Tortuga “tank” from Venezuela?
Ha-ha! I’ve done that before here on the quiz!
Navyson - bang on; the Venezuelan “Turtle”. This thing was “designed” and produced by one Tomás Pacanins (named it would appear after a distinguished Venezuelan physician; not sure whether related) at the shipyard at Venezuela’s principal Pacific oil port, Puerto Cabello. Recipe for a “Turtle” - take one 1934 6 by 4 Ford truck; mount ungainly cone-shaped armour skin; fit hand-cranked rotating turret carrying one .303 air-cooled machine-gun and … that’s just about it. One interesting refinement - the rear pairs of wheels are linked by caterpillar track, making this, technically, a half-tracked armoured car.
Venezuela produced 12 of these fearsome beasts in 1934, of which 5 were exhibited in a military parade. The general consensus seems to be that they were a response to a fear that neighbouring Colombia might have aggressive intentions towards Venezuela following its “victory” over Peru in the Colombia-Peru “war” of 1932 - although Colombia (a notoriously fractious and unstable country) was going through a period of relative peace and quiet at the time, notwithstanding border incidents all round. Perhaps just as well that the Colombians did not attack; Venezuelan armour experts have assessed the vehicle as clumsy and difficult to manoeuvre (owing in large part to the burden placed on the basic Ford truck by the ungainly armoured “skirt”, and near-enough blind as far as exterior visibility was concerned. One is inclined to conclude that this was designed as a demonstration/intimidation vehicle - but probably not a very effective one.
Owing to my woeful Spanish, I have been unable to establish certainty on this - but I believe that a number survive in the possession of the Venezuelan Army. Nor can I identify any indication that they were ever used in action - although it is a remote possibility, since the late-1940s saw in a lengthy period of violent instability in Venezuela, almost worthy at some stages of Japan in the late Middle Ages. In such circumstances, even oddities like this might have some use … Best regards, and thanks, JR.
Well after all it was my first time trying this and I didn’t know that would be a possibility. Rookie mistake and it an’t going to happen again. lolz
Don’t let it trouble you Kilroy, you’ll get the hang of it. The way this game works is that who ever answers correctly has to post another mystery vehicle for everyone to identify. Each successive winner then posting yet another mystery. It does help alot to rename the image file, I usually change them to something nonsensical.
Yup. I’ve messed up doing that too, it isn’t that big of a deal, just be sure to remember to do it.
I believe that tank is the object 430 or the object 140?
… or, perhaps, Obiekt 775 (or O.780 - very similar.). This was an experimental, ultra-low profile member of the prototype series deriving from the T-64 battle tank. It was armed with a 125mm rocket-firing gun - which may have compensated to some extent for the very limited capacity to depress the gun owing to the tank’s very low profile (a disadvantage shared by most mid-Cold War I “coffee-cup turret”, low-profile battle tanks. I understand that a number of these oddities were manufactured in production conditions, but whether they were deployed, I know not. If I am correct, this beauty is preserved at Kubinka. Yours from Beria’s Basement, JR.
JR* is correct! You have the floor sir!
Seems everyone of means was experimenting with missile tanks. Seems also that they all came to the same conclusion…
An easy one (only sort of thing I can come up with, really …) JR.
Taking a wild guess saying its going to be the British Churchill vii. Which was a huge upgrade from the pervious version the Churchill I. For a sec I was thinking of the Russians version the modified Churchill I (which of course was the Churchill iii)
Not exactly, Kilroy - but close ! Best regards, JR.
I’ll have a go with the Black Prince. Looks to have a 17 pdr gun, and appears slightly larger than the standard production Churchills.
Yes - the A43 Infantry Tank, “Black Prince” or “Super Churchill”. The design process of this vehicle started late in 1943. The intention was to produce a vehicle that combined the 17 pounder HV gun with armour sufficient at least to live in open field with the Panther and Tiger - something that, for example, the Sherman Firefly could not do. As a heavy (British) infantry tank, it is not surprising that it shared much of the technology of the successful later Churchill models. Engineering problems relating to the fitting of the 17 pounder gun and to the powerplant delayed production until early 1945; by then, the powerplant problem was still not at all solved. Six pre-production models were produced by the Vauxhall company in any case. However since, by this stage, the superior Centurion model was close to coming on line, the “Black Prince” project was dropped, and the tank never entered production. Away you go … Best regards, JR.
There was no specific Soviet version of the Churchill tank, the Mk III and Mk IV differed in turret detail (Mk III welded turret with 6pdr, Mk IV cast turret with 6pdr), the Soviets received both Mk’s as well as some Mk II I believe. Both were common use tanks in the British forces.
Mk II was a cast turret with 2pdr gun and did away with the hull mounted 3" howitzer.
Only in WoT do they have the Mk III as a Soviet only Mark
Here’s an oddball for you guys to ponder.
After failing three times in a row (lolz). I believe this is the T69 which was developed on the basis of experimental medium tank T42 thought never had mass production. (note: I only know very surfaced information because of the little reading I do and world of tanks, so sorry if my information is a little off. I like to study about airborne units a lot more than anything else.) …gosh dammit
Well, keep looking, this game can take some time to get good at. (I’ve been at it for years, still not good at it) it’s not the T-69. I do admit the images are less than optimal. I was expecting some other well known vehicles to be mistaken for this one.