Hi, new member here! My first post is a question that I'll be surprised if anyone can answer, but here goes My father recalls a (presumably British) tank that was dumped on the North Yorkshire Moors during the war, and seemed to have been used as target practice by troops training up there. I have one piece of armour plating which I found up there many years ago, it is about a meter long, 10 inches deep and maybe 1 inch thick. I also found a piece of solid rubber, nothing else left. Around it were various remains from 2 inch mortar shells, and the odd off .303 nib. From his recollections, it must have been a quite a small tank and had a "short, stubby gun barrel" Any ideas..does anyone know a good resource for pics of 1930s tanks (It doesn't sound like a frontline wartime tank, apart from maybe an early Matilda?) I know it's a really vague post but I've been wondering for years what it was! Cheers Bob
First of all do you have a photo of the piece of armour plate? One inch of armour was thick for the 1930s so it could not be a light tank or most pre-war tanks. If it was a range target the main armament was probably removed so your father probably saw the armoured Vickers MG housing. Could be either A-9 or A-10 with a 3.7" CS How.
Try browsing through this site: http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/ Under 'Great Britain' and see if anything seems to fit. It is a very good site, and I notice that our very own Gerry Chester had input there..
Thanks for the reply Thinking about it, it may be less than an inch thick, I haven't actually seen it for years, its lurking in his garage somewhere. I'll dig it out and get some photos and precise measurements! Cheers Bob
http://www.wwiivehicles.com/html/united ... tