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Old Git

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Posts posted by Old Git

    Identifying Shermans

    in Tracked vehicles

    Posted

    Thanks Adrian, yeah wasn't a pleasant experience but it just confirmed what I already know to be true, that I'm far to old for heavy lifting and far too young to be gardening! I only get involved in Gardening because the wife talks in her sleep and she tends to say things about me being a lazy arse git and not helping enough in the garden and you know how powerful a motivator guilt can be. if it wasn't for that I'd as soon just ignore the damn thing! The plan was to have most of it laid to lawn with a few beds to keep the old girl distracted...sadly the Rotavator was having none of it that day!

    Have a copy of Son of Sherman here and working through it, trying to cherry pick what I need without reading it all from cover to cover, if you know what I mean. Been looking over the TNA archives for Sherman stuff and there are a few files on the subject, with drawings, next time I'm up I shall endeavour to copy a few of them and see what they tell us. 

    I've never really tried to bone up on Sherman variants until now and I have total admiration for anyone who has. Just getting a particular type of Sherman down is not enough. I have found a pic on IWM which shows, what appears to my untrained eye, and M4A2 with the type of Hatch hoods, above the Glacis plate, that I am looking for. This tank is clearly in use in NW Europe in 1944...now all I have to do is find a tank with these hoods and a different gun mantlet and so it goes on. Consistency would have been nice, c'est le vie

     

    mid_000000.jpg?action=e&cat=photographs THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORMANDY 1944. © IWM (B 6167) IWM Non Commercial License

     

     

    Identifying Shermans

    in Tracked vehicles

    Posted · Edited by Old Git

    John,

    thanks for those photos mate, they're fantastic. I've now got a much better idea of this area.

     

    Adrian, 

    thanks for the tip re the idler brackets. Haven't yet got to the point of trying to understand various types of suspension yet but I think that my second photograph (see above) of the French M4A2 demonstrates your point exactly. Hadn't really noticed that detial until you pointed it out, so thanks a lot for that!

    By way of explanation of what I am up to, I am laid up at the moment having lost a fight with a Rotavator hell bent on chopping off my right foot. Put the damn thing in neutral, as I turned it by a stone wall, only for the linkage to skip forward into reverse and the damn thing jumped back on me (why do they always go much faster in reverse). Anyways, it pinned me against the wall, handle under my rib cage and pushing me higher up the wall whilst I tried to keep my feet on the ground and  wrestle it under control, but I'm now too old for that kind of nonsense and it was winning before I realised I was still gripping the dead man's handle too tight. By the time I regained enough sense to hands-off it had my right ankle pinned and was beginning to chew up my boot! Sharp edge of the cover plate did bite into the bone though so  ankle is kind of buggered right now, but will be serviceable again.... if I can be persuaded to stay off it for a bit!! 

    So with nothing to do but watch TV (I'd rather cut my wrists) I decided to get down the large 1/6th scale plastic model kit of the Sherman M4A3 that Dragon released a few years back. This thing is bloody huge and I wouldn't have bought it except for the fact that the supplier was selling it off, (on the Net late at night, the bastard) at a ridiculously low price and I had a couple over my regular allotment of vino! It's been laying in the rafters of my Garage for years so now seems the perfect time to tackle it. Of course I don't want a US tank (no offence to the cousins across the pond) I want something that was used by our lot in Normandy, so I'm investigating the possibility of back-porting it to an M4A2.

    So far, the lower hull is a straightforward thing to do, with absolutely minimal modding. The upper Hull will require a bit of judicial cutting to remove and replace the Glacis plate and perhaps some of the front deck detail. But that's a relatively easy thing to do...I think. The engine grill on the rear deck needs looking at too but as this is already a separate piece it shouldn't need any cutting of the existing deck plates in this area.

    I'm leaning towards the FTA type Hatch hoods as they are squared and easier to fabricate, just need to track down some evidence that these were seen in British use in NW Europe and with which units (I think 8th and 27th Armd Brigade's fielded Sherman III's in NW Europe but need to research that further). If this isn't doable then I'll have to go the more common type Hatch hoods which will require a bit more skill in fabricating!

    Outside of that I also need to find evidence of Sherman III's in British service that use the M34A1 Gun mounts for the 75mm and then of course there's the loaders hatch in the Turret to deal with. All-in-all there's a wee bit of work in making it come out as a Sherman III but I don't think any of it is impossible...Just need to finish the research before I can be 100% happy that it's worth doing.

    I've been pulling references off the bookshelf and it occurs to me that there isn't a decent reference book for Sherman's in British use. Yes there's a few titles that show pretty pictures but they all seem to avoid trying to identify various Types or variations or going into any kind of serious detail. What we need is a whole new volume, like Son of Sherman, but devoted to Sherman's in British use, it can be called 'Cousin of Sherman' and be the definitive edition. So, when do you think you can make a start on writing it Adrian?

    ARMY Slang or phrases list?

    in I may be stupid, but......

    Posted

    Things like Lance-Jack, Dropshorts, etc. have been around since at least WWII as has, I think Buckshee, which is an old Arabic phrase meaning tip/gratuity. You still hear it a lot in Egypt, where they're always following you around asking for backsheesh (bqshysh). Incidentally, Egypt is where the term Gippo comes from also, short for Egyptian especially the begging / backsheesh kind. Then there's mucker which is pretty universal but is very much an Indian Army (WWII, and earlier,  era) phrase. One of my favourites, which has become wildly misinterpreted is Bint! In the WWII Indian Army Bint was Hindi for Pretty Girl. Today, especially up North, it seems to have taken on a new meaning which is closer to slag! I was in the centre of Oxford one day when I came across a Blue Mercedes with the number plate Bint 1 or something very similar. My friend spotted it first and said, "oh, that's a very unfortunate number plate", to which I replied, "probably not, it most likely belongs to an Indian girl and was probably bought for her by her Dad". To say he was incredulous at such a suggestion would be an understatement and even when I explained the background to him he was highly dubious. 

    A few years ago there was a re-print of 'Service Slang', a WWII era book produced by a couple of regular's Army and RAF, I think,

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Service-Slang-Flying-Officer-J-L/dp/0571240143/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords="Service+Slang"&qid=1554246330&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

    Identifying Shermans

    in Tracked vehicles

    Posted · Edited by Old Git

    John,

     

    thanks for the reply mate! Re the lower hull's being almost identical I am coming to the same conclusion but good lord these Sherman variants are confusing! Re the Muffler system I have managed to find a few photographs which give some good views of this area and they are below, but I'd love to see a good drawing/s for this muffler arrangement if anyone has one?

    Use of photographs for discussion purposes only.

    8xcxHHl.jpg

    kAxV6dZ.jpg

    These next few images appear to show the same area without the muffler attached and I assume that the welded in blanking plate, is the original exit point for the exhaust system before it joined up with the Mufflers? Or was there something else here?

    2vj1z45.jpg

    14pV7Vq.jpg

     

     

     

    Identifying Shermans

    in Tracked vehicles

    Posted

    Can anyone explain, or post pics/drawings showing, the differences in the lower hulls between the M4A2 and the M4A3? From what I've been able to ascertain the lower hull were of similar lengths and there was no rear engine access doors on the M4A2.

    Can anyone advise if the idlers were mounted differently between the M4A2 and the M4A3? Were there any othe major differences?

     

    Unusual winching ground anchor.

    in MV Chatter

    Posted

    These ground anchors were used quite a lot in Bridging operations with the RE, they are indeed WWII and immediate post-war. Interestingly enough Bassett-Lowke reproduced these in 1/6th scale as part of the Bailey Bridge training models that were made between 1944 - 1962

     

    • Thanks 1

    RAF Airfield Follow Me Vehicles in WW2 ?

