulage, may not see a benefit in sponsoring tanks. Maybe getting a fuel company to supply the fuel for the transport is the way to go. Jack, I would think you should be able to attract 15 to 20 tanks with a similar number of wheeled AFVs. If there is no historical theme to the event then you could probably double that with more modern armour. It would all depend on costs.

Jack, you would be surprised how much armour there is in the UK, how many owners would be interested in bringing it out to an event is another issue! I would certainly be up for it and can think of several others who would be too. The main problem would be, as always, cost. For instance, to attend and partake in such an event in the midlands would cost me in the region of £1500 to £2000, the vast majority of it on transport. That's a huge sum for a weekend playing. Fuel sponsorship for the tanks is a possibility but is actually a small part of the overall cost. With the right venue and mix of on/off road running, an event of this sort would be brilliant. Go for it!