Beltring 2000 part 2
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The British answer to stopping a Tiger was the 17pdr Anti-Tank gun, here
are 2 shots of one with its towing vehicle. Hanno Spoelstra has again
provide the i.d., for what is to me an unkonw vehicle.
Morris-Commercial C8/AT Mk III, or
"Tractor, 4x4, AT". Used for towing 17-pdr guns, this was a conversion of
the C8/MG Portee (2-pdr) vehicle in late 1943. There was a similar
conversion of the C8/P Predictor vehicle (for the full story see Wheels &
Tracks no.30).
Photos courtesy of Richard Notton.
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An Otter armoured car, I believe this is a different vehicle to the one
which appeared at Normandy 1994.
Photo courtesy of Richard Notton.
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On display next to a Bofor's gun was some ammo. Look carefully and you
will see this is quite comprehensive; there are the complete rounds, a
cardboard transit tube and 4 complete rounds in loading clips.
Photo courtesy of Richard Notton.
For some reason Andreas had a bee in his bonnet about going to the
supermarket at Paddock Wood and not by car either! Tim Panton, one of
the Camp Notton residents volunteered
to join us and off we set on the KK. As you would imagine there is a
certain amount of track vibration at 35 mph on the open road plus a lot
of strange looks. By the time we got to the supermarket Tim and I both
had tingling feet as there is nothing to dampen the vibration coming through
the rear passenger foot rests. It feels very strange to travel backwards
in an open vehicle at speed. I don't doubt we had similar expressions on
our faces
to those of Brian and Barry. Suitably provisioned we headed back to
Beltring and
had to show our wristbands at 4 checkpoints before we finally got back
to the campsite. Being in/on an MV seemed to make the gate guards very
conscientious whereas when we were in a normal car we only had to show our
passes once.
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Here you see the "warden" at the supermarket car park trying
to figure out just what this strange vehicle is. The photo was taken
by a Michael Heidler. Who is a German and he drove the Volkswagen 181,
which can be seen in the backgrond of one of the pictures.
He took the pictures, while we were in the shop, unknown to us.
Photo courtesy of Michael Heidler.
Geoff W-B arrived with Nigel Watson in Nigel's Bren Carrier (Universal
Carrier), so whilst the opportunity was there I organised with Nigel to
give Andreas a ride so that Andreas could experience the equivalent British
vehicle to the KK.
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Q. What do you think of the Bren Carrier Andreas?
A. VERY strange.
Coming from someone who rides a tracked motorcycle?
As I had got to experience Andreas' Kettenkrad I wanted to return the
favour and through Derek Gardner (a Ferret owner) organised for Andreas
to have a ride which subsequently turned into a drive of Andrew Noyce's
Mk 1/2 Ferret.
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Pictured is myself commanding and Andreas driving.
Q. What do you think of the Ferret Andreas?
A. Strange!
Friday was time for the off road course. As Nigel promised, this has
been regulated to improve safety. We had to sign in at the control tent,
pay £3 entrance fee and then entered the course with a marshal in company
in a 4x4. He shadowed us the whole time and pointed out water depth and
any hazards. He also advised us when to vacate sections of the course
as "there's this huge tank that will be coming through here real soon",
which intrigued
us until we realized he was referring to the "tourist Chieftain" which made
regular forays with 25 passengers standing in its modified turret. This
service appears to be well patronized: realistically, it is as close to
a ride in a tank as most members of the public will ever get. It was
worth seeing the looks on the faces of the passengers, some were horrified
whilst others were loving every second.
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Andreas encouraged me to drive the Kettenkrad through the off-road course
but I baulked at 2 sections which looked too wet and deep (I wasn't going
to be responsible for drowning the KK as well as breaking it). So I
suggested he have a go. In the photo below you can see Andreas baulking
at a rather deep water hazard - reverse gear comes in handy.
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Pictured below is the much awaited arrival of
Carl "Multitank" Brown driving his Sherman. This vehicle had been got
mobile especially for Beltring, the turret only having been installed
late on Thursday night. It was then onto the transporter Friday morning
for the trip down to Beltring. It was very interesting to see and hear
one of only 3 "Multibank" 30 cylinder Shermans still running in the
world. Internally the vehicle still has to be restored as it had been
a range target and exposed to the elements.
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The engine bay of the Multibank.
Photo courtesy of Richard Notton.
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Carl and helpers doing what is inevitable with tracked vehicles -
track maintenance!
Photo courtesy of Richard Notton.
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It's big, it's German and it's a gun. Anyone care to identify this for
me?
Thanks to Raimondo Torelli -
It is a 15 cm. Schwere Feld Haubitze 18. It was captured by the
Russian in WWII and modified.
(read: Russianized by changing the barrell and gun shield)
Friday and Saturday I thought was a good time to go and experience the arena
as I
had never got that far in 1999. It was interesting to see the car crushing
as that too was a first for me. I was surprised to see an M5 Stuart being
used to do this as I have always regarded them to be too light for that job.
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The M60 from the "East of England Tank Museum" also did some crushing and
in the process demonstrated the dangers of this exercise. It had the
weight to be able to hit a car body at speed and flatten it in one pass
rather than nibble away as the Stuart had to do. But in the process the car
body was picked up and flung
vertically into the air and somersaulted before landing behind the tank
upside down. A part of the car body came off and caught in the track
and was being dragged around by the track until it caught the rear mudguard
of the tank and was flung away, but not before damaging the tanks mudguard.
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The M60 flattening a car in one go.
As tank crew have told me in the past, there is usually a price to pay for
car crushing - damage and maintenance work.
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The M60 from the East of England Tank Museum, just visible is the damage
to the rear mudguard.
There was also an Abbot or 2 used for car crushing, one young lady riding
very high in the turret hatch (really, only her legs were within the turret)
of one of the Abbots appeared to get whipped quite badly by the impact with
the car. She wasn't wearing a helmet either.
The whole idea of car crushing appears to be contentious, there is no arguing
that it is a crowd puller, a quick look around the viewing area of the arena
soon confirmed that. A lot of tank enthusiasts look upon it as good fun whilst
others regard it with distaste, I heard comments from both points of view.
At one stage Bob Fleming came very close to needing a new car of his own as
whilst they were trying to tow start an M36 Jackson using his Leopard 1 they
got lazy and tried to do it using only 1 tow cable - the Jackson slewed to
the side as it moved and only barely missed his car. That got a few "oo's
and aah's" from all who were watching.
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Note Bob's car peeking out from behind the GS truck.
On display in the arena were a representative portion of all the vehicles
present at Beltring, basically from motor bikes up to Chieftain tanks.
Of particular note was David Russell's newly restored Churchill, it being
very interesting to finally hear that odd "clank, clank" sound let out by
those huge track links and the roar of the flat 12 Bedford engine. David
let me have a crawl through the vehicle later on and the quality of the
restoration is a credit to him.
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David Russell's lovely Churchill Crocodile clanking around the arena.
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The Russell Churchill
Photo courtesy of Richard Notton.
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Looking at the flame gunners position (left) and drivers position (right)
in David's Churchill.
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The reverse direction, from the drivers view port through the turret
basket to the firewall, I never even knew Richard had taken this photo!
Photo courtesy of Richard Notton.
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The gunner's position in the Churchill.
Also present were some representatives of one of the Swedish army's armour
museums (I neglected to write down the details) with what appeared to be a
Czech T-35 which they demonstrated in the arena. I was soon put right that
it is a licence built vehicle and
is called an M-37 in their use. These people are a credit to their country
and army, their demeanor and conduct was at all times correct and helpful.
They were only too keen to show people the vehicle and talk about it. It
turned out that some of their party are not regular army, they were doing
their national service requirement. One of the ladies raised a few eyebrows
when it was discovered she is a Centurion driver; most men struggle with
that job! The restoration job they had done on the vehicle was impressive,
though not quite completed in time for Beltring, with just some small
touches to be finished. We were intrigued to learn it has a licence built
Wilson pre-selector gearbox, which makes it - automotively - a relation
of the Dingo, Ferret, Saladin, Saracen etc. Another interesting feature
is the commanders seat, it is
really a triangular leather hammock like device. It looks weird, but was
quite comfortable to sit in. In one of the photos you can see that the commanders
hatch has a built in cupola for his head, this is fully padded internally,
it feels quite strange to "close down" with this device.
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The Swedish M-37, a very nice restoration. We were told that there are
supposed to be only 8 survivors of these vehicles, but 6 of which are
runners. I was not able to confirm this with the Swedes, but if correct,
then they must surely hold the record for runners/survivors.
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Andreas discussing the M-37 with its Commanding Officer
Photo courtesy of Richard Notton.
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A view into the turret of the M-37, note the padded cupola/hatch at the top
of the photo and the sling seat at the bottom.
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Looking down into the drivers position on the M-37.
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Inside the M-37 drivers position.
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Looking left and down.
Photo courtesy of Richard Notton.
An interesting comment was made by one of the Swedes. He said he was
very impressed at the behaviour of those present at Beltring, by Sunday
night the worst incident he had heard of was of an Englishman and a German
getting into a heated argument and having to be separated. Which compared
to lots of European sports meetings is a non-event.
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The Commanding Officer of the Swedes gets Kettekrad tuition from
Andreas (in blue windcheater). At the far right of the photo, you can see
me in discussion with Paul Handel of the Puckapunyal Tank Museum,
Australia. Note the somewhat naked lady walking through our midst; yet
no-one appears to have noticed, so intent were all of us on the Kettenkrad
and things military. I am not quite sure if Paul was staring into space
or at the KK, but not it would seem at the lady.
Photo courtesy of Brian Gough.
Arena
The arena runs all day every day and takes a lot of effort on the part
of those controlling it (especially Andrew in the kilt who must have
eaten an incredible quantity of dust by the end of the week). The tracked
vehicles were all controlled and co-coordinated by marshals with radios
even whilst in the arena. The arena backs onto the flea market, so even
whilst shopping your attention is drawn that way by the growl of tank
engines and the clatter of tracks, but surprisingly little dust blew
through.
Because the events differ only slightly from day to day in the
arena it means you don't have to allocate one whole day to it so as not
to miss out. I found this to be very handy in that I could duck over
to the arena as and when it suited me through the whole 5 days and know
that if I missed something on one day I could always schedule it for
another.
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Saturday's arena events.
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Picture above and the 4 below are various arena shots.
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Fran's (my wife) brother (Chris) and sister in law (Michelle) are on a
1 year working holiday in England (usual Aussie thing to do)
and came down from London for the day. So first order of business was to
take them for an orientation ride in the KK. I don't think they really knew
what to think of it all. Chris, like virtually all Aussies, does not speak
a second language and became very self-conscious when I told him he must
say thankyou to Andreas in German for the ride. He survived.
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Michelle, Chris and Fran with myself driving - off to the Flea
Market
Photo courtesy of Chris Shillito.
Sunday is really the downhill run for Beltring as a lot of the participants
are packing and leaving in order to be back home for work on Monday, but
it is also a good time to do a last flea market run - only to discover
articles on sale which I know were not there earlier in the week. That
meant another trek back to camp Notton carrying something heavy and rare.
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Just one of the 26 rows of flea market. The flea market is very hard to
photograph in any way that provides a perspective of its size and depth.
It is really a case of having to experience it to appreciate it.
A regular visitor to our campsite was Peter Müller in either his monstrous
Kraz-255B or his Schwimmwagen. He had driven the Kraz over from Germany with
the Schwimmwagen in the back. It was very interesting to talk to him as
he owns the main 3 classes of WW2 amphibians.
