Adrian Barrell

Arse about face...... :whistle: Citabria [attachment deleted by admin]

Mark, Citabria, yes. RV, not at the moment, though here is a pic of someone elses! Adrian [attachment deleted by admin]

Currently flying a Citabria but the RV9 is nearly ready and so by June, that's what it will be. Adrian

Jack, no problem. Of course, it's all weather dependant..... Happy to take snapper, but pics can't be for commercial purposes I'm afraid, that's aerial work and I'd be in deep poo!

I intend bringing the aircraft into some of the bases, HQ depending on final location, so if anyone want's to take some up to date aerial photos, let me know. Private use only, I'm afraid, can't do aerial work!

Live local has better res, it's certainly possible to see individual targets there.

Who, me? Umm, well, I erm..... What did you have in mind?

Spare time..... :roll:

It is something I've thought about over the years, always thought it would be a small scale seller and I'm sure the amount of work involved is ten times what I may have thought!

In the 390th Bomb Group History Book, there is a picture of an M16 on the base, Framlingham for those who don't know!

Happy days!

Clive, I wasn't really looking at that sort of stuff, to be honest... :oops: Though fairly prolific with taking photos, I wish i had done more. It was a combination of always being on site to do something rather than take pictures and a feeling that the targets would always be there. The reunification of Germany led to much more intensive use of ranges in the UK and consequently, targets that had been around since the war were being used up and replaced rapidly. I look through my pics now and think 'that one's gone, that one's scrapped', occasionally there is one that was saved. Too little, too late!

Clive, only the one on Otterburn that Steve Osfield found. Matt, as to the BARV, ultimately anything is restorable given time and money. It's a question of perceived value, it may be 'worth' spending £500k restoring a Panther but not something more common. The BARV had twin Detroit diesels as it was based on an M4A2. These engines are easy enough to find, as indeed is most of the rest of the parts required. Of courese, finding them and aquiring them are two different problems..... Are the radials owned by a tankie? How much does your friend want for them? A very rough estimate to restore the BARV properly would be 4-5000 hrs and maybe 15-20k spend in parts. Would it be worth it? Jack, would I restore another one like my Sherman? I do have the Cromwell to do, though that is not as bad as the Sherman was. I sold the M10 because it was such a similar project to the Sherman. A lot less work, for sure, if only because an M10 has less parts than a gun tank, but still a big project all the same.

A bit of everything! I have seen over the years:- Sherman 1 Sherman V Sexton Ram Grant M40 M74 ARV M10 BARV Valentine A10 cruiser Covenanter Crusader Cavalier Centaur Cromwell Comet Centurion Conqueror Chieftain Matilda Churchill, most types Black Prince Jagdpanther Stug III M47 M48 T34 T54 Daimler A/C Ferrett Pig 432 Hs30 M42 AA M44 SP etc etc I've seen pics of some of the stuff that was on Lulworth post war..... Panthers, Panzer III etc Makes your mouth water!

No joy on the M10 then?

WW32 and 24 are earlier Churchills, WW27 is a Comet (upside down). The Croc is WW20, behind a 432.

The Churchill is a Crocodile, there were at least two out there, several Centaur Dozers and at least two BARVs, all ex Pounds. There was a little cluster (battery!) of german artillery on the eastern end and a PAK was recovered from Warminster some years ago, now in Bovington. The Tiger track was lying near Sley Down, it could have come from a Tiger, there were certainly lots of German targets on other ranges. Something could still be out there though I think it unlikely now, it's all been picked over fairly heavily in the last 20 years. As to the risks, whilst not particularly dangerous moving around, touching ordnance is very foolish and being out there with any firing taking place is madness! Some of the shrapnel looked murderous..... There was a time we were recovering Sherman interior parts and a Range warden approached us in his Landrover to advise there would be flare dropping trials starting in a couple of hours. We planned to be off by then but you know how it goes! We were still on site when the aircraft, a Tornado and a Buccaneer made several passes a mile or so away from us. One a/c was dropping flares which proceeded to set light to the grass on the hill. The Sherman was on top of this hill...... We left!

Mark, no, I don't live that near to any range, of which there are loads in the UK. Salisbury Plain is about 200 miles from me. Adrian

Well, there I was removing some parts from a Sherman V, when I spotted some track sticking out of the ground in front of the rh sprocket. I dug it out and first assumed it was Conqueror as it was so wide. However, upon cleaning the dirt off, it was obviously Tiger 1 battle track, the 'bridge' to the extra width being a giveaway. Only three links sadly. It had tack welds on some edges and I suspect it had been welded to another vehicle rather than being on a Tiger itself but who knows. We also found a small selection of German halftrack track sections of more than one size.

There were two if not three Sherman BARVs on the Plain, all ex-Pounds. They were placed in exchange for more interesting targets..... There is one Centaur Dozer in the pics that was a swap for the Cromwell that went to Budge. The Cromwell in the pics is actually a Centaur, there were only two Cromwells on the Plain that I know of, at least on Larkhill side. I spent many hours on the Plain recovering parts for various projects in the past. We considered nowhere to be out of bounds and I drove and walked all over the place. The impact area was often too rough and wet to take a wheeled vehicle and I certainly got stuck more than once. There was a lot of blinds laying around, everything from 2 pr solid shot up to 155mm and aerial bombs, usually practice but not always. I never touched anything doubtful.... I never did here of any instances of people being hurt by things going off when tampered with, several rumours but nothing confirmed. You would have to be stupid to try though... Acces to all ranges now is very difficult, we always went on with official permission, almost impossible to get now. :-( Comparing the pics to mine, going back to the 1980's, it's certainly changed. It was all Centaurs, Shermans Rams, the odd modern target like a Conqueror or Cent, certainly no Chietains. Then there was the Tiger 1 track I found.....

And when you come to unscrew it........? ;-)

Sort of.... The G number is the Standard Nomenclature List Group number. Every US vehicle had one. Jeep is indeed G503, Dodge 3/4 ton 4x4 is G502. This includes all 3/4 ton models. The WC 54 etc is the Dodge code. Some other useful ones are G508 GMC, G509 Diamond T 4 ton, G159 Diamond T 12 ton, G104 Sherman, G102 White Halftrack, G147 International Halftrack. It's handy to know a few of these when you're looking at packed parts as it's often the only indicator on the wrapping.

It was recovered for a certain Kent based collector.....

Parachute training descender?

Having just read the rest of the thread...... :oops: it's obviously not GB's. Unless you also get Rex's turret.......Unless it's my old one......I'll go now :evil: