Curator Q&A #10: Tank Engines | The Tank Museum

well hello again it's David Willy curator from the Tank Museum to do another question and answer session I think this is about our tenth one and if you haven't seen the format before I've got some questions that people have either put in the comment or emailed in and I'm gonna try and answer those and at the same time because we're an independent charity the museum is closed at the moment I've got a few stock items from our online shop that's still open that you might be interested in and so I'll be doing a little bit of trying to sell things and as I say each time thank you so much for your comments thank you so much those if you've been buying things from our online shop it is our only source of income at the moment and fingers crossed we are preparing to reopen the museum obviously there's a lot of things we've got to go through at the moment keeping social distancing working out the best system of doing this in the future and we'll keep you informed obviously look at the website will be keeping everyone informed about that as as how progress goes but meanwhile there's these question answers there's other films we put out do have a look for on our website we put stuff out on Facebook and various other things as well so hopefully we're giving you some content and some something to keep us all going in these as everyone keeps going on about very interesting very different times we're living through but on to the questions so I've got quite a few to get through so let me start straightaway Neil Harris has asked about what's the real gist behind different engine types that go into armored fighting vehicles I think he was really talking about World War two and what's the issue about diesel and petrol one of those advantages and now as a topic as a whole you know this idea about how do you power a tank we often go on about the three things that make up a tank its mobility which is of course based on that engine power that's applied inside the vehicle to give it automotive traction to get around the place it's armored protection and its firepower those are those three things so engines are very important to tanks and when tanks first come into service the internal combustion engine been around since the 1880s they straightaway went to find an engine that was already out there there was no point trying to invent something new from scratch this was a a weapon of war that was being developed quickly to get into service as I often say to try and save British soldiers lives on the Western Front that's what they're aiming to do with those first tanks and so they get the hundred and five horsepower Daimler petrol engines sometimes called the silver Knight engine and that was being used for big agricultural tractors just before the First World War now that engine they use they immediately start designing better tanks during the course of the First World War and they go to a chap called Harry Ricardo who's a British engineer and they basically give a list of specifications to him and when you read that list I should have very actually really had a good look and put it out in front of me sort of thing to read it to you because it's basically it's it's kind of really limiting he's not allowed to use alloys because they've got to go off to the aircraft industry he's not allowed to use high-grade petrol because of that again is being reserved for aeroplanes it's got to fit in the volume of the original 105 horsepower silver Knight engine but they need it to be at least a half the powerful again at least 150 horsepower he's got this great list of things that are given him and the remarkable thing about Harry Ricardo he turns that round and comes out with Ricardo engine which is the first purpose-built tank engine it was hopefully going to go in the mark 4 tank it's too late for that it actually ends up going in the mark 5 tank and he also does it in a way which I'm going to read you some of the problems tanks have about engines that just so you understand it it's a very different kettle of fish I keep saying this we often compare tanks and what they do to automobiles we see around us all the time our cars trucks of an or something or other and of course those circumstances or that engine have got to work in can be very very different than a civilian vehicle and Harry Ricardo is not only does he come up with this engine that meets that criteria but it's an accessible engine that can be repaired on the job and doesn't always have to come out all the time for access and that again is another one of these key criterias there now in the 1920s and 30s petrol engines are the ones that are being fitted in tanks but in the background there's been for the general automotive industry as well this sort of research into making diesel engines simpler lighter more reliable better specifications and it's actually British tank the a sixer as an experimental vehicle the diesel is first fitted in the honor tank and the Soviets of course they like diesel there they're developing what becomes their v12 that goes in the t-34 you know about a 500 horsepower bhp engine that they developed there for their diesel engine but the issues about diesel and petrol you have to remember in tanks on the whole is about your national strategy because the Germans decided for example everyone always talks about first of all there was this myth that many German tanks were powered by diesel there's one armoured car that's got a diesel engineer in the German military or under the German the sort of economic direction diesel is going to be allocated to the Navy because I think it's best in submarines and there's only a limited quantity they're going to be able to get of diesel so actually all the German tanks are powered by petrol engines and again so it's a national strategy not so much what is necessarily best for the individual vehicle now the issue about diesel and petrol is when they're starting to come up with effective diesel engines as some Russians do in the 1930s you've got the advantage about diesel for a tank crew is really yes you've got a great robust engine yes you can get that power but it's also about flammability and words diesel when it's in liquid form is much harder to set on fire than petrol is it's only when it starts being either heated up or evaporating etc than diesel becomes as flammable as petrol petrol we know straight away we'll room temperature the vapor above petrol will ignite if you put a match to it sort of things so for safety's sake diesel has often been the the one that's been picked by tank crews as being you know it gives me a few more seconds per hit potentially to get out if that vehicles going up in flames or it's been hits but the point I wanted to make you which is what's that that's this idea what's going to be a good engine these were some of the issues a tank engine has to face up to which makes it different some of these crossover with the civilian aircraft and other sectors but many of these when you put all these ones together nothing else has to deal with this in the same way which is why tank engine becomes such a problematic thing so these are some of the things the tank engine has to do it needs because of the nature of a tank which tends to be heavy it's metal it's a big metal box you need the maximum power of course for what you hope to be the minimum fuel consumption because the fuel is presumably can I have to be protected under armor in the tank and therefore you've got another one of those major issues where do we put enough fuel inside an armored box like a tank to keep that engine going and that's something again a lot of other vehicles a fuel issue is less problematic where it can go but in a tank it really has to go under armor most of time unless maybe t54 fifty-five diesel you put along the side and take that risk but keep still I think about two-thirds of the actual fuel is under armor in a t54 it has to work at the extremes of temperature so you've got hot deserts you've got cold freezing winters etc you've got extremes of climate conditions as well so you've got things like dust you've got mark you've got all sorts of things smoke detritus flying around that that engine has got to be able to still function in the middle of and of course altitude as well that's another one of these ones as well which can affect any so if you're working at height that's going to again oxygen starvation all sorts of other issues going on there as well a Tank Engine has got to work at angles so most of the time if you think in your car the sort of gradients you go up and down a tank may well be going over all sorts of gradients up and down left and right steep angles back and forwards is going to be shaken around the place as well so the vibration issues of that engine has got to go too it's going to have to work at a what wide range of revolutions whereas you know most of the time something like an aeroplane is either pretty much dead slow or flat out and tanks gonna have to go through all those ranges in between as well from just little ticking over to flat out there so that rev-range has got to be quite quite considerable it's gonna have to run for protracted periods so again when you really need it you really need it so it's got to be working got to be able to keep going and when you need to get to it it's got to be accessible again on the whole you know when you think about it or playing when it comes and lands yes it can be worked on etc it's out the tank engine sometimes has to be worked on in some pretty dodgy situations so again that idea of accessibility for common faults it's got to be maintainable again this idea of taking the whole engine out every time that the you know you seal the folks well you see what goes on with tanks so wouldn't it be better to like that Ricciardo engine they can work on the engine without having to take it out the complete vehicle the mark-5 tank it's got to be low fire risks we've talked about flammability because of the nature of the fact that you're not only in a confined space but you're going into combat where there are weapons being fired at you purposely to set you on fire so that engine you know flammability and of course other issues like you know with the diesel that we mentioned the two things early Diesel's tend to be a bit smoky when they started smoke gives away your position and so you don't really want a smoke engine or something when it starts up you know boom that old plume of smoke line you sampler chieftain sometimes you know that gives your position away now the things things to think about with tank engine you've got no chance of using the usual radiator arrangements like again you think in a car so it radiators and water calling the engine put the radiator in the front air come through the grill cools down that water helps call the engine you won't have that on the tank will you so you have to put the radiator in a confined space and therefore building a fan system to cool the water that way so you've got to do all that inside an engine bay that's under armor plate otherwise again if you're doing water-cooled you can imagine that's pretty vulnerable and if you're doing water called are you going to places where there is water readily available because if you're fighting in deserts and waters a precious commodity if you're using a water-cooled engine you've got to make a problem there so they like the idea of course for tanks air called if we can do it because it's another sort of rapport so you're not looking for all the time.i water to keep a place they keep the engine nice and cool and of course water as well in the other extremes it can freeze and you've got again problems they were splitting pipes and everything else other than a tank and tanks again are more susceptible to that because they're walking great big lumps of metal so their heat sources or heat sink so if they get really cold overnight they tend to stay cold so as I mentioned so petrol mainly in the 30s goes onto diesel to certain countries choice in the Second World War and one of the points that the questioner mentioned was you know why why four engines for the Sherman four different types advantages disadvantages the real reason for the four engines for the Sherman is they just simply could not make enough of the same type with a factory space and the resources available hence they build other types so we have a radial aeroplane engine the right world whirlwind that goes in the ground tank again because that comes it's got the power about 350 horsepower comes from an aeroplane but it because it's circular as a radial engine that creates a height and again if you look at the Stuart where the transmission comes off the height of the decking in the back that's because of the size of the engine but they do a twin GM diesel engine you know there's a forward engine there's all that idea behind it it's not that each of those engines has a particular specialism it's just simply too power from an engine from that number of factories that can make them to match the number of Sherman tanks are going to be made by the Americans which is something else to to really work or to bear in mind so I so into a little bit on there because I think tank engines it is a topic that comes up all over the place worth talking about worth remembering the problems of the engineers with a tank engine you know how they've got all those issues they're gonna have to match up to so and how through the period you know in Britain for example one of the issues was there was government taxes in the 20s and 30s the larger your engine the more you got tax for it so we didn't in Britain particularly develop that many big meaty engines for vehicles whereas in other parts of the world that was going on you know think of America with you know traction engines for the prairies and other things that way actually in Britain you were penalized if your vehicle engine was too big so that was one of the problems Britain had was trying to find reliable powerful enough engines when rearmament starts in the later 1930s and of course we end up you know the real issue is with the Merlin engine in for that's being developed and built for Spitfires and then Lancaster bombers and various other aircraft again the aircraft have the priority so it's only later that rolls-royce they develop the meteor engine based on that that that then becomes available can start going in things like the Cromwell and then the comet tank a little bit later on most tank engines these days I think you'll find of course are diesel because of the safety elements commonality of fuel now the British Army only has diesel powered vehicles in service and of course the next big issue