Quite modern-looking Bobcat loader-ish suspension with archaic 'US Light' sort of styling. Very light straps holding it down. Surely they could have squeezed even more MGs in somewhere. I'm quite prepared to be surprised, but it makes me wonder if you've got some paintballers nearby that are also rather talented welders. That W-303704 number also resolves to a die-cast Corgi model (of a Bradley, which it isn't), and they're displayed/sold in boxes that could be called similar...
At Parola we have several T-26s and one Vickers 6 Ton. Noticed also that there is also at Parola a Landsverk Anti II, so at least two of them are at museums. Vickers, notice the position of Suomi smg on the left besides the drivers position (in the photo because it is from front to the right) T-26 m 1933, notice ready-use ammo
A tank the size of the Fiat 2000 in the Libyan sands? Good God... In Evelyn Waugh's novel Black Mischief General Connolly's Azanian Army has a single large, heavy tank, which of course is militarily useless in the African terrain. Connolly finds, however, that in the blazing hot climate it makes an excellent semi-mobile punishment cell.
More T-26s at our Tank Museum This was originally OT-133 flame-thrower tank but Finns have modified it to a gun tank with a 45 mm gun. Because in T-26 based flame-thrower tanks like OT-130 and OT-133 the turret was off-set to right there was room for a bow gunner and his lmg after the flame-thrower gear was removed. So 4 men crew.
31 The Bobcat Oh, Canada. With Universal Carriers & Kangaroo's still being Canada's prime armoured methods for moving troops about, and as the Red Menace fielded more & more sophisticated looking machinery over the Bering Strait (insert more cold war cliches as you see fit), the Canucks chose to sort things indigenously. Which turned into a pretty standard case of fouled up procurement. Changing owners, political shifts, more changing owners, cost bloat, role creep, changing owners, changing factories, work moving from traditional manufacturer to aircraft manufacturers, etc. etc. went on for approximately ten years. Then they thought sod it, and bought the M113, because, well, everyone else was. Nothing really inherently wrong with the design. A low-slung APC that wouldn't have looked out of place among British or Soviet contemporaries; It just went on too long while the perceived threat grew. And, yes. I thought of the other better-known Bobcat with Geoff's whatsit above, and my mind wandered. I really am that shallow. If those are wading heights on the side, I think I'd be a little nervous were I the driver looking at the rearward ones; hoping they were for marking stability rather than sinkiness...
A sound assessment. Its been sitting at a combination go-cart track/laser tag establishment. Not really sure how it armed or used.
I think Adam is close to being right. With tie downs that light it may not actually be all metal. Dekalb County?
I've not looked at it too closely and made the photos sitting in my vehicle, plus it is in some kind of display case on the back of a truck. Very likely could be made of non-metallic components. Certainly an odd machine. Not in DeKalb County. Much further to the south.
Nice one. Spent some time intermittently since this morning looking at ATVs & snowmobiles for that twin rear wheel & wheel type with no result. Can't beat local knowledge & 'Snow track' is not the most common term around here. Cushman for the win.
An OMC 25 or 29 hp die-cast aluminum engine wouldn't handle much additional weight. The 985 pound base model only gets up to 16 mph so Dave's plywood body theory is highly plausible.
32 The Medium A 'Whippet' I mean, who wouldn't call a 14 tonner capable of 8mph the Whippet? Racy stuff. (Though I might have preferred if the prototype's 'Little/Tritton Chaser' term had stuck.) An early use of dual engines driving a track each (With two full sets of gear controls per engine. Pity the driver, & never say people of the past were lacking in skill.), carrying MGs to chase down infantry that had rapidly learnt to avoid the larger, slower, machines. Tritton visited the Somme in September 1916. Days after tanks had first taken to the field, & had the lighter machine running under it's own steam by February 1917. The clever bugger. (Made it to action in March 1918.) On first visiting there as a kid, I became a little fixated with the Tank Museum's Whippet. So unlike any other sort of tank I knew, but still definitely a tank. Mr Fletcher's chat: I recommend the exploits of the Whippet 'Musical Box'. If ever the light 'chaser' idea was applied successfully... Nice account from Landships: http://www.landships.info/landships/tank_articles/musical_box.html Many many Whippet photos: (Couldn't immediately find one showing it next to a rhomboid.)
