N.O.S. Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Thought this might make a good thread for the long winter nights :dunno: When the going was tough, many a wild and wacky idea saved the day for us inventive Brits. Some of the ideas tried were just a bit too wild and wacky, but it is said for every brilliant solution there are a whole host of non-starters. Other ideas were quite workable solutions, but didn't make it because the problem had either disappeared or changed to the extent that a different solution was needed. This is not intended to be an opportunity to poke fun, but rather to show how creative we could be in times of war (having said that this first one does have an amusing outcome :whistle:) _________________________________________________________________________ RUSTON MOBILE FIELD GUN During the war, excavator manufacturers Ruston-Bucyrus became volume producers of Crusader and Centaur tanks, Crusader gun tractors and mine clearing flails and bridge layers based on old Churchill tanks. In 1940 the company experimented with the idea of developing a crawler-mounted field gun using conventional excavator running and propel gear. It took as the basis an old 10RB crawler crane used in the works yard, and altered the gearing in an attempt to provide something better than the crane's top speed of 2 1/2 mph. The excavator base used heavy dog clutches to either drive, freewheel or brake each track independently via two levers. After modification of gear ratios it was found a top speed of 15 mph could be achieved (a bit more like it), but that the machine was totally uncontrollable - I shall now quote from the author - "This led to situations dangerous for the participants and hilarious to the onlookers as the machine sped out of control around the test ground. After this, enthusiasm for the project waned and the 'souped up' grab crane resumed its former function, to the dismay of those drivers who thereafter had to negotiate the concrete loading ramp with this now errant machine". Extract and illustration taken from "Lincolns Excavators The Ruston-Bucyrus Years 1930-1945", by Peter Robinson with the kind permission of Roundoak Publishing. This and the first volume, "Lincoln's Excavators - The Ruston Years" are an excellent history of one of our most successful engineering companies. Highly recommended for earthmoving nutters. Anyone got any more please? :banana: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Tony, With rigid trackframes, it would have bucked and rolled alarmingly, especially with the weight of the gun and armour up top. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Projects that spring to mind. FV410 - Centurion Heavy Tank Destroyer (at 46 tons) FV426 - Orange William Launcher FV1606 - Humber 1-Ton Recovery Truck Shorland Water Cannon Shorland Trooper Morris Traveller, Internal Security Red Dean Blue Boar Pye Python Blue Envoy Quickfire Toolondoo Clevite Mauler Hawkswing Project E Orange William (my avatar) To name just a few Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 That should keep us going until January :whistle: most of those are new to me. I could do NELLIE (WW2 trenching machine, all 131 tons of it) - just waiting for permission to use pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 What about Centaur? Take one land rover and stick a Tank on the back. :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woa2 Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 One vehicle I have never managed to track down is an experimental 4 wheel drive Ford WOT2. I have heard rumours about it but never seen any photos or documents. Anyone help here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 What about the "Panjandrum"?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panjandrum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 I thought thatdid 'get off the ground', trouble is it wasn't supposed to. remember the D :-Dad's Army epiosode of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted November 1, 2007 Author Share Posted November 1, 2007 What about the "Panjandrum"?? Like that one - but should we believe it was a hoax? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashley Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 Hi all, how about the Bedford "Traclat" basically a Bedford copy of the popular German 251 halftrack series. Three were built and trailled but were sold off to forestry companys who i belive later scrapped them :cry: :cry: Ashley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 and the Austin K7 which was to be an equivalent to the Dodge Weapons Carrier, then in recent times, the CVR(W) Vixen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 The Giant Panjuram did exist. it was a large wheel with rockets round the outside and an explosive charge in the middle. the idea was on D-Day up come LC drops ramp, some brave, or stupid, or had P***** the Seargent off, squaddie lights rockets. Large wheel goes fizzing up beach guided by ropes, hits wall BIG BANG no wall. there is film of it on test, The funniest bit of it is some terrier type dog going crazy chasing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 TSR-2 (there was a link to