that everyone's looking at is who and wayna people going to start going petrol electric all electric engines which has been one of those aspirations for military vehicles way back to Ferdinand paulcurran in the First World War when he was - driving around you know for the oscar hungarian commander in chief one of his cars in the back and he was looking at electric drive all the way back then so it's a new it's not a new story electric driving tanks and again you know i've mentioned before one of the first French tanks has got petrol electric driving so there we go about engines let's move on let's get another question or two Kevin burrows has asked the question about tank German tanks when they broke down you know I've mentioned at different times talking about the British about rimi about how role Army Service called before then you know how vehicles were recovered who works on them how they get them repaired there's a big system there in the British American military you have a different system what do the Germans do and I was really impressed there's a guy called Davey I believe if you go back to your question in the comments Davies replied really well and made all those points about what the German system is German system is much more based on you look after your own kit yes you have mobile workshops with you but it certainly doesn't have the spare part or the replacement part system in the same way as the Western Allies armies have so you know the idea we took out stuff sent it back and replaced it with a brand new thinks so much more of the German is machined in the field repaired in the field and if you're really interested in the topic these are two books I'd recommend repairing the Panzers as the first one their first volume and repairing the Panzers part two and that goes into a ferrule bit of detail those two books they're not cheap but they are out there and the people who've done the research they're stunning photography again but really looked into how the Germans do it so that's a brief answer on that one but as I say that David guys replied to your question already very very well and one other small point I'd make as well which is why recovery and repair so important until the burgh panther comes along one of the problems that Germans had with their biggie of bigger vehicles is if it breaks down within sight of the enemy they only had unarmored recovery vehicles things like a famine 8-ton famo half-track vehicle to try and recover that and when you think about that as well that's also very problematic because if you're in a soft-skinned vehicle trying to recover something that could still be on the shelf aisle or in the equivalent of no-man's land on the battlefield there's a problem there so the burg Panther it only arise fairly late in the war that's their first proper armored purpose-built armored recovery vehicle that can recover those heavier weight German vehicles earlier on they're having to use improvised vehicles or another tank to tow which is never good practice sometimes so that I do at the Berg path of that's going to mean you can recover some of your precious assets if you've got a broken-down tiger or Panther you're going to need that vehicle to do it and earlier than that they just didn't have them David Ogden Drees I think I said it right as a father I eagerly await the day my son buys me tank socks now if you didn't see them last time I dug them out again I do hope that everything's not going to fall on the floor I've got some of the product here we are doing Tank Museum official Tank Museum socks with if you can see there on there is lots of different types of Tanks so Devon Ogden Drees I believe is his name is my suggestion to this is why like most of us don't you buy your own socks give them to the person who then can give them to you and you in a win-win situation they think you're great for doing it you finally come up with something like so many blokes I'll bet there's lots you're out there we're constantly being badgered what do I get you for Father's Day or what do I get you for your birthday or Christmas don't really know so you can actually say the point to that one or by myself given to the person to give to you and of course you will have that added warm glow that you've been supporting the Tank Museum a wonderful charity in the way you by doing that in the first place oh that's my answer to you on that one Steven Carter I'm pleased that we're of service to you so keep at it thank you viper labs when did the super velocity 17 pounds of discarding sabot round enter service which gives me another excuse to mention so just in case you haven't got one already there's your inflatable 17 pound around this one is the ballistic capped version the discarding sabot round that's inflatable one you can get from the shop the real ones the discarding sabot round actually have a very small tungsten core discarding Sabo that in all the reference says it doesn't get to the troops to later in August of 1944 but I haven't seen where anyone actually quoting where they're getting that reference from just in case it's something because sometimes as I've mentioned before you can get an official paperwork that says a date and we were saying this about things like you know the denim tank suits is all officially is only approved in September 1944 we've seen them all being issued to the Troops and they're out there well before d-day because they were wearing them as they go head off into Normandy and for the d-day landings so sometimes you've got to be careful that the paperwork we go to if the photographic evidence there's something else but everyone's saying is basically the discarding sabot round which has that extra level of penetration is only getting out there from about August later in August of 1944 to the 17 pounder 's out in the welcome anyone with a firefly out there and of course the anti-tank guns as well and these are always rounds that are not there in quite the same quantities as always talk about the discarding sabot rounds being you know rare you've saved them for best you save them for the whereas the rest of the normal standard are on the piercing is considered good enough for most of the other things so I hope that answers that one Charles Flynn makes a good point which I hope I did get it out earlier he says about the guidebook and Thank You Charles coming back because I was are saying you know you'll to buy this and guide but one or a guidebook because there's things in there that you won't get anywhere else and Charles makes mention of a watercolor which I just want to show you because we've reproduced it with a number of other things there's some lovely imagery in this new guidebook we've done and this is a watercolor he mentioned it's worth buying the guidebook just for that watercolor and it's a beautiful one of a Sherman heading off at dawn at the Battle of Alamein and I mention it because he mentioned you know and it is just everything again you find these things on the back of it by the way that watercolor and I put this in the caption when we were doing the book the the guidebook it's actually done by a chap called AJ Ingram who is third Tang regimen and he wrote on the back of it my own track was shot off the previous day so had to stay behind and watch some sail out very impressive indeed these little details so someone who's there