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
