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Inside the great tanks


eddy8men

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hi fella's

makes for a good read,i never understand why so many books about tanks only have pics of the outside when in my opinion the inside is the most interesting bit,this book helps to restore the balance although it's not that in depth but beggars can't be choosers.

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/4008399/Inside-the-Great-Tanks

 

enjoy eddy

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Not really sure if the following belongs here or not, but if not perhaps the moderators can consign it to wherever, but it is about the inside of a tank.

 

Many years ago when I was serving in REME, a bunch of us, Centurion mechanics, were sent from Germany to Bordon on a II to I upgrading course. The course itself was very boring as we worked on the things daily, whilst our instructors seemed to us to be behind the times.

 

During our time there an exhibition was going to take place, and we had been given the honour(?) of crewing the tanks , to answer questions from the public. All right so far, but then we learnt that we had to dress up in our best uniforms, including peaked caps. After a lot of protests we were allowed to wear our normal berets , as you can imagine trying to move around the turret in the big hats.

 

Then we found out that all the interiors of the tanks wer being resprayed with that lovely silver paint that is guaranteed to turn anything it touches into a silver mess. But the authorities were firm about this so no amount of protesting helped.

 

The exihibition was on a Saturday, but on the Friday there was to be a full dress rehersal with visiting staff officers and their families to be the guests.

So on a Friday morning I was hiding deep down in the turret of a Cent, hoping nobody would come my way, and trying to stay away from the freshly painted walls. But I was unlucky as I heard a very plummy accent above me on the top of the turret. not only some bigwig, but he had his young teenage daughter with him.

When I glanced, (stared?) up I just happened to notice that the daughter was standing astride the gunners hatch. This was too good a chance to miss, so I climbed out through the the commanders hatch, and told the dear girl to be careful. As she realised where I had come from she turned the colour of an overipe beetroot, and almost jumped off, but her father confounded the issue by holding her arm whilst asking me some silly questions.

 

All of the course thought the whole week-end was a waste of time, but it did have its brighter moments!:cool2:

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Eddy!!

 

obviously you were never an officer and a gentleman:blush:, with regard to pics I am sure some-one could PM you a site or two:cheesy:.

 

With regard to books the walk around series of Armor in Action have reasonable interiors as do the innevitable Hunnicutt series on US vehicles.

 

There are reasons for a lack of interior photos, one is technical, in 35x 16mm flim days a good interior shot required a 17mm (or less) none fisheye lens (on the standard SLR) which was quite expensive, which was OK for me as I needed a very wide angle lens to photograph property interiors. Today digital cameras require even wider value lens again at great cost, a 20mm digital is equivelent to a 35mm in Film format, so a pricey 10 or 12mm is necessary on a DSLR for interiors. However some digitals can take a convertor lens on the filter ring, but they can distort unless you are again willing to pay out lots of money.

 

Other reasons for lack of interiors is restrictions, many museums don't allow it, the Military may also prevent it- in the U.S. and on U.S. bases abroad permits may be necessary to photograph and may restrict the photographer to "exterior views only" and on one fairly well know occasion a photographer was given his marching orders for snapping the engine of a M151 through the grill- hence an interior, whilst having an "exterior only" chit.

 

Steve

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