something like thunger-and-lightnings.co.uk in a recent thread about the EE Lightning videos). The septics refused to allow something to go into service that was better than what they had. They threw teddy bears out of prams and threatened to stop arms shipments to us if we built it. Ultimately they forced the government of the day to trash the entire project - airframes, documents, photographs, the lot. The fact that the project could have bankrupted the government of the day even if it had not been begging to the IMF like a Third World nation at the time was neither here nor there. It might be argued to have been British aircraft design's zenith and not until the Tornado came along (built by a multi-national consortium) did we have something to compare with TSR-2 in the same way the US had nothing to compare with the F104 until the F22 Raptor came along and, despite 40 years more development, F22's specs are not that much better than those of the Starfighter (not much faster, not much higher ceiling, etc). The Germans and Italians cried when they had to retire their F104s a handful of years ago because they had promised to take the Eurofighter when it came into service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian2b Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 The Giant Panjuram did exist. it was a large wheel with rockets round the outside and an explosive charge in the middle. the idea was on D-Day up come LC drops ramp, some brave, or stupid, or had P***** the Seargent off, squaddie lights rockets. Large wheel goes fizzing up beach guided by ropes, hits wall BIG BANG no wall. there is film of it on test, The funniest bit of it is some terrier type dog going crazy chasing it. Is this the same large wheel with rockets that Dick Strawbridge recreated in the TV show Crafty Tricks of War. For those that dont know Dick Strawbridge here is his biography http://www.dickstrawbridge.com/biography.php?PHPSESSID=17af1cb2cf3ef7d2b1c0066a44062ed6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nissedasapewt Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 Yes, Dick did recreate this but I cannot recall whether his worked any better than the original. The wikipedia article is interesting because it refers to the idea that the panjuram was always intended to be a spoof, to confuse the Germans about the real site of the D-Day landings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazz Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 Dick had the same trouble with his machine as well. Barry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da bomb Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 Dick Strawbridge, Done an exercise with him out in Trinidad, he was a Major with the Royal Signals at the time, very nice bloke!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmite!! Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 TSR-2 (there was a link to something like thunger-and-lightnings.co.uk in a recent thread about the EE Lightning videos). Test Flight http://www.hmvftv.com/view_video.php?viewkey=a8ae0be8b5306971900a&page=1&viewtype=&category=mr Destruction of the TRS-2 http://www.hmvftv.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c9dcd35e62896010cd9f&page=1&viewtype=&category=mr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 On one very old black & white Raymond Baxter edition of Tomorrows World ( got allowed to stay up late to watch that) they had a mini dress made of TSR2 parts, for those who may wonder Tactical Strike & Reconnaissance aircraft 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted November 4, 2007 Author Share Posted November 4, 2007 NELLIE Conceived by Churchill, worried that the creation of the Siegfried Line by the Germans would once again give rise to a 'No Mans Land' between opposing forces during WW2. His idea was for a machine capable of digging a trench through No Mans Land big enough to move troops and vehicles under cover of darkness. Despite evidence early in the war that this time the fighting in Europe would be different, Churchill pushed ahead with Project "White Rabbit" (later "Cultivator No. 6"). Treasury approval was granted for a batch of 240 machines. The result was a massive tank - type trenching machine, in two sizes - the narrow 'infantry' version and a wider 'officer' (tank - width trench) version. By November 1941 an 'Infantry' type machine was successfully trialled, proving the concept by cutting a mile long trench across a minefield and other obstacles. Dimensions of this beast were: Weight 131 tons Length 77 ft 6" Width 18 ft 6" over blade Trench cut 7 ft 6" wide, 5 ft deep Digging Speed 0.5 mph In total 5 were constructed, but ended up in storage at RE Long Marston. It is rumoured that the operation to scrap them was too secret for military personnel, so German prisoners of war were used (!). It is believed that he last one survived at Long Marston until 1950. Thanks go to R. Hooley for permission to use drawings and photographs, also to Roundoak Publishing for permission to take information from Peter Robinson's book "Lincoln's Excavators" . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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