obviously got a bit of a tan and beautiful watercolor and it's my excuse again to remind you all which you are gonna get home from the shop do have a look at our or read the reviews of our souvenir guidebook there's some lovely material in there not all of it you know you might think you've seen it all before done little there's some good stuff and thank you for pointing that lovely watercolour out Charles Daniel Taylor said after the last one what did I go fishing for and did I catch anything and someone else did I take my tie off I did take my tie off fin came with me we'll put a little bit of footage on on the beach afterwards I went down to somewhere called chisel beach I caught nothing I don't think I've caught anything for about the last half dozen time I've been fishing but it's still a day by the beach isn't it it's still a better day than anything else and frankly you know I take the rod I pretend I'm fishing I do have bay I did get some bait the fact you don't catch anything doesn't make the slightest bit of difference really tell say it's still just one of those beautiful experiences and Phil enjoyed a fin by the way he's not here today someone thought it was not a good idea in the comments and we should have thin in these videos etc talk about the tanks instead so let's see what people have to say about that won't we right Chris Piazza how our photos acquired how did you find them or not how you find them as in Chris I believe he's trying to have sort of you know if he wants to write something do you go to ebay or archives or what goes on that way and we at the Tank Museum have I think we've scanned over a quarter of a million images we have loads more we have not scanned yet and our biggest issue is cataloging because cataloging photographs is so problematic because there's what the person has written on the photograph if you lose that if it's part of an album you know if you can see the sequence you start knowing who this guy is you know all those things that takes a enormous amount of time to transcribe these things and of course in the past the emphasis on what we copied and what we did with it was changed because early days it was you know everyone wanted in an image just that image of something like here's a mark five tank in the First World War that was what it was about now of course as the subject area expands as family history expands the fact on that photograph there's two tank crewmen in the foreground and someone on the bank said this is me and Bob you know and dated it and everything else that is of course now so precious to us so in the early days when everyone was just interested in that images mark five now we want to know who these guys can we actually because again what with the internet what with people researching was there's there's so much more ways we can get data information etc out there that we can find you know matching up landscapes all sorts of things can go on so that sense of being able to find more of course we almost want to do a continuous cataloging process the truth is we have only QR started really scratching the surface on that we do have a stunning archive we have a wonderful collection if you want to get photographs they are the people when we're back up and running and tanks you know we obviously there's plenty of other archives out there tanks we're the place to go to do ask the question try and refine as best well so sometimes we send out what's the equivalent of like digital proofs sheet so you can see which one you want to order there is a charge for that service and for a reproduction service that's how we do it and of course over time you know what with private albums official stuff sometimes we get box loads of stuff still being handed in we get it from the military we get it sometimes from industry we get still families of course they get to the point something's in the attic what do we do with this tin box we know it's important some people you know always advise do you want to scan it for the family pass it round can you look after this material which is another one I would say if you've got really nice stuff at home for your own family history or you collected things spend a little bit extra asked for acid-free envelopes Mel and XM Veloz acid free boxes to put it in because means the material if it's precious to you spend a little bit extra in looking after it and that's why I always say to people sometimes if you do want to give it to the Tank Museum we'd love to accept material of course we would if it's relevant to us always not repeating something we've already caught but gift it to us with a copyright so we can use it if you own the copyright because there's no point I was looking after material we can't use this and what they call all four material lots of material in archives where people don't really know who owns it but they're very frightened of using in case they get sued by someone or whatever someone claims their hand the copyright that's something a lot of archives I'm going to face up to at the moment so make sure you're happy that we use if you're going to give it to us but the key one I would say as well is when you make that decision within a family or it might just be your decision what do I do with grandfather's wonderful album if you're going to give it to the Tank Museum great we will give you a reference number so you know then it comes in what we're trying to do is catalog all the material that arise but even there there's going to be backlogs you can imagine in times what we then do as well is I can say to you or the Tank Museum at least can say to you is that in the future if you've got other family members later on get excited about the subject or what did great-great-grandfather do you know and they've now got it an interest in that at least you can then say go to the Tank Museum because that's where all the material is so often and you know it's it's many families they treasure this material they look after it they know about it it's in the right place they are looking after it well and then we get that other tragedy which is a course aware one side of the family or someone in the family just decide let's get rid of it and make a couple of Bob and flog it on eBay or we haven't got room for it now and of course then somebody else later says well you know I was fascinated by that or I'd really like now to have a look at what did that person in our family do in the war serving in tanks or something so why that would be my argument I would say they would know I'm the curator at a museum but at least if it comes to us you know it's safe there we are a long-term organization we have climate-controlled archives we try and do everything in the right way if we have backlogs as I'm saying and you know there's a central place there so rather than you know at the moment all I think I gave it to whoever and we've all heard those stories haven't we were you know yeah I got divorced and lost it all in the you know or something else although even worse there was a house fire they lost it that way or things just get mislaid so that's another thing I would say as well really clearly if you've got stuff that you're keeping somewhere pressures put it in that acid-free box make sure you put a nice big label on the top so someone else coming across it might not be you just remember we might not all get you know time