Geeks Und Panzer! Tank/AFV/IFV/Cavalry Thread: Little Willie Editi

[renegadeleader1]

So we have an aircraft thread, a weapons thread, so why not one based on the missing link of the combined arms? I had intended to do this for a while after I got into that little argument about the markings Arnold's tank on another thread, but I got really motivated after visiting the Military Museum of Southern New England in Danbury Connecticut and snapping some pictures while I was on vacation this week.

The Museum is fairly small in size(It ain't Bovington, but it is in driving distance for me), but its yard has a nice collection of tanks and armored fighting vehicles including some very rare specimens like a functional Jackson Tank Destroyer, M2 Half Track, several Patton line variants, russian BMP, M551Sheridan, Goliath tank mine, and a prototype of the MBT-70 that's undergoing restoration after being used as a target by the U.S. Army.

They also have this thing...

The guide lists it as Test Recon Vehicle. No model number or anything. The only other information they had was that its turret was not the original one mated to it and that it itself was the prototype for the M2 Bradley. I know we got some other service men on here so hopefully you can help me shed some light on this as I've never seen anything like it.

Anyways I'm heading up to a transportation museum in Wolfboro NH tomorrow who also has a nice collection of armored fighting vehicles including several Sherman variants. I'll make sure to add more pics from there and my Danbury trip later. Feel free to contribute too!

EDIT: Here's another image from the recon vehicles side I can't make out much, but I think it says something about an XM864-T.

[renegadeleader1]

M36 Jackson

M18 Hellcat

Patton tanks with MBT-70

MBT-70

The MBT-70's in rough shape. No treads, shot suspension, gutted interior, and no engine. They only recently repaired the damage where from when it was a target(a penetrator went clean through the turret and out the other side), and repainted it about a week before I got there.

Edited August 7, 2014 by renegadeleader1

[Nekko Basara]

Although I don't have any info on your mystery IFV, I love the idea of an armor enthusiast thread. Your photos look great; I really regret not getting over to the museum when I was in that area for the AMPS show a few years ago.

I'm also bumming that I couldn't get into Aberdeen when I was in DC last summer (to see, among other things, the other MBT-70). Their website said that even though the Ordnance Museum was moving to Fort Lee, the outdoor exhibits were still open. It wasn't so; they turned us back at the gates!

Anyways, I'm more into the WW2 armor, but by all means, let's talk some tanks!

[Nekko Basara]

I believe that your mysterious "Test Recon Vehicle" is the XM800T. (Thanks to Google, not my brain.)
You can even see a working example here!

[renegadeleader1]

Yup that's definately it with its original turret, the only mystery now is where the hell the XM800-T got its new turret from and why?

Now for something competely different The smallest tank that was the biggest death trap! The Polish TKS Tankette. Prone to throwing its treads(as the video below will show) it wasn't very fast, wasn't heavily armed(not counting the custom one that welded on a 55mm mortar), and its armor couldn't stop small arms fire!

Here's a demo of one of the very operable TKS from a couple years back. Watch it all the way through. In addition to blowing out a tread the drivers thought it was a good idea to winch it up on its trailer using a chain that wasn't rated for the Tank's weight.

EDIT: The TKS makes a very small two second cameo in Girls Und Panzer from when they showed snippets of Pravda's win over Bonple the polish themed school.

Edited August 8, 2014 by renegadeleader1

[Nekko Basara]

I've poked around regarding that turret, but haven't had any luck. I found some other pictures of the Danbury vehicle, and my guess is that the turret has a pair of TOW tubes in the side of it, but I haven't found any hard info.

I love the TKS! Didn't know any were still running. My only "experience" with them was in the Battlefield 2 mod "Forgotten Hope," which included both the MG and 20mm AT rifle versions on a map simulating the Fall Weiss invasion of Poland. I don't catch the appearance in GuP; funny that anybody would deploy that in a competition where a Maus could also participate.

Generally speaking, tanks from the 20s and 30s are my favorites, because the inter-war designs got so crazy without the trial of combat to weed out bad ideas. You had the tankette craze sweeping many countries due to tight budgets, but on the other end of the spectrum Russia, Britain, France, and Germany were also messing with multi-turret monsters like the T-35 and Neubaufahrzeug. There were also lots of amphibious tanks, and the fast convertible Christie-style tanks taking shape in the Russian BTs. And rivets! Riveted armor everywhere, so dangerous but so cool looking. I may have a modeling bias, but I just find that era so compelling.

[F-ZeroOne]

I've been to Bovington a few times, its not that far from where I live. They have probably the coolest British road sign along the way, as its also a tankcrew training area:

[renegadeleader1]

Completed my trip to the Wright Museum yesterday and have more photos plus a couple from Danbury which I didn't share yet. Gotta love a museum that has a tank busting through its walls

Wright Museum entrance(M3 Stuart)

M3 Stuart light tank

M4 Sherman

T26 Pershing

M110 9 inch Howitzer

Centurion battletank

The interesting thing about that Pershing is aside from being a direct ancestor to the Patten line, this particular one is one of only three that made it to the bridge at Remagen and took part in the battle. It may be the only one still around today and was saved much like the MBT70 from being a practice target at Otis AFB back in the 80s.

[renegadeleader1]

I went to see Expendables tonight and caught the trailer for the film Fury. Its about a Sherman tank crew fighting one of the last battles of the european theater in April of 1945....

GODDAMMIT!

Its bad enough it looks like Saving Private Ryan in a tank, but they cast Shia Lebouf as the whiny douche pacifist that doesn't want to fight, and correct me if I'm wrong but that's a Sherman Firefly right? I feel bad this film drags the poor sole remaining functional Tiger out of Bovington for authenticity, but might have screwed up the Sherman.

EDIT:Nevermind, it's Bovington's "easy 8" Sherman.

Edited August 17, 2014 by renegadeleader1

[Nekko Basara]

I don't know; my dislike for LaBeouf might be counter-balanced by what a good job Brad Pitt usually does. And, more importButantly, what am amazing chance to see those vehicles in action. Most war movies have used other vehicles mocked up as their historical counterparts; I can't think of a single example of a real WW2 panzer of any type in a post-war film, let alone a Tiger.

I could gripe that the Bovington Tiger is much too early an example to appear in a story set in the closing days of the war, but, realistically, the Germans were throwing in any vehicle they could get working at that point, including Tigers bodged together from a mix of old and new parts (and, if memory serves, the Bovington Tiger itself was repaired with a Tiger II engine).

The M4A3e8 itself was a pretty rare bird in Europe, only showing up at the tail end of the conflict and in small numbers. But it's plausible from what I can see; it would probably be the first pick for a special mission, since it was the best US machine at the time, discounting the handful of Pershings.

[renegadeleader1]

I just wanted to give you guys the heads up, Mighty Jingles and some other prolific World Of Tanks players are making a kickstarter to restore the sole remaining example of the FV3805 self propelled artillery to running order. Here's Jingles video explaining the situation.

EDIT: LInk to the kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1013126295/fv3805-restoration-project

Edited August 5, 2015 by renegadeleader1