The folks at Armor for the Ages have launched a new version of their website. Armor for the Ages (AFTA) mission is to provide information on the General George Patton Museum of Leadership at Fort Knox, Kentucky and the National Armor & Cavalry Museum (NACM) at Fort Benning, Georgia and the volunteer programs that serve both institutions along with news on projects, events and exhibits. Information about the volunteer programs can be found in the volunteer section of the AFTA site. AFTA also offers information on the vehicles and weapons that have been or are currently in these museums’ collections. Currently the AFTA site contains profiles for the Panther G, T28 GMC, StuG IIIG, JagdTiger and Sturmpanzer as well as vehicle restoration projects Cobra King, SdKfz 251D/9 and the Patton Command Van. The AFTA site also includes descriptions of the different iterations of the Patton Museum at Fort Knox. Over the past 15 years there have been a number of changes concerning the location and public accessibility of historic armored vehicles in the US. The AFTA website is a valuable resource for people wanting to learn more about the changes affecting these vehicle collections at the Fort Knox and Fort Benning locations.
Armor for the Ages launches updated website
M10 Applique armor
Over at Status Report blog, contributor “Vollketten” has written a description of the applique armor system found on the M10 tank destroyer. The article is well researched and includes a nice selection of images drawn from wartime photos, patent applications and existing display vehicles. Vollketten has a reputation as one of the more knowledgeable and worthwhile participants at the WoT forums, we look forward to seeing more of his articles at Status Report.
Article excerpt:
Today, there appears to be only a single example of the M10 left anywhere with this spaced armour and it is this one on public display at Veckring near Le Hackenberg. The side armour is complete on the left hand side and missing a piece at the front on the right. Even then, the side armour could well just be re-fabricated post war. This particular vehicle has undergone restoration and repainting as at some point in its life it used to be known as ‘Rose Coombs’
Read the full article at Status Report.
Shipwrecked Sherman Tanks Video
A video of several Sherman tanks lying on the sea bed has been making the rounds the past few days. The video shows a scuba diver swimming over at least seven Sherman tanks. These vehicles are from the shipwreck of the SS Empire Heritage located of the north coast of Donegal in Ireland in 70 meters of water. SS Empire Heritage was a 15,000 steam tanker torpedoed in 1944 by German submarine U-482. The ship took all 113 of its passengers down with it. The location is a popular spot for divers due to the scattered tanks and other interesting debris.
Captured Cromwell tanks in the Korean War
The blog “Thank you for Your Service” has posted an interesting article about captured Cromwell tanks in service with the North Korean Army during the Korean War. The article states that there has been a good deal of debate over how a handful of British Cromwell tanks ended up in the hands of the North Koreans. The answer to the question seems to be a battle in late 1950/early 1951 called “The Battle of Happy Valley” in which several Cromwell tanks were captured. The article notes that many of these Cromwell tanks were later recaptured by UN forces, and in one instance, a Cromwell was shot and destroyed by a British Centurion tank. The article also mentions a Cromwell in North Korean service that was captured by South Korean Marines during the Inchon landings. All in all, a rather interesting read accompanied with some good photos.
Read the entire article at “Thank you for Your Service” blog.
WoT’s Chieftain posts new article: US Centurion Part 4
World of Tanks researcher Nicholas Moran, aka “The Chieftain” has published part 4 of his article on US testing of the Centurion III tank. Part one dealt with the US assessment of the Centurion III’s fighting compartment. Part 2 dealt with automotive tests. Part three covered the gun control systems. Part four examines the fire on the move capability of the Centurion.
All the Chieftain’s articles can be read at The Chieftain’s Hatch.
Article excerpt:
This is the last in the series of articles stemming from the US Army’s testing of Centurions II and III in late 1949/early 1950. We’ve already seen that they concluded that Centurion was a fairly competent vehicle, albeit that it was expected that the next generation of American tank would be no worse than equal in various characteristics, but they were particularly curious about the stabilization system as up until that point, nothing had been put into service on a tank which was claimed to provide a true fire-on-the-move capability. The gyrostabilised guns on American tanks in WWII, being single-axis only, could not make such a claim. As we go through the observations below, I suspect that even in the M4 the Americans had already started noticing such things, but it is still interesting to see how they are officially reporting them below. Anyway, I’ll let you read the observations, and will come back to you afterwards.
WW2 tank unit commander Larry Lantow tells story
The Tulsa World is running a series of articles documenting the stories of US WW2 veterans. This particular piece focuses on 92 year old veteran Larry Lantow, a former US tank commander who served in France. His story mirrors that of the fictional film “Saving Private Ryan” in that he was shipped home early by Presidential order due to his family losing two of his brothers in combat.
Controversy in Indiana over location of Sherman tank
The Kokomo Tribune is reporting on a controversy in Kokomo Indiana regarding the location of a Sherman tank. The dispute centers around the issue of whether or not to move the tank from it’s current location in Foster Park to a nearby VFW Hall. As to the tank itself, it’s an M4A1 with 76mm gun and HVSS suspension (M4A1E8.) Judging from Google maps images, the tank seems to have repainted in 2008. The M4A1E8 was the very last variant of the Sherman produced, with 1,465 built by the Pressed Steel Car Company from late 1944 to August of 1945. As far as we can determine, the M4A1E8 saw little to no combat service during the war and afterward most were issued to reserve units or given as military aid (the US Army’s preferred variant after the war was the M4A3E8.) Indiana seems to be the home of an unusual number of M4A1E8 tanks, according to the USA AFV register, there are 13 M4A1E8 Sherman tanks on public display around the state!
Report on British S-tank trials
Swedish Tank Archives has posted an interesting piece concerning a report from British Strv 103 (S-tank) trails from 1973. In the Summer of that year the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) sent several tank crews to Sweden to train on the S-tank for four weeks. These crews were then sent to Germany along with the S-tanks to be tested. The Swedish observers of the test considered the results of the evaluation to be highly dubious, claiming that they were conducted in a haphazard and unscientific manner. They also are quite harsh in their criticism of the BAOR.
Here is an excerpt on the quality of British Tank Gunners:
At the end of the gunnery training, there were two tests with a gun camera, one against a fixed target and one against a moving one, as per usual Swedish standard. The results were bad. The first time these results may possibly be explained by the gunners not taking the trial seriously, but even after they had evaluated their own results and re-did the test the results were very bad. It is possible that more training could have improved the results somewhat, but the more likely explanation is that a large portion of the British gunners simply weren’t suited to their job as gunners. In some cases, problems with bad eyesight were apparent. It should be noted that British tank personnel is not tested in the same way as Swedish personnel before being assigned as tank gunners.
Yikes!
To read the full piece, please go to the Swedish Tank Archives blog.
Video on Australian Matilda restoration
On March 12 we had posted a link to a story about a Matilda tank being restored in Australia. An Australian news channel has created a video piece about this tank restoration. The video includes footage of the volunteers working on the tank as well as pictures of the condition of the vehicle when it was found abandoned in a rice paddock. Click on the image below to view the video.
WWI replica tank moved for air show in New Zealand
Stuff.co.nz has posted a video showing a replica WWI Mark IV tank as well as a Panzer IV and a Stuart Light tank being loaded onto a ferry for transport from Wellington to Marlborough for the Classic Fighters air show. The replica Mark IV was used in the 2008 short film “Crossing the Line” directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fame. Jackson is a WWI history buff who owns a nuber of planes from the era. He has announced that he is planning to help launch a museum to commemorate World War I in Wellington NZ.
Click on the image below to view video.
Tank and AFV News 