to salt our set all our documents and everything else out so make sure you put a sticker on that with a nice big label saying this is what's in here it's important for the family and if the family are interested you could always say please office of the Tank Museum if no one in the family is interested because that's another way of trying to just ensure it doesn't and again other stories we get we've had everything from social services turn up the tank museum you know there's been a House Clearance the old boy with tank crew and it was about to go in the skip but luckily the person who was there just thought I'd better take this with his medals and they've given it to us all we found a home for them if it's not our subject area so that was another thing there but he got any doubts any ideas on those things or any issues again we're not there at the museum at the moment but in future ping us an email and meanwhile make sure you're looking after that stuff you know where it is you've got that label on it and I sound like your school teacher again but we say that to everyone because too often we hear how it goes wrong or yes we stored it in the boiler and everything Scott you know over the radio you talk something other inion and you know these images have been quietly cooked off and they're losing their you know or you haven't copied them in time and they're fading because not all of them were cleaned and washed properly in wartime you know dark rooms so so that's our ethos I'm not even really answer the question so Chris they're going back to yes there are online archives there's different ways you can hide everything else that way most archives why they're charging now certainly is it's a cost to keep the archive going but you know I'd say go and support somewhere that you think's worth supporting if you're going to get those things but there are photos that come up for sale on eBay you go to auctions keep your eyes on junk shops and you know there's there's there's all sorts of people all sell old things and you know another good way people start collecting photographs is postcards as well because there's you know huge numbers of postcards were made for military subject areas so you know might be able to find imagery there and again no one's really likely to chase you for that type of copyright thank you for those of you been coming back with I was mentioning about some of the ideas about paint and some of the companies and everything else that way you know what I'm really keen on these people who've actually used material in circumstances similar to our outside tanks you know I'll gate guard ones and everything's who can actually hand on horse I look you know we did this 10 years ago we think it's work for us in terms of you know what the coating is or how you're doing that but thanks for those ideas of companies coming back and I just remind me about one thing people have been saying about things like wax oil and various other blacks protection and I can't remember where I saw I think I I was there this is where all did I read it but there is a turret that was out on a range and they couldn't work out why this lettering is slightly embossed they're thinking is that in the casting of the turret and it turns out when he scratched the surface in the factory someone had got a wax crying and put a numbered you know if you see these factory pictures lots of times as either chalk marks to help them out you know where they are this one's done remember this tomorrow all sorts of things notes to the other people in the production and someone had done this number on the side of this turret in wax crayon and that wax crayon had protected the surface of this tank turret that then went on the ranges after its service life presumably the paint just sort of you know shaded flaked off one side on the weather where it was there and it got to the point where the waxer Mikal had actually rusted away leaving this almost embossing where the wax number was so it was a raised surface so actually you know there's this one of those things that is absolutely fantastic if you could do something in wax I'm oh you know again what happens when it gets really really hot would it all run away but evidently this particular wax never came off which is why I did that to that surface so so all these interesting things about how you might be able to preserve but thanks for some of those ideas john manky no I think it is says would you ever consider a modeling series John I kind of think I'm getting a bit old for the swimwear and everything but it depends what you want me to model but you know back in the days when I did that stuff I was young and I needed the money but but if you think there's something like a model well I'll give it a go Tom gala were compasses mounted to aid navigation on a tank and surely they'd have a lot of distortion big issue for tanks and compasses which took me to again out there there's always somebody who know something about this this is a book by AE Fanning called steady as she goes and it's about the Admiralty compass department that went to a place called didn't Park and they were asked by the army to help come up with a compass system for its armoured fighting vehicles because the problem is you can set Majan you go anywhere near a heavy iron object metal object that way with your compass it alters its magnetic bearing so they were constantly looking at ways to do this in a and and certain times so for example I was gonna read you a couple of quotes in here but it goes on quite a bit but you see there's a lot in there they would take tanks to didn't park where this compass office was based and they did experiment with them what would work how could they do it and one of the things they ended up doing is almost tank compasses on telescopes to get away from the main body and how far that was so we've got one of those compasses on display because there's certain times where the compass is going to be essential so for the DD Sherman's because I knew they'd be smoked they knew they'd be all sorts of things going on as they're being launched what if there's fog etc you really need to know you're heading in the right direction there so they gave them a telescopic compass so actually when even above the screen and we've got one of those though on display at the Museum next to our DD Sherman but interesting when I was reading this because I was looking at beforehand by 40 for the British Army said forget it with compasses they only end up using compasses for special operations so some were specially sent out for example for the Rhine crossing similar issues just making sure they're going ahead but they did fit compasses in vehicle earlier in the war but they abandoned the idea from about 44 and in there there's a history of how the different compasses and different setups would give you a different level of accuracy but early on you know they were talking about 40 percent deviation or 40 degrees deviation and that's a loss if you can imagine that hen so of the British and North Africa were using Bagnall Sun compass he's a much better way of doing it than the traditional magnetic compass but if you're really interested in the subject I would recommend steady as she goes history of the Admiralty compass office it's got about military compasses that they designed for air fees in there as well Adam Cooper was the comet in Korea I've seen this question before it's floated around a bit there is a photo I think it's from IWM or something others captioned and it clearly serves 7rt our comment in Korea I can find absolutely and I think this is one of those questions that comes around in like a phase every now and again as someone looks at it and says well went on big very cromwell's went to Korea Churchill flame throwers went to Korea Centurions went to Korea I've got no evidence at all I think there's just a missed caption photograph that consistently brings this topic back time and time again no reason for comets or sorry no evidence for comets going to create even though there was comments based out in Hong Kong so you know if you're going to go out and there and have a quick research on this if you look on all the different websites and everything lots of people with opinion look at it sort of like I always try and say follow it back and see if you can find what's triggering that initial story and I think in this case it's one missed caption of photo has probably got this going because I can see no evidence in any of the units official histories etc about comets being there and sometimes the story goes again so it's mistaken so for example no they captured a comic no they didn't they capture it there's a Centurion captured but there's also earlier on there's a Cromwell captured as well by the North Koreans so so things like that as well so so try and track it back but if anyone finds serious evidence that a comic was there great tell us because then we can correct the story Ali gray asks a question did any other country have an equivalent to Hobart's funnies most countries who were building tanks tended to have a engineer variant of different sorts so they you know going to different degree some countries would try flamethrowers a lot of countries are trying to do mind defeating vehicles bridge-laying you know how do we do brick crossing gap crossing this now tends to be called no country took it up in the way that Britain did not only I think with its plethora of armored vehicles or Engineer armored vehicles or 79th armored division time Hobart's funny ones and no country did it in the same way of putting them all together and under one unit that then he's carved up and cut up you know and mixed a match depending on the nature of the operation that you're needed for so yeah I you know yes other engineer variants are used by many different countries no countries really does anything quite the equivalent to the 79th armored division and again you know when you're going through all these different things about sex and failures of different armoured forces the Hobart's funnies is just one of those amazingly successful good ideas taken forward at the right time with the right people behind it and the imagination and everything that undoubtedly assists the Allied advance because 79th Armored Division is being used by Americans as well in their advance Roger Irving asks a question he thought he heard something about a Heche round for a 95 millimeter howitzer that's the kind of close support howitzer the interesting gun that because again it's actually a cut-down 3.7 anti-aircraft barrel and they adapt the breech offer 25 pounder to 95 millimeter close-support Harris sir I see no evidence anywhere for a Hesh round so high explosive squash head but there is issued in 43 are high-explosive anti-tank round in other words a hollow charge round for the Munroe effect blowing up and that gives that 95 because is to give it an anti-tank capability even though its primary function is actually as high explosive bomb Bob and support or smoke etc it's not really there for taking on other tanks but in case it has to they give it what a heat round and that high-explosive anti-tank round we've got evidence it goes out in about the summer of 43 it's being issued and that's in the manual that it's Illustrated I've got nothing unless there was one or two experiments or something rather but nothing have issued Hesh rounds in any of the literature I've got here to have a look at so another question here chessy accont tom cap 68 says you know loving the materials manuals we've been promoting so thank you a lot of you coming back saying how good they are why aren't we doing one on Mathilde to watch this space he should have been out by now because of all the various other bits and pieces they're providing all goes well with Haynes when they're back up in operation they're in lockdown as well at the moment so there will be a Matilda to manual coming in the future so dictators done that with all of our input our vehicles and everything else so that ones on the way so you know watch this space as it were and I'm just going to go back a little bit I think I've done most of these questions I've written down here I'm just going to go back because I noticed before I don't think I necessarily forgive me if I have answered all these ones earlier but I found a page and I was just thinking hang on a second I've not really answered these ones have I well I wrote them all out and maybe I thought I'd come to the end sooner and typically I can't find the bloomin things where are we here we go right so I may have answered these already but cocora kimochi says why is there a blanket over the mantle it of a comet tank that's basically they were worried when they first put you there was no blanket there no cameras structure just occasionally a stone might fly up or something else and it gets jammed in the main clip so it would stop it fully being able to elevate or depress so they put a canvas cover over so in essence it's a dust stone cover you want to call it that way and they put some metal strips in the tops to stop because in turn that got jammed a couple of times as a canvas sagged so they put some metal strips in the top of it to keep it taut and rigid but the basically it's a it's a dust cover and you also ask you know what's that big tool that's on the side of later Valentines that's part of the track tensioning tool that says carried on a bin there it's got a bracket and I think we've replicated it on our late Valentine so that's part and parcel of yeah the the track tanking the equipment so it's it's levered and it's got a little fitting on the end there do we ship items all around the world have a look on the website think there's some items were not allowed I mentioned last time about June apparently we can't ship that to men to too many problems and various other issues with it but you know most countries in the world have a look on the website I have a go we are trying to and thank you so much some of you coming back with you know it arrived in where was it Texas or wherever all these different places you know safe and sound after only six days or something or other you know all very next day if you if you're more local and things 66 KBM ask the question why did the RAC in the second world war go for the seven point nine two millimeter B's a machine gun we've also got the 30 caliber browning machine gun and the 303 Vickers isn't this just a ridiculous range of ammunition types for them to carry now I look this one up because it you know it's often mentioned you know blimey why do you want to go for 79 - you know it's a German round and everything else and again rimless rooms cartridges for 303 you know aren't you