Took a little trip out to Bovington Tank Museum today, thought some of you may like to see some of the photos (unfortunately, some of them didn’t come out very well):
Little Willie - the first tank.
Mk.I Tank - the first tank ever used in combat
Renault FT-17, a late WW1 French tank used by all of the Allies.
Whippet - late WW1 British light tank
More to follow when I get them resized and uploaded.
I must visit the place one day. Years ago, I used to write to them for stuff and found them very helpfull.
Incidentally, Little Willy is actually called Little Willie. A subtle difference, but one that may cause less of a snigger among the juvenile element (me!)
The Tank Museum have a series of very good publications, one of which deals with the earliest tanks. Well worth buying for those with an interest in armoured warfare.
The Renault FT 17 was also used in WW2 IIRC.
Kind regards
Fluffy
So it was :oops: Will edit.
The French still had some FT-17s when WW2 kicked off, the Germans nicked them and used them for internal security, IIRC
Further to my post above:
Landships- British Tanks in the First World War, David Fletcher, HMSO, ISBN 0112904092
also of interest is
Moving the Guns, David Fletcher & Philip Ventham, HMSO, ISBN 0112904777
Data Book of Wheeled Vehicles, reprint of a WW2 official publication, HMSO, ISBN 0112904084
Vanguard of Victory - 79th Armoured Div, “the funnies”, David Fletcher, HMSO, ISBN 011290422
I believe David Fletcher is still the librarian of the Tank Museum.
Other books in the series which I don’t have but are almost certainly as good as those above:
CHURCHILL Tank - history & spec
CROMWELL Tank - history & spec
TIGER! - The TIGER tank from a British perspective
War Cars - British Armoured Cars in WW1
Breakdown - a history of recovery vehicles in the British Army
Few more piccies:
Carden Loyd tankette from the 1930s
Vickers Light Tank from the 1930s and early 1940s (see the British Board for my history of the Vickers Light Tank)
Locust light tank designed to be landed from a glider to support paratroopers
Goliath remote control tank - packed with explosives and detonated under Allied tanks.
You promised me this picture (if you remember) :lol: :lol:
I do :lol: - there’s a few more to come when I get a chance to.
I want to get back there again before I get posted and get some more photos (quite a few came out very badly - even worse than the Locust picture)
I found similar problems taking photos at Hendon. The dark lighting in such museums makes the camera take a very long exposure time, and hence handshake wrecks virtually every picture you take… to make matters worse, you need permission to use a tripod.
Thought of using a telescopic monopod ?
They don’t take up any floor space and I’ve had some good results wih them in the past.
It’s only a very small camera as well, so any movement affects it a lot - Bovington’s not too bad for lighting, not as bad as some (AAC museum is very dark), but still not great.
It might be worth a go - I’ll see if I can get hold of one before I go down again (it’s on 15 miles from here so it’s an easy afternoon out).