geoffleese Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 (edited) Afternoon everyone. We've just spent a very enjoyable morning dragging a PORPOISE out of a Norman hedge, and recovering it to a workshop. Now the restoration starts. When completed it will be placed behind the Sexton in the Espace Robert Kiln on the D514 coast road in Ver sur Mer, opposite the memorials. My job once I'm back in UK is the research. Anyone know of any other surviving examples, in the UK or elsewhere? Pictures? (1944 or later) Records of service? How many were made? Who made them? The sled is missing its covers, so copies will have to be fabricated. Therefore copies of original plans will be most useful. Thanks for any help you can offer, via these means or any other. Edited September 1, 2011 by geoffleese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Got any pics of its recovery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 We have indeed, and as soon as I'm back in the UK I'll post one or two here. Is that allowed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 We have indeed, and as soon as I'm back in the UK I'll post one or two here. Is that allowed? Allowed? It's considered mandatory! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 OK. Will see what I can do from here. Now where's that funny looking wire thing........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 Here are a couple before we started lifting, and after we'd cut down the hedge and cleared most of the cr*p from around the sled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 (edited) One or two during the lift - Edited September 1, 2011 by geoffleese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 And one or two being placed outside the workshop ready for work to begin. Now, about those surviving examples/pictures/memories/plans/service records/manufacturers records? There's a small number stamped into one of the front towing eyes - 720. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Gentelmen! I supect a con! Notice the apple trees above Mr Leese's head? He's just after a large size squasher to make Calvados! :-D In the mean time, I'll start getting the wire brushes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Damn! You noticed! Lovely to hear from you Tony, haven't seen you for too long. You know you're always welcome here. The museum are paying for the restoration and explanatory panel - bilingual, that's where my work will be - and the town are paying for the concrete plinth to put it on when finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Crikey!!!! ..... I'm glad you fellas know what you're looking at when you find stuff like that under a hedge... cos I'd have walked straight by it muttering summat to myself such as... "uh huh....rusted out cattle trough....mmmm...nothing of interest to you there smiffy......move swiftly along now, come on... keep looking for all those Tiger Tanks that must be around here somewhere... nothing to see here...." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Strangely enough, the previous "owner" ( well, we left it on his land in June 44) used it as exactly that! When the base rusted out and it wouldn't hold water, he flung it in the hedge and forgot about it. We are still looking for that "barn find" Tiger tank though............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 (edited) Strangely enough, the previous "owner" ( well, we left it on his land in June 44) used it as exactly that! When the base rusted out and it wouldn't hold water, he flung it in the hedge and forgot about it. We are still looking for that "barn find" Tiger tank though............. hahaha ! you , me and at least another couple of thousand folk I reckons! .........having said that.....there's a little Museum just along the road heading west from the big US cemetary at Omaha that the fella has some staggering exhibits in ....if you get him chatting you'll find many of them have been found in Normandy... in sheds, barns, lying under hedges etc.....got me quite fuelled when he show me a BAR that was more or less in working order which he very coyly admitted was found 'locally' hidden away in a farm shed only a few years before.....outside the musuem he also had a ramp off a landing craft which had been lying only a mile or so away from his museum til he ...ahem...'saved it'........ ....so the morale of the story is ...none of us know exactly what may still be lying out there somewhere.. maybe not a Tiger ?....but...who knows?....... Edited September 2, 2011 by RattlesnakeBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver99 Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 As far as I know, there are no surviving Porpoise left in the uk, unless another found in like condition. There is one along with the Cenaturs in th oggin off selsey bill. Having a chat with David Fletcher one day about said centaurs and porpoise, Tank Museum haven't got an example and DF hadn't seen one. I think there is a picture of one in his osprey book about the centaurs, which were towing them during D-Day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex van de Wetering Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Very interesting find! Thanks for posting the pictures. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Well lads, I know the area he's lurking in! Quick trip over on the ferry? :cool2: Geoff mate, Katy over very soon! Something always promised! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 Thanks Tony. That is indeed good news. Have you told Simon? A repaint in RAMC colours perhaps? And an HRO set in the back? ( We know that "Y" service did that....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver99 Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Thanks Tony. That is indeed good news. Have you told Simon? A repaint in RAMC colours perhaps? And an HRO set in the back? ( We know that "Y" service did that....... Why RAMC colours? It was used to tow ammunition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 Sorry chap. "crossed wires" here. "Katy" is a dodge ambulance, owned by a recently passed lifetime friend of Tony. Simon is our group's MO, who's always wanted an ambulance to "play" with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 And WC54's were used by the Special Liasion Units that handled the ULTRA intillegence in the feild. They were responsible for the security and distribution of the information from Bletchley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 Evening evryone. There's news! Some covers have been found, about a mile away , parts of a shed! mystery is, they've been measured and they're too big. Does this imply there are at least two variants of this thing? Anyone any idea who made them? How and where we might find plans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fesm_ndt Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 http://www.ensigngroup.ca/COS-Preparing-For-Overlord.pdf http://www.militar.org.ua/foro/panzer-en-normandia-t25298-45.html#988284 http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=151&cat=10&page=1 http://www.hlj.com/product/ACMA004 http://www.network54.com/Forum/47208/thread/1093266212/1093349210/Porpoise+Ammunition+Sledge http://www.battlefieldhistorian.com/0945_hrs_on_King_Green_showing_the_sliver_of_beach_available_for_disembarka.asp http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3628 just in case something is interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks for those, some useful stuff there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffleese Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Just in case any of you are waiting for an update, there are lots more pictures here. http://goldbeachmusee.org.uk/Porpoise-1.htm The porpoise herself is now away being painted, it's concrete base behind the Sexton and the information panel are now installed and ready. We're aiming for "unveiling" sometime over Easter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 That is great. Something really unusual. What did you do with the covers that were too big? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.