The Bovington Tankfest thread

After going to Kemble yesterday( http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6962 ) in the brillliant sunshine we went to Bovington expecting and dressed for the same.
it p*ssed down!
Long traffic jam, long queue,rain, then youngest threw up over Mrs D behind the T-62.
Tanks were good though.

Lots of nice tanks.

EDIT:PHOTOS MESSED UP OVER THE YEARS.

 

Had one surreal moment.
Took little-un into the "portable 6 man urinal".
Shared it with a WW2 Red Cap and an NKVD Officer.
Wierd!

 

it p*ssed down!
Certainly did!
And didn't a hush fall on the crowd whenever thre Tiger ran!
That rusty 'colander' grant with all the panzerfaust holes is still my favourite runner, and the fact the chap who made the holes is now the owner is even better.
I got trapped by a Valentine, Crusader, Matilda2, Easy 8 Sherman, Colander Grant & Churchill AVRE, Blinded and choked by dense, half-burnt petrol fumes... Bloody Marvellous.

And in the Finest sartorial traditions of the British army:
View attachment 481

(Sorry we didn't bump into each other Owen.)

Testing:
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Did you see the Sherman Owen? You will have noticed it is impossible to travel inthe back...yet we did.
Sapper
Brian, Yes the Kangaroo is inside the Museum.


Von Poop.
I EXPECT a Beltring thread next month.
(If the site is still here.)

 

Nice one! I am looking forward to War & Peace in Kent again this year; only a few weeks away!
You're another Beltring-ite then Paul?
My yearly 3day-sprog-free-no-gurlz-diesel-fumed-landmine-buying-drinking-heavily holiday.
I wish Bovington would make it's presence felt there again. I assume there was 'politics' at some point. hohum.

 

Did you see the half track that I drove at night.... to get the next days battle orders. 19 at the time.... When I look at it now, I cannot beleive that I ever drove the damn thing. Not only drove it, but under shell fire.

I could not even get in the thing now...Ah wel
Yup Brian they've some there and at the kemble Show too.
http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2896&d=1151161746

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2914&d=1151162131

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2940&d=1151260411

If I came into some money I'd get one of those or a White scout car.

 

Did you know he paid 90k for that Grant! They found it in a lake in Belgium and the original owner said it was the best of the lot that was there. Apparently new owner is chuffed to bits with it.

As we walked away from him after chatting at Beltring he said
"there's another chap's restored a Grant... cost him 45 grand... d'you know how much this was?..." [meaning acquisition and restoration costs, we expected 'nothing' or somesuch] "....Twice as Fu***ng much!"

There may be a slight misconception here, the rumour-mill being what it is

From what he told us then:
The tank itself is one that the chap who owns and runs it, (who's name I forget) spent time postwar strapping Panzerfausts to at testing grounds, all those hundreds of 20p size holes are from these fausts ("we put the turret back on, then blew it off, then put it back on, then blew it off," etc etc.). At beltring the top 37mm(?) gun was missing but he said Kevin Wheatcroft had approached him with a gift of a badly battered gun that came from a lake, I assume this is the one mounted and the source of the watery story?.


We thought it was the best thing at Beltring (the war and peace show), and if you get a chance to speak to the bloke make sure you do. Very entertaining, tales of blowing Chieftan turrets out of sight etc.

 

Get yourself down to Beltring mate, stay for more than 1 day though, you'll need it. Tankfest was brilliant 'cos of the volume and variety of 'special', rare or significant tanks running and the emphasis on full-tracked vehicles but in scale, compared to Beltring, it's a village fete.

 

Not as odd as the commissar and the SS panzer grenadier having a joke at the side of the Kubelwagen. Funny rained from half twelve and stopped just after re enactment finished. Double take. Murray Walker seemed to be enjoying himself in the Sherman.

Amusing comment of the day has got to be when the BMW motorbike stalled and they couldn't get it going. A trooper standing on the chieftain shouts "Zee war is over for you" The look on the German rider's face was priceless.

Highlight was the Tiger doing the circuit, when they put the Tiger to bed in the corner shed about half five, there were a couple of hundred hanging round the fence around getting a better view.
You mean I missed that because we left early to watch the second half of the England game. B*gger B*gger B*gger.
Still if we'd stayed the kids would have had hypothermia.