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This is the second of two tanks I agreed to draw for someone's pamplet or booklet on the use of armour in N. Ireland. The incident was "operation motorman." The British used these Royal Engineers version of the Centurion tank to break down barricades the Catholic Irish had put up in their neighborhoods to deny the army and the government access. The dozer blades made short work of the obstacles.
What you're seeing is the front of the tank. Normally the turret was turned around backward, and the gun -- either the original 105mm or a short barreled 165mm demoliton gun -- was shrouded. The vehicle was designated an AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers.) AVRE's have a long history in the British army and are based on other service tanks. Such designs as the Valentine, Churchill, Centurion, Chieftain and Challenger have all been modifed for Royal Engineers' use at one time or another.
What you're seeing is the front of the tank. Normally the turret was turned around backward, and the gun -- either the original 105mm or a short barreled 165mm demoliton gun -- was shrouded. The vehicle was designated an AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers.) AVRE's have a long history in the British army and are based on other service tanks. Such designs as the Valentine, Churchill, Centurion, Chieftain and Challenger have all been modifed for Royal Engineers' use at one time or another.
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1200 x 888px
File Size 278.4 kB
After four years in The Singapore NCC, I've always wondered what the shoulder straps were for...Fixtures for suspenders...
It brings me back, My days in uniform, Although I'm gonna do it again when I get conscripted...
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/publications/cyberpioneer/news/2008/September/03sep08_news.html
Wish me luck Taral, Hopefully I will get out with only a few scratches...And an eyepatch...
It brings me back, My days in uniform, Although I'm gonna do it again when I get conscripted...
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/publications/cyberpioneer/news/2008/September/03sep08_news.html
Wish me luck Taral, Hopefully I will get out with only a few scratches...And an eyepatch...
Canadian Armoured Corps Troopers are called zipperheads, or just zips. Some say it's because of the stitching on the leather helmets they wore, or because getting banged in the head with a steel hatch resulted in stitches of your own.
It's an affectionate term now, but I the way I heard it from a WWII vet was that it was originally a derogatory term specific to the Lord Strathcona Horse, because of their habit of closing the hatches long before they went into battle. Zipped up was the term for driving hatches down, using the periscopes and episcopes to navigate and shoot by. The implication being that the Strats were not as brave as the other armoured units who rode into battle hatches up (and got their fool heads shot off).
It's an affectionate term now, but I the way I heard it from a WWII vet was that it was originally a derogatory term specific to the Lord Strathcona Horse, because of their habit of closing the hatches long before they went into battle. Zipped up was the term for driving hatches down, using the periscopes and episcopes to navigate and shoot by. The implication being that the Strats were not as brave as the other armoured units who rode into battle hatches up (and got their fool heads shot off).
Ah ha! The only thing I know about Canadian tankers is that they once had a habit of waiting for cars on the highway near Camp Borden, Ontariao. When one came along, a tank would pull out on the road ahead of it, and another tank behind, with both turret guns pointed at the car. It may have taken an accident before the brass put a stop to it...
Must have been when the Combat Training Centre was still in Borden in the sixties, unless someone mistook the Militia Cougars for Tanks. Sounds like the drill for capturing enemy reconnaissance cars, the occasional civilian vehicle does tend to get caught in the middle sometimes, never deliberately I'm sure, unless the driver is cute.
Given how long ago that I heard that story, 60s is probably right. I was on Camp Borden once, but only saw the rifle range. I don't recall anything else because I was in the back of a truck. I had an FN rifle shoved in my hands, one empty magazine, and (maybe) six live rounds to loud in it. Nobody said whether to aim using the top or the bottom of the foresight, so I missed the target and that was the end of my big day. I know better now, of course...
Ach so! I used to go shooting in Camp Borden (aka CFB Boredom) when I was an Army Cadet, Ipperwash too before it was reoccupied by the former owners. Did you know that the movie 'The Last Detail' with Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid was filmed in the area? They used Borden to represent the naval base in the movie.
Yeah, I knew. I know something else, too. In an early scene, a body of soldiers is marched by the camera. One of the extras hired -- alas, hidden from site -- is an old buddy of mine, Bob Wilson. He went on to be the SF writer, Robert Charles Wilson, with about 18 books publshed and a Hugo for one of them. So now about *three* people know this fascinatingly unimportant fact.
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