Schwimmwagen
Gaz-46 (Russian copy of GPA)
Bav-485 (Russian copy of the DUKW)
He says the Bav-485 is by far the most capable vehicle in the water. He
is glad to have his schwimmwagen but says had he known what the restoration
would cost him he would probably have never bought it. They look quite a
simple vehicle, but like all things WW2 and German, parts are expensive
or, don't exist, and have to be specially made.
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Throughout this years Beltring there was the background sound of "that
damn helicopter" as it came to be known (even by the officials). The
pilot must be a frustrated
gunship driver as that was the way he was flying. I just hope he never
suffers an engine failure during one of those stall turns...........
Of the hoped for Tiger and Panther there was no show. There was however
a Panzer IV H in unrestored condition plus, I think, 4 restored Hetzers.
We got quite used to the Hetzers and Demag halftracks rattling past our
camp on the way to and from the arena.
I tried to locate Arthur Kyle of MV List who had intended to be
there but with no success. Likewise for Jim Webster and the Simonides
Military Archeology group.
Beltring is so big that even when you know someone is on site, you still
can have a lot of trouble finding them. So there were several people such
as Andrew Jeffery (Saladin owner) and Jack Lee (California),
Ken (Muttguru), Jim Gilmore
plus others from the USA who although there somewhere, our paths never
crossed.
This years Beltring was certainly a big event, the extra 2 days were well
filled and we were at no time bored. It will be interesting to see the
numbers (vehicles, people etc) when all the accounting has been done.
Of my criticisms from last year:
Toilets - the main toilet block, the showers were closed roughly 2pm on
Saturday
afternoon followed about an hour later by the toilets. Not bad really,
considering the number of people on site and the extra 2 days the event ran.
The organizers appear to again have been a victim of their own success.
Dust - a real difference from last year, the second gateway, doubtless an
organisational and manpower hassle for the organisers, really did make a
quantum difference. There was still some vehicular traffic past the flea
market but nothing in comparison to what it would have been like with only
one gate. It was nice to be able to wander the flea market without being
blanketed in dust and to return to the camping area without having to play
chicken with vehicles as in the past. The infamous water tanker was seen in
action this year with its very own spray bar!
Rubbish - I really don't recall seeing much around. Nor do I remember
overflowing bins.
Wrist bands - I wove mine through the camo loops on my hat, as there was no
way I was going to live with the thing for 5 days. Several people commented
about the cost should I lose my hat, I was prepared to take the risk.
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A wrist band!
With everything about done Andreas decided we were in need of another trip
to Paddock Wood, this time for petrol. On the way, there was one poor soul
on a bicycle who could obviously hear us coming and probably expected a
tank or something else quite large. He was riding as close to the kerb as
possible and gave us a rather
bemused nod as we passed him. The strange looks continued whilst we filled
up at the petrol station and then headed back to Beltring, again passing
the grinning push bike rider. On returning to Beltring one of the gate
guards asked us where we had been and was quite amused that we had been
as far as Paddock Wood on something as rare as a KK.
I think Andreas achieved his aim of having the most active KK at Belting;
40km worth.
It was then time to say goodbye to everyone and head off on a 3 week
tour of England.
From Andreas:
Regina told me that I should tell you, that she enjoyed Beltring very
much and that you should write that Beltring is also an event for the
women!
I would like to publicly thank the following people:
- Raimondo Torelli for the "MV List" identity badges
- Nigel Hay of the War and Peace Show.
- Nigel Watson for a ride in his Bren Carrier.
- Pieter Müller for a ride in his Schwimmwagen.
- Derek Gardner for organising and Andrew Noyce for allowing myself and
Andreas to drive his Ferret.
- Dave Ballard for Kettenkrad towing services.
- Andreas Mehlhorn for use of his Kettenkrad Beltring taxi, even after I
broke it.
- Richard Notton for providing home base, facilities, on site radio
communications, local knowledge and for whom nothing is too much trouble.
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Beltring 2000 part 3