Churchills - Hobart's funnies

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by Deacs, Jan 21, 2011.

  1. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    can any one put me in the right direction to find out more about the hobarts funnies as my granda drove one on d-day please i have an idea of what type he drove with what my uncle has told me so i would like to see them
    cheers Michael
     
  2. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Use the forums search engine - This topic has been discussed in some depth on here :)
     
  3. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Michael, he should have been in a Churchill AVRE.
     
  4. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    sorry i no it will be but have been searching and just cant seem to find it
     
  5. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    Michael, he should have been in a Churchill AVRE.

    so is there a big difference you will have to go easy with not been totally clued up and all that sometimes i seem to just be muddling on with my searches
     
  6. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    If you type Churchill AVRE into Google you will get plenty of hits.
     
  7. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Hi Michael,
    Have a shufti here in the 'articles' dropdown menu:
    D Day Tanks and countdown to 60th anniversary of D-Day from the Tank Museum Bovington
    Good start on some of the Funnies.

    Assorted decent pictures of the many varieties of AVRE here:
    Churchill AVRE :: United Kingdom (GBR) :: Tanks

    Though they seem to have skipped the ARK bridgelayer/gap-filler and stuck with the AVREs. Not an AVRE, but definitely one of the Funnies:
    [​IMG]
    Did it go to D-Day? Can't remember off the top of my head.

    There's the flame-throwing Churchill Crocodile too. That would fit as a 'funny' that he might have driven.

    My personal favourite Churchill Funny is the Great Eastern:
    [​IMG]
    A frankly somewhat loopy bridge/ramp layer that used Rockets to deploy the whole massive thing in a couple of seconds.
    Mad though it sounds, it appeared to work, & some were issued to 21AG, but the only known 'operational' use was when one was fired off to celebrate the German surrender!
    I had no idea one survived. In Canada, apparently:
    Churchill Great Eastern Ramp

    More Churchill Funny pictures here:
    Specialbygge på Churchill
     
    CL1 likes this.
  8. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  9. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Michael-
    There were more than Churchills in Hobarts funnies like the Valentine - Sherman - etc- which he could have been involved with - BUT he did do a Churchill special course before he went to NWE so you might just as well stick with them
    -
    the churchills had all sorts - flame thowers - bridge layers - facine layers- avre's -Bangalores- etc

    Shermans mainly had flails and other mine clearing units - so there was a good range of non fighting units

    Cheers
     
  10. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    he always said it was a churchill that he drove . tom did you see that i posted that thread that i was telling you about
    cheers michael
     
  11. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Michael - yes i found that thread - had forgotten all about it

    Cheers
     
  12. Fred Wilson

    Fred Wilson Member

    Office of Strategic Services film report on a demonstration of "Hobart's Funnies"

    Very good film.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTP5oBgd50
     
    Deacs likes this.
  13. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    How embarrassing, one of my first threads and wasn't I a numpty :sign_question:
    Mind you I still ask stupid questions :lol:

    Cheers Fred for the video I haven't actually seen that one.
     
  14. Aixman

    Aixman War Establishment addict Patron

    Great video, thank you for sharing, Fred.
     

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