The Whippet was originally intended to be a cavalry support tank. German infantry had not learnt to avoid the heavy tanks but these specifically designed for shelled area use were not fast enough for use in more open country. After the Gaza Beersheba line was broken Allenby requested that his heavy tanks be replaced with Whippets which would be fast enough to chase the retreating Turks. After Amiens the British heavy tanks were too slow for keeping in touch with the retreating Germans but the Whippets were. Cooperation with cavalry was less successful as under some conditions the Whippets out ran the horsemen and in others the reverse happened. Tactics devised for 1919 were that the heavy tanks would achieve the breakthrough and the mediums would exploit it.
33 Valentine + Jets There's a surprisingly substantial list of jet & rocket modifications to AFVs, from snow-clearers to runway driers (A few here), but my favourite has to be the addition by SADE of a Meteor engine (W2/700, according to Fletcher, if that's your thing) to a Valentine chassis in an attempt to blast mines out of the way. Apparently not a great success (imagine), with the mines not so much being moved out of the way - more all over the place. What I hadn't noticed until today (or had completely forgotten...) was a picture showing two engines mounted. Or anything showing a test. Seem to be mostly on Japanese sites, maybe screenshots from a film. (One site has a defunct youtube clip embedded alongside the pictures.) Faintly irritated I'd not seen them before. A chap on Arrse appears to have shared 'em from somewhere years ago. I suspect the twin version is maybe a different project more about snow, given where it is & what it seems to be doing in the pictures. Though the fuel etc. setup seems very similar. Perhaps even Canada? Deep snow. Standard. Merely the same old jet engine pointing at the ground... Wait? What? Just the ticket should any canvassers turn up at your door wanting to discuss 'the thing'.
Valentine + Rockets The Specialised Armour Development Establishment (SADE) was formed in 1945 to carry on the work of the 79th Armoured Division Hobarts Funnies The 79th developed and used a number of rocket based devices and their successor SADE followed suite. One such device developed by SADE was a rocket harness for assisted emergence from steep unstable beaches and to enable bogged down tanks to get out of mud holes. Each side of the vehicle had eight rockets fitted and these proved successful in every trial. A logical progression from this would be to use rockets to enable a tank to avoid obstacles altogether by taking to the air and leaping over them. Rockets could launch the vehicle and, presumably, cushion its landing. A Universal carrier and a Valentine tank (both unmanned) were used for trials. There was no problem in getting the vehicle airborne. The rockets fired every time and the vehicle rose hidden in a cloud of fire and smoke (a sort of reverse Elijah’s chariot) and when this cleared it was on the other side of the obstacle – upside down! This happened every time no matter what kind of stabilising devices were tried. The smoke made it impossible to see what was taking place in flight and the problem was never rectified. The leaping tank project was abandoned. It later transpired that the rocket exhaust was scooping out a dish that reflected blast onto the tank underside and flipped it over.
Adenda, courtesy of excellent work by Steve Smith and Mike St Maur Sheil from "BATTLEguide" edition 8, December 2010, re the von Poop post above; "32 The Medium A 'Whippet'". For William James Carnie, "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!" Kind regards, always, Jim.
Cairo traffic, it's not improved over the years! Picture posted as it may be one that's slipped through the net. From "CAIRO IN THE WAR 1939 1945" by Artemis Cooper. Photo credit IWM, captioned "A squadron of Cruiser Mk 1 tanks passing through Cairo". Kind regards, always, Jim.
Learned from Fletcher's video that the Whippet was armed with Hotchkiss machine guns. Found that Britain made them in .303. Hotchkiss Portable Mk.I - Modern Firearms