just causing problems one of the arguments so they like the bizu because it's simple it goes through a number of models and it's relatively simple and pretty reliable so they like that we were changing about to change our ammunition before the Second World War and suddenly that was all put on hold because of the war coming so they just think don't start stopping the factories or retooling these different things so they ended up going for carrying on with the 303 in the way we were they carried on saying yes we'll make 792 even though the idea would be let's change it over to 303 and the part of the argument was also that even though it's two different types of ammunition within the Royal armoured Corps their supply chain system was separate from most of the rest of the army therefore they can cope with this better than if it's just an army wide problem that you're giving them you know this this - this different type of ammunition and supply - so I think they're one of the arguments for doing it is actually it's only in the RIC this is going to be a problem they organised already let them go ahead and do it and if you actually look as well it tends to be the American vehicles used by the British you've got a 30 caliber browning on so they'll keep that will keep the B's on our vehicles and of course there may well be other 303 armed weapons you know like a Bren gun or something else on that vehicle as well there is a theory that they say about the biza you know if you captured German ammunition you could use it I you know what's the chance of that happening is bound ham one-off every now and again but this idea that you were going around trying to dig out 792 ammunition - too far from your bezoar is probably going to be hard at times so I think most rounds fired are going to be ones that were British manufacture so yes you're right in pointing out the fact three different types of secondary armament cartridge cases sounds problematic actually I think in practice it was less of an issue and you don't hear them talking about it as an issue in combat so much model nerd asked a question about I mentioned in the camouflage one about painted backdrops or railway stations and everything and I'm just gonna to read out what the caption says because model bird wanted to know where did I get that from its in this book called disruptive pattern material and the actual there is a picture in the book of one of these trompe l'oeil almost painted backdrops that they put over some railway lines and the caption says camouflaged railway lines near the station at Ponte moose on 28 October 1915 trompe l'oeil screens like this we used to disguise approaching trains extremely important in the transportation of munitions supplies and troops to the front and that's a photo that comes from the Imperial War Museum so as I was mentioning they do is they put it over the tracks so it looks like there's nothing behind it or it changes the angle of where the tracks are really going behind so that idea of this this painted deception almost like seen you know theatrical scene setters design so there's not much point in me holding out this is a small black-and-white photograph but that's a reference to it so I hope that answers your inquiry there and let me arm I nearly getting to the bottom what's the guitar riff at the beginning of these questions and answers have I mentioned this before I don't know if I have but it's get called it's Craig MacArthur and it's called half-measures so it's one of these freebie ones we got off of YouTube or Google or somewhere and McCartney Henderson emailed me and he said was the Crusader 3 used at Alamein and what battles was it really used in Crusader 3 is it's one of those ones that we know we get to the point in the Crusader family with a six pounder gun on one of the things that we also miss out on is actually there's a fair bit more reliability by this stage we're getting better with the Crusader and it's actually a much much better tank than the early Crusader models and yes we've got I looked up here and there was about a hundred of them ready for the ala main battle and so they are use of the battle al-amin and they go on as well to be used in the Tunisian campaign so they use across chasing Rommels forces as they retreat back across into Tunisia but first army also uses them they're the forces landing in Tunisia so they also use a 6 pounder equipped crusader and they are used at Wadi Eric it is probably the last battle in April 43 where they're being used in Tunisia that way so it's one of those tanks where sadly in a way you know when they've got the reliability with Liberty and give me that they've improved it done other things there's a speed of the Christie suspension you know it's a six pound as a cracking gun they get all that kind of right and by this stage of the war then all of a sudden you know then we're starting to see other tanks so so the crusader Holly's continued to be built in Britain we use it the basis of that with the anti-aircraft turret on it and certain other things but yeah we don't then take the Crusader threes across to Italy or Sicily or anywhere else that's the end of their really wartime campaign but they were there McCartney at the the Battle of Alamein now I do think that is I'm finally there sorry about that one there so lots of questions also I'm pretty much at the end there as ever I've got some ideas for you so some of you I'm just going to have a slurp of my probably cold now tea from my I love tanks mug as I mentioned before we've got tea for sale so you can all have your debates about how the best way of making tea I also behind me here oops if you want to have a look I've also brought in I know we always go on about Tiger mugs but this one is a panther monk with all the specifications on it so if you're particularly a Panther fan there's your tea monk you can get from the shop for a Panther one and as always leaving i-i-i also thought as well if you want to go for the authentic look there's aluminium with a minyan tin enamel tin marks we've got two sighs it's nice big one and a small one there so if you want to go for the authentic World War two that's her drink out and tin mug we've got those ones there for sale as well in the shop which of course are a better idea if you're like me when you suddenly drop your mark or the next minute so they tend to last bit more what else have I got for you that I've got around the place so here's our another one of those nice t-shirt tank crossing do not buy this you will not be appreciated if you get this for your slightly solid or other half so don't buy that one but there's tank crossing and we also I just thought I'd mention the fact I know some of you have been buying the t-shirt there's our tank evolution one but we've also got kids sizes in a load of these things so you might be interested again if if you're going on family you you know there's a kid size on this one I've got behind me here I don't if you quite see I should pick some of them up so we've got everything from orange crunch biscuits with the tiger you've got fudge behind me with the mark 5 oh we have got caramel sea salt fudge and mini shortbread rounds with Sherman's on as well so so again if you've got the sweet tooth or you want to add something to balance out the box of material that you're buying and I mentioned this before so what with Father's Day coming up don't forget your official I even found the label which I lost last time this is your 80% combed cotton for comfort 17% polyamide for strength 3% are lasting for stretch and as I said on the front official tank museum sock so if you have to buy them for yourself because no one else is going to get it or buy them and then give them some to someone so they give them to you that's that's probably the sensible way of doing it but then you can as I mentioned before show a little bit of ankle somewhere other books that we've been talking about different times there's one there I know a lot of you the games players world of tanks one it always makes me laugh when you know computer ones of course it's all online all the time is it and that but no actually people still love books so beautifully illustrated lots of imagery on that all the different ways of playing the game I think we're in here in the back as well there we are the tank museum with some of our stuff and where they've got some of their research in various other things so well the tanks celebrating a century of armored warfare and I think this is even something we do clearly are they're all numbered even as well so some limited edition book there that's one that we've got there in the shop if you want to have a look on the website there I mentioned earlier sometimes books go into stock we've then gone out I did a review of this one tanks a hundred years which the golf of its that's your one that if you really want to follow that history of the tank in terms of its technical development who did what when why I cannot recommend it highly enough so again I know some people ready bought this put your comments if you want to but we definitely got that back in stock I know it went out at one point so that's one there for you and the other one I always come back to we've got the paperback version but as a lovely lovely gift picture book everyone you want to call it we've still got the hardback versions with its nice cover on that tank book which again you know look on Amazon look at the reviews of it it gets very very good review so whether you're coming from the introduction to the subject or you're the nerdy end I would recommend this book for both ends of the market because of the quality of illustrations you know what's in there is just staggering interiors of vehicles and everything else so and of course got the tank museum logo on because we we helped put this one we did all the text and a lot of the photos there and I know a number of you who the model makers out there so we've just got a new model in the shop and I I just look this up and as I've said before I'm you know used to make models when I was a kid in everything I'm really made one and I mentioned before about box art and everything else and our shop manager gave us this and this is a new model by Hobby boss and I looked up and I see all of you you know there's reviews of these I'll be Boss models everything else and this is a brand new one they've done of the King Tiger production turret and this one is all got the zimmerman coating on it as well so that one is a brand new model the hasn't been reviewed I was looking yet out there with all the people including the models we've got it now for sale in our shop and so I mentioned that one as well because I know a lot of you guys out there model makers get a little excited and I mentioned before about you know when we were younger about poring over the box art of all these different ones who's done what and why and where do they get their stuff from and every one but this is a Chinese model company that I was interested it's not one I was pretty familiar ears but you model-makers everything they are because there's lots of reviews of some of their earlier versions and models and things there but there you go if you really fancy this I'm inside by the way at the moment because I've been waiting pretty much off and on all day hoping we go in the garden but at long last in England we've got some rain coming down and Boyd we need it we've had the wettest February on record and then by May you know it's been sunny dry and everything else and we got parched crops you know the gardens really need it kept looked like he was going to ease off I was gonna go out there and set up but what was the shop stuff and the camera and everything else in the end that's why I'm back inside here doing it this way so and some of you if you're really observant I've put another set of shelves up and I've been trying to sort some of the books out and move some things around and everything else because I was feeling guilty after all your comments about woollen mess my bookshelves are so although I'm still not there yellow spend about 20 minutes trying to find that bloom in the Admiralty pattern compass book thing this morning kind trying to find a place but anyway anyway right back to so as ever thank you so much one last thing I nearly forgot it if you are putting all your buying all your stuff get a nice tank museum canvas bag so we're all very eco-friendly these days aren't we can reuse our bags so put that in your order list as well those of you who have bought stuff brilliant thank you with all your comments coming in I do pass those nice ones on as well to the shop staff so the girls packing all this stuff over there busy doing it thank you for saying that you know about well done for what they're doing stay safe we are going to try and keep it inform what's going on we'll carry on doing these q and A's as long as we can sort of thing and hopefully the position not just with us but all around the place is going to change I know one or two of you ask questions as well about some of the other subject areas like ramune everything have a look in britain we've got a really museum they've got a great website with wonderful stuff on just like there's a Royal Engineers Museum go and have a look on their websites as well so some of these other topic areas it's not that we don't want you know we don't steal their sandwiches their topic things but actually they've got material there already that I know some of you with this particular interest might find in interesting as well so gone to their website and see what they're doing as well so that's a bit of an advert some of our other fellow museums who also are going through the same sort of issues we're going through at the moment so let's see when they can change thank you stay safe and we'll see you again in these difficult times obvious that your support is really valued so please do keep following us on social media do subscribe to our Channel and and if you've got the opportunity perhaps order something from our shop join one of our schemes like patreon or our friends organization and we'll try and keep going with giving you some content to keep you informed and entertained

Channel: The Tank Museum

Views: 96,128

Rating: 4.9602246 out of 5

Keywords: the tank museum, tank museum, bovington tank museum, david fletcher, david willey, military tank, tank engines, discarding sabot round, tanks in korea, tank breakdowns, tank compasses, archive photos, donating to archive, david willey q&a, david willey tank museum, curator q&a, tank museum q&a, tank museum david fletcher, tank museum bovington

Id: rHvlTGTgoCo

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 09 2020