Tanks and armor quiz (medium level)

Would be too easy if I looked on the net now, trying to place the bits from memory

Look it up, it’s perfectly fair to use the Interwebs. Where has everyone been lately? It’s like this thread drifted into,

twilight-zone.jpg

Alright, Wingsofwrath has had his offering on the block for months now, so to spur some activity, I will offer a premium to the member who successfully answers his question. One not too new copy of “Target America” an action adventure novel by Scott McEwen. While not War and Peace, it is worthy to help you occupy your time at the laundromat, or waiting room. I will send the book free of charge to the winner. No elbowing each other now, :slight_smile:

Hmm okies M6A2E1

One built mounting a T5E1 turret with a 105mm gun on an enlarged turret ring (80" instead of 69", height of 11’ 5" and length with gun forward of 37’ it was considered too large to be off use by the time it could be fielded weighing in at close to 70 tonnes.

usht-M6A2E1-1.jpg

And seems like most tanks now if you look them up you get dozens of links to WoT pages.

Ok looking at this it seems similar to an image i found of the Skoda MU-2, one produced and turret could not rotate 360 degrees.

I say similar as the box next to the turret is mounted on the other side so maybe one image or the other is reversed.

Skoda-MU2.jpg

//youtu.be/wKWfmBRb_zI

You pinned the Tail on that one Leccy, well done. I’m going to need a new book of weird armor…

Congratulations are in order!
Well done, Mr. Leccy, you get two for two!

That is indeed an image of the Skoda MU-2.
It is also mirrored, as you well observed, because all my posted enigmas were getting picked off immediately and I decided to make things a bit more difficult. Turns out I may have been a little too devious this time around…
Oh, well. XD

Since you managed to find both enigmas, there can be no confusion about whose turn it is.
Mr. Leccy, the board is yours.

Lol got to find one now, got a few ideas just need the right image :slight_smile:

Leccy the Triumphant. would you PM your mailing address to me so that I may mail you this most suspenseful, and prestigious Tome ? Doesn’t matter where you are, unless you are an alien posting from a distant Galaxy. :wink: :slight_smile:

Ok lets see how this one goes

A puzzle hopefully.jpg

I would like the third tank back to be identified - the first two and the fourth are easier to identify.

Well, well, well.
Now this is an interesting one, but rather logical if you stop to think about it, and I think I can now tell you not only what, but when, where and who…

The three tanks we’re not supposed to identify are unmistakably Vickers Light Tank Mk IIB India Pattern, and by the markings, I’d say the scene takes palace in the Khyber pass around May of 1931 when the 2nd Light Tank Company was deployed around those parts with those particular tanks.

The mystery tank looks very, very similar to the ones we already identified, but has a different turret, so we can assume it is a related vehicle. We also know they changed the suspension for the next incarnation of the Vickers Light Tank (the Mark III light tank suspension had a Horstmann coil spring going at an angle rather than horizontal) but the mystery vehicle has exactly the same suspension as the Mk IIs, so it can’t be one of those.

Add to that the cylindrical turret and the only possibility is that tank is one of the 4 Vickers Mk IA which had earlier been sent to India for “testing purposes”.
Now, I couldn’t find an actual photo of that little beastie in order to verify my claims, but we also know the MK IA had the same Horstmann suspension with horizontal coil springs as the Mk II, unlike the “regular” Mk Is which relied on leaf springs, and the sloped casemate on top of the turret is consistent with the “India pattern” modifications applied to the Mk IIs.

Damn lol you sussed it - I was hoping to confuse a little with all having the same suspension and relatively little known about the Light Mk IA.

I found the image in a Pathe news footage, it is indeed a Vickers Light Mk IA IP - the Mk I and four of the Mk IA used the same cylindrical turret (the 5th Mk IA had a twin gun turret - one above the other), the India Pattern versions had commanders cupolas each of them had a different style to test out. The Mk II used the same hull as the Mk IA but had a new turret.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/modern-methods

Had a slight computer issue when I tried to post and ended up double posting

Thank you for the link to the Pathe news footage, I had never seen it before.

Interestingly, the video also bridges the gap between the the image you posted and the one in my answer, because it shows both the tanks passing by the group of locals and one of the tanks climbing out of the small ravine which appears in my photo, so we also have the exact date the footage was shot - May 7th, 1931.

Also, I didn’t know the Indian Pattern Cupola was also called a “Mitre Cupola”.

From what I could tell, your image comes from a magazine called “The Kings Army” which was printed in 1937 for the coronation of George VI. The actual scan probably comes from here.

Also, I am quite busy at the moment and don’t have time to post a new enigma, so, by all means, feel free to keep posting in my stead - after all, it’s the hunt I enjoy…

There we have it folks! The first post on the 100th page of this thread! Congratulations WingsofWrath!

!!!

Just to tide over - a little clip from Pathe news.

The tankette on the road at around 19 seconds (no 9)

//youtu.be/RCQmwAFKtFM

Always more fun in the rain, and mud. :mrgreen:

Ah, the good old days of the Experimental Mechanized Force!

To just identify that single vehicle would be a mite easy, because that’s another one I know on sight - we’re talking here about the 1924 Carden-Loyd One Man Tankette, Mk.I, seen here with the wheel attachments for driving on the roads, which were designed to both extend track life and reduce wear to the road.

But moving back to the start, at 0:10 we have a Carden-Loyd Two-Man Tankette dash past, with the hull number “8”. Impossible to discern more details than that, but probably an Mk.IV/V

Between 0:14-0:19 two Carden-Loyd One Man Tankettes, Mk.1, and finally a third, with the rubber road wheel attachments, all with the hull number “9”.

Starting at 0:21 we have theBirch Gun, Mk.II, easily one of the worst missed opportunities of the interwar British Army - had they persevered with this vehicle, they might have had decent self propelled artillery by 1940 and they wouldn’t have had to resort to these kind of monstrosities when ww2 rolled along.

From 0:32, we have a Vickers Medium Mk II laying some smoke. Then brand spanking new, but shortly to become the mainstay of the interwar British tank corps.

0:41 - a gaggle of Vickers Medium Mk.Is shooting at… something. They had 48 of those for these manoeuvres, so it’s going to come up a lot.

0:56 - another Mk.I negotiating obstacles - I bet it must have been a bone shaking ride… But at least, unlike the AmericanFord 3-ton-tank who gets discouraged by a barbed wire fence, this one CAN plough straight through brick walls…

1:25 - easily the most interesting vehicles in the whole segment, an experimental bridgelaying tank build by Major H H Bateman of the Royal Engineers Experimental Bridging Establishment at Christchurch in Hampshire, on the basis of the Dragon Mark I artillery tractor, itself an offshoot of the Medium Mk.I.

1:50 - our old friend, the Mk.1 and a Rolls Royce Mk1 Armoured Car, 1920 Pattern. With the rain that’s coming down, I bet everyone is having a great time XD

2:10 - that’s a novel way to cross rivers - pity it didn’t catch on, although I can’t imagine a PzKpw VI trying the same manoeuvre as this little Mk.1…

2:13 - Oh, my, it’s the Vickers A1E1 Independent! Well, that’s one design that’s getting nowhere fast… except to Bovington, that is, where I believe this fine specimen of interwar tank design insanity is preserved to this day.

2:16 - Awww, look, it has babies! Oh, wait, it’s our little friend, the Carden-Loyd One Man tankette. Easy mistake to make XD.

2:19 - remember the Armstrong-Siddely Dragon Mk.1 artillery tractors that was the base for that bridge layer we saw earlier? Well, it’s these things- and they’re towing an 18 pounder field gun and limber.

2:30 more bridging. The vehicle crossing at 3:05 looks like Crossley 15hp, but I can’t be sure.

3:16 - two MK.II Birch Guns.

3:26 passing what looks like a Burford-Kegresse, 3 ton Field Artillery Tractor towing an QF 4.5-inch howitzer and limber. The spare wheel is unusually forward for a Burford, but it’s definitely not a Morris-Commercial or a FWD-Roadless because of the distinctive Kergesse track.

3:40 - those are some speedy medium Mk.1s. Hope they have good brakes…

3:57 -some other odd designs - three Morris-Martel tankettes of two types closely followed by another pass by the Carden-Loyd Two-Man Tankette Mk.IV

4:08- more Birch Gun.

4:20 - back to bridging and the Medium Mk.1

4:25 -the Carden-Loyd One Man Tankettes, doing a nifty piece of interpretive dance.

4:30 -the Morris-Martel sure is a strange looking beast, isn’t it?

4:35 - oh, there’s more of them! On the left, the 1925 one-man version , while on the right the two-man.

4:40 - Is that a poor Carden-Loyd Two-Man Tankette Mk.IV with some wheels strapped on? Yeah, no more alcohol for you, my friend.

From 4:42 - the parade of oddities continues.

5:12- of note is what looks like a Citroen-Kegresse, 15 cwt, Half-Track, Artillery Battery Staff Car.

5:39 - some Citroen-Kegresse Half-Tracks, various types, mixed 15 and 30 cwt.

5:50 - a lingering shot of some Medium Mk.Is shooting through the smoke.

Was wondering what you would call the Carden Loyd as I have seen it variously named

Carden-Loyd One Man Tankette, Mk.I
Carden-Loyd One Man Tankette, Mk.I, Wheel cum track
Carden-Loyd One Man Tankette, Mk.I* (which follows the designations used at the time by the British to differentiate between different models in a Mk)
Carden-Loyd One Man Tankette, Mk.I, prototype no 3 - third machine (first built with the wheel cum track design) - or third variant.

The dissolution of the Experimental Mechanised Force was almost criminal - beating all opposition despite the deliberate handicaps and biased umpiring arrayed against them.

Being a Sapper I did take interest in the Bridging and have been looking for more information on the trestle crossing that was used (no top chords or bearing surface) at around 2 mins - crossed and built many military bridges in all weather conditions and times of day - that would scare me in perfect conditions to cross.

I had not identified all the vehicles in this clip, it is in my to do list, although may not need to now :-). i have been doing some ID on various clips when bored and adding them to the comments.