Tank ownership

[rivets1]

I am a member of the American Airpower Museum here on Long Island. In addition to our WWII aircraft collection we now have some operating heavy iron. A British "Ferret" scout car, An American M-8 "Greyhound", an M-20 , which is a Greyhound with less armamant, and our most recent aquisition, a WWII Sherman. The Sherman came from Belgium. Paperwork and approvals needed from State Dept, Dept of Defense, Alcohol Treasury and Firearms, Dept of Agriculture ( Belgian dirt in treads ), negotiation with dockworkers union when it arrived in Port as they are only one who take any cargo off a ship but they could not lift it off as lift lugs were not certified as sound enough to be lifted from. It had to be driven off so they conceded and allowed our people to drive it off and out of the ship. A long ardous process but we got our Sherman. Probably slightly less complicated if you buy one domestically.

[enfield303t]

I know a guy that has two Centurions, he lives in northern Alberta.

[browningautorifle]

Badger, where was that pic taken? Gagetown, Wainwright, Meaford? The pad is unfamiliar. They still use the stairs for static work. The owner of Crown Assets in Calgary used to have a Centurion in the back with the 20 pounder on board. He had a brand new Israeli 105 lying on the floor beside it. I think he eventually found a buyer for it.

[Badger]

Badger, where was that pic taken?

Hi Jim ...

Meaford tank range ..... 1963 (I think?)

Regards,
Doug

[buffdog]

The fate of many of the armoured vehicles. This Fort Garry Horse Sherman now guards the Charleswood Legion in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Minnedosa, Manitoba, has a Manitoba Dragoons Sherman on a downtown lot. The Artillery Museum at Shilo has a Lee.

About a week ago, I googled "military vehicles for sale" and found out there are quite a few in England and Europe. Two different Lee tanks, and even Russian T-72 models, lots of trucks and other wheeled stuff too.

.

[smellie]

At SMC at Shilo, the XII Dragoons shared operational Fireflies with the Garrys, supposedly so we didn't wear them all out at the same time and give the RCEME guys too much shop time.

Our training was rather 'intensive', I think would be a good word. This was just a few months after the Cuban Missile thing. At that time, the Dagoons were on 2-hour notice to pick up their tanks..... and Shilo was better than an hour and a half away. The following Summer, those of us with no prior armour experience got the full training course, and it was nothing like what was in the manuals. Every man was trained to do every job in the tank, every man had to qualify as a Gunner, everyone took Driver training and we even got a smattering of Crew Commander. Loader, of course, doubled with Radioman and we had had radio, on the Number 19 Sets, all the previous Winter. Actual field training was like being in a pressure-cooker, with ALL the instructors being World War Two combat veterans. If we had actually got into a war and had had to fight T-55s with Shermans, it sure wouldn't have been THEIR fault if we screwed up!

The one thing I never could figure out was why Minnedosa was given their tank and Virden was ignored; HQ Troop was Virden.

About 20 years ago I was taking photos out at an oil rig and heard an awfully-familiar scream, so I ducked into the mud shack and there it was: an old 6-71 running the mud pump, Sherman instrument panel bolted onto the thing, ripping out its 250 horses at 2100. We used to run them at 2300, 2350 even.

And here's something: did you know that it was possible to shift a Sherman from 5th into Reverse, on the fly? Yes, it is. Thing almost stood on its muzzle, burned out both clutches, of course. Crew bailed because they were afraid the unit was going to brew. Work on the suspension (needed it after that), couple of new clutches, rebulds on both engines and 78-783 was ready to go out and take more abuse. I think she ended up on the arty range at Shilo. Sad.
.

[Peter Laidler]

There is a crane hire man that lives in a big house near me who owns a Sherman Firefly. He bought it form Portugal in the early 80's for, I think £600 but it cost slightly more to bring it back. It was impounded here for a couple of weeks because no one knew quite what to do with the live gun. It was solved but he now has it garaged. He used his crane hire low loader to bring it up from Weymouth where it was landed - and impounded.

[bouletbill]

Does anyone know what happened to the Mk1 Centurion outside the Eastbourne (UK) seafront museum ? Awhile back it was gone, of course maybe it was just moved a bit, I was just passing by. Kids could play on it, so I'm suspecting 'elf n safety or the p-c lot got it disposed of.

[HotTom]

Since the end of the Cold War, there are many surplus vehicles on the market, especially British.

I used to restore military vehicles as a hobby but I stayed away from tracked vehicles because they are not legal to drive on the roads most places in the US (tear up the asphalt).

But I did fully restore a Ferret and a Saladin. The Ferret, which is about the size of a pickup truck, was great fun to drive around. The Saladin was a bit bulky for cruising

Both had live full auto Browning M1919s mounted. Used to tear up old car bodies out on the desert

Both are now in museums. And, after getting appriasals, I was able to write off their values on my taxes as donations. That allowed me to buy other toys while making sure the ones I had restored were well maintained and cared for and on display

The only military vehicle in my stable these days is an M151A2, a Vietnam era jeep. Since I drove an M151 for many years in the US Army Military Police, it is my "nostalgia car" or, more correctly, my "time machine."

[stencollector]

Armour is just a bigger toy for bigger boys.

I have owned several Bren gun carriers over the years (just one now), a Canadian Ferret mk1, and a Brit FV432. I was going to put together a sherman about a decade back. I had the 76mm gun and mantlet, lined up a good turret, and had a hull lined up as well. Alas, life got in the way. Of course, I also have had more than my fair share of jeeps, CMPs, 3/4tons etc over the years.

I also have a 40mm bofors, and recently purchased a 90mm AA gun, which I will likely take delivery of in July when I get home (currently working in Afghanistan, so the larger purchases have gone on hold for a while).