    in MV Chatter

    Posted

    Well I can't say either way. What I do know is that when the RAC finally got a good look at the Morris LRC they were not too impressed with it for the Armoured Recce role and, following some recommendations for some slight uparmouring in the floor area (for mines), they passed the entire fleet over to both the RAF and the RE. From my own research into the RE it seems that they liked it a lot and did use it for site recce work. Whenever you see them in the NW Europe photo record they are almost exclusively in the use of RE. The RAF seems to have utilised them as armoured cars for perimeter patrols at airfields, this 'Stlll' is the only one I've ever seen of a Yellow Morris in the RAF role and it's possible that it was used as you say, but I always thought the Crash Tenders were a different colour and only Follow-me vehicles were Yellow, but then the RAF is not my area. I suppose somewhere in TNA there is a file with all the answers! 

    RAF Airfield Follow Me Vehicles in WW2 ?

    in MV Chatter

    Posted · Edited by Old Git

    I'm pretty sure I've seen a Morris LRC painted yellow and used as a Follow Me vehicle, by the RAF, during the War. I was collating references for the LRC a few years back so I may have saved the photo, let me have a spin through my NAS and see if I can turn it up.

     

    EDIT: Just had a spin through the NAS and can't turn it up. Have found a few pics of the LRC in use by the RAF but not that specific photo...beginning to doubt myself now! If I turn it up I'll post it.

     

     

    Anyone got a copy of RE Vocabulary of Stores from early 1950's

    in Research Centre

    Posted · Edited by Old Git

    Quote

    he large percentage of the RAF Museum's AP collection came direct from the MoD reference library

     

    Interesting comment this, in as much as I actually rang the MOD main switchboard number this morning and asked if they could put me through to the MOD's Librarian/Archivist. I was asked which Base, to which I replied Whitehall. Only to be told , we have no listing for that. Common Sense tells that the MOD, at Whitehall, should have a reference Library/ Archivist but as there's no mention of this on their website and the receptionist didn't seem to know of one either then how is one supposed to get through to them. I suppose the opacity of 'Open Government' is neither as contradictory, nor surprising, as it sounds! 

    Just off now to put "MOD Reference Library" into Google to see what happens...! Failing that does anyone have any contact details for the reference library!

     

    EDIT: As suspected it turns up next to nothing, in fact Google returns only one, truncated, page of hits. .....and whilst the last entry on this page looks intriguing I think I shall have to give it a miss as it sounds too much like the typical Russian Hacker Honey-trap.

    Anyone got a copy of RE Vocabulary of Stores from early 1950's

    in Research Centre

    Posted

    On 8/24/2018 at 11:56 PM, fv1609 said:

    It is as well to have it & defines the document precisely. A museum library ought to make use of those identifiers, that's how I catalogue my collection as nature intended.

    I'm away from home but I did buy direct the Catalogue of RE Stores in the 1990s, mind you it took over a year for them to process the order as my UIN at the time put me at I think Priority 8 which is as low as it can be!

    Would these things of interest still have been in service then?

    Just received a note from the Australian National Archives, who do not have a copy either, but they've been able to give me the WO Number for it, WO 6386.

    Anyone got a copy of RE Vocabulary of Stores from early 1950's

    in Research Centre

    Posted

    Has anyone got a copy of "Royal Engineers Vocabulary of Stores, Group 4, Section 5, Sub-Section 4" which covers bridging and was published in early 1950's? Not necessarily looking to buy it, just want information from it and maybe a couple of digital photographs of relevant pages?

    It's not to be found in NAM: RE Museum / Library; IWM, or Kew. Have a query in with TICRE but thought I'd try here also, just on the off-chance. Anyone at all?

     

    Pete

    Morris LRC MK2

    in Blogs of MV restorations

    Posted

    Pretty much all the LRC's were shoved over to the RE late in the war because the RAC were not impressed with the armour on them. They did produce a few recommendations for up-armouring them, a wee bit, but refused to use any themselves. The RE seem to have loved them and they were used, like the WSC's, in the reconnaissance role and as a general runaround. Some were also passed on to the RAF and I've seen a photograph, somewhere, of at least one being used as a 'Follow-Me' vehicle on an airfield somewhere in the UK

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