timbo Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 An ever youthful Bob Grundy on telly right now demonstrating his DD Scorpion. Shouldve fitted the belly plates Bob..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Child Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Which channel - is it the D-Day programme on Channel 5? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo Posted November 16, 2013 Author Share Posted November 16, 2013 Yep... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Hadn't seen that one for ages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Good effort Bob! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Is it really a DD Scorpion with a drive train to a propeller, giving two different drives (ie Duplex Drive) or is it just a Scorpion with a float screen that predates them being removed about 1980 when BAOR realised there were no rivers in the Corps Area that were suitable for floating Scorpions? Like the ones our squadron floated at Ludgershall in 1977? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Is it really a DD Scorpion with a drive train to a propeller, giving two different drives (ie Duplex Drive) or is it just a Scorpion with a float screen that predates them being removed about 1980 when BAOR realised there were no rivers in the Corps Area that were suitable for floating Scorpions? Like the ones our squadron floated at Ludgershall in 1977? Well I got the impression it was just driven by it's tracks so not DD but was presented in the context of a modern day version of the DD Shermans, and to demonstrate that a wading screen arrangement will always be frankly dangerous. Of course I have seen pictures of true DD Scorpions with the props attached at right angles to the end of the drive shafts (having first removed the top hats). I dont think these were ever anything other than experimental though... Timbo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Child Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 It was interesting to see. I hadn't realised the floatation screens used inflatable struts. I'd never have though they'd be strong enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I suppose I had better say something.......First, all belly plates were in place, the water was coming in from a unnoticed plug/bolt that is behind and above the final drive assembly. The Scorpion was in the water on two occasions but the film showed it once so it had far more water inside the transmission and engine compartment than we realised. We were instructed by Windfall Films to make the floatation screen as it would have been on a Sherman, canvas screen and being made to go up by compressed air. The Scorpion set up was very different. Forward movement in the water was by tracks alone which did not work very well. Please remember there was no testing of this project prior to the film crew attending at Carr Mill Dam, St Helens for the shoot. At the workshop there is a clip where we are fitting the canvas and the sheet is upside down. We had only taken it off 5 minutes before so that it could be filmed being fitted, such are the hoops that has to be gone through for the sake of an entertainment documentary film. Any way it was good to see my late cat Duskiman. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turret_Monster Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 The Scorpion set up was very different. Forward movement in the water was by tracks alone which did not work very well. I was always led to believe that the CVRT was designed to be driven in the water by 'paddle wheels' attached to the final drive sprockets, which allowed some steering as well as given better propulsion. I must say I'm amazed that anyone would risk their vehicle (and crew) by floating it untested, and set up in a manner dictated by a film company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 I was always led to believe that the CVRT was designed to be driven in the water by 'paddle wheels' attached to the final drive sprockets, which allowed some steering as well as given better propulsion. I must say I'm amazed that anyone would risk their vehicle (and crew) by floating it untested, and set up in a manner dictated by a film company. I am one who believes 'just get on with it', if it went down then so be it. We had life jackets and a modicum of common sense as well in our favour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 I was always led to believe that the CVRT was designed to be driven in the water by 'paddle wheels' attached to the final drive sprockets, which allowed some steering as well as given better propulsion. I must say I'm amazed that anyone would risk their vehicle (and crew) by floating it untested, and set up in a manner dictated by a film company. Two more penn'orth. I cannot for certain agree that CVR(T) was designed to be driven in the water by 'paddle wheels' attached to the final drive sprockets. Whether it was designed to, then they found they didn't make that much difference, or they developed later, too late to be of use, I don't know. When I swam one at Ludgershall in 1977 those paddles were not available to us. They were not on the CES at any time between 76 and 82 (the years I served in armoured recce on CVR(T)) - or if they were on the CES, there were never any in stock or on issue - and neither did I see them issued to the armoured recce regiments who would be the people expected to swim them. They were propelled purely by the turning of the tracks in what I imagine to be drive generated in loosely the same way as the fluid flywheel. By 1982 the float screens had been removed and binned, so the existence of the paddle wheels becomes academic. I was at the time vaguely aware that CVR(T) had had paddle wheels developed, just as they had had fibreglass track skirts developed, which were also not fitted in the line, since first time they knocked a tree, they'd break. More effort for run of the mill service than they were worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 There are drawings in the manuals showing the propeller arrangement, but I doubt any were ever used. I'll see if I can find a scan I did some time ago . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo Posted November 28, 2013 Author Share Posted November 28, 2013 I am almost certain i have seen pictures of them being used, but only as prototypes. From recollection they are more like propellers driven off the end of the drive shafts through a bevel box type arrangement. They looked frankly ridiculously flimsy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 I found this on my hard drive while looking for the scan.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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