NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 22 MARCH 2010

Hi and welcome to this week’s what’s new. I’m sorry that we haven’t any new photos this week but instead we have a fantastic story that we were told by one of the stand-holders at the West Midlands Military Show last week. 

A chap he knew had been in the British Army and was involved with ordnance, that’s weapons and ammunition. When he left the army, he got involved in a number of projects connected with the military until at one stage he published and sold books on military. He had a stand at a military show in the Colchester area and was approached by a guy in his late teens/early twenties asking for a wiring diagram for a Tiger 1 tank. Thinking this guy may  not bethe full ticket, he went along with the request. Are you sure you want a wiring diagram for a Tiger tank and not something else ?

Then the story came out. The guy said they had a diesel powered Tiger tank in a barn on the family farm, which was used for a bit of fun. It even had some of the original ammunition still inside. He said some rounds had a green ring on the, others had a white ring and there were some with red rings. Our ex-army chap knew immediately from his experience that these meant these were AP (Armour Piercing), Smoke, and HE (High Explosive) shells !!! Our guy continued that they even had some MP-40 Schmeisser sun-machine guns that they used to shoot rabbits with until they ran out of ammunition. Our chap was by now was well and truly paying attention and asked how they got the Tiger.

Well the guy’s grandfather was serving in the RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) of the British Army in Germany. It was 1945, the war was over and there was loads of military stuff all over the place. His job was to drive the large tank-transporters and so it was no surprise when his CO, Commanding Officer, told him that they had found a rare diesel powered Tiger 1 tank. It was new, straight out of the factory and had all the kit, ammunition and sidearms in place and ready to go into battle. His orders were to load it up and then take it back to England, where he was to report to a certain army camp where the Tiger was to be used for weapons and armour assessment.

Off he went but on reaching the army camp was told they had loads of tanks for assessment and so just to get rid of it. In typical army fashion, I don’t care what you do with it, but just get rid of the damned thing !

So he did ! At his family farm within 20 miles of Colchester, where it remained working and being used for jobs over the years. Pretty useful for pulling dead trees out of the ground !!! The reason the guy wanted a wiring diagram was that there was an electrical fault and they wanted to repair it !!!!

So is the story True or False ?

Perhaps someone out there knows and can tell us, but even so, it’s a good story to tell over a pint of beer in the pub !!!!!!!

So until next week…..

Cheerio !!!

Simon