Aussie Centurion 169091

[Paul S.]

Well said Peter.

[lude92]

i'll make sure to stay on your good side

[enfield303t]

Look very nice to me. Congrats and can only dream of owning something that cool.


Have a friend that has two Cent. got them out of the UK. He has more armour just can't find the pictures he sent me of what he has. IF I find them I will ask him if I can post. I may have accidentally deleted them.

[xa-coupe]

Really nice Centurion. Having developed an interest in armoured vehicles I always like seeing one, particularly one that's been there - done that.

[Centurion]

Beauty Mate! I was an RCD troop leader in Germany in the 1970s. She brings back some memories. Yes, I think that your track tension is excessive.

[Peter Laidler]

There were several pages of pure gumph in the EMER and Drivers handbook about track tensioning but I seem to remember that the drivers had a passed-down rule of thumb about track tension that was absolutely correct and never failed. Just too tight and the track pins were liable to fail over 'knife edges' and just a tad too loose and you were in deep trouble going sideways along an incline where the first wheel station could and would slip/slide over the inside locator peg. Then it'd be outside the bogie, the others would follow until it got to the drive sprocket and the bugger would be detracked. And on an incline it was a real bugger for the tank crew and the recovery crew too because they had to negotiate the same incline. VERY careful use of the nosing blocks was called for. The Centurion recovery tank would hold it in line while the half track would nose the detracked tank backwards......... what a xxxxing job

Happy days in the mud and shxx as young Craftsman who all had to share recovery duties on ecercises

[MilSurp in Oz]

Fantastic tank - with known history nonetheless.
Were / are you able to find out who crewed the vehicle during this engagement?
Where there any known injuries sustained from the RPG strike?

I understand that my father was involved in that fight, from a distance, firing 105's in support as the GPO (I believe) at likely withdrawal routes of the retreating enemy forces.
It is also understood that the Officer Commanding Australian forces in that conflict was Major Murray Blake (later Major General).

It is fantastic to see such an important piece of military history being resurrected and preserved.

Great stuff.

[PScott]

Fantastic tank - with known history nonetheless.
Were / are you able to find out who crewed the vehicle during this engagement?
Where there any known injuries sustained from the RPG strike?

Yes, just recently i found and contacted the Loader operator who was injured when the RPG penetrated the turret at Binh Ba , he was temporarily blinded at the time and sustained face, neck and chest injuries.
He hadn't seen the tank since 1971, so it was quite an emotional re union for him.

Paul.

[PScott]

Well it has taken about 10 months to strip each of the 6 suspension station,s , re finish/paint and install as well as the 24 new road wheels, which were also stripped and re finished.

What a difference the 24 new road wheels make to the overall appearance...

I also located an original Centurion "Crow bar", as strange as it may seem they are as scarce as hens teeth here.

I also re manufactured the rear tow cable holding mount on the rear long. range fuel tank.

A few pics...

[Peter Laidler]

Photo 4 looks like it could be on the firing point at Warcop tank range with the hills in the background/distance that acted as the sort of stop-butt. As the ground fell away for the first 1000metres or so from the firing point, the range staff used to put hundreds of figure 11 targets out in front of the tank firing line and the crews would hose the targets down with the co-ax and commanders Browning fixed and flexible M1919 and L3 .30" machine guns. The targets were supposed to represent massed Chinese or VC/NVA infantry. Mind you, nothing quite matched the cannister rounds. Cannister........... think 120mm shotgun! There were two sorts as I seem to remember. Zillions of 3/4" lengths of 3/8" chopped bar per round or the same zillions of sections of approx 5mm plate, the size of a thumb nail but part quartered so you had about 8 sharp edges per bit of steel.

Happy days. Or not so happy days if you were VC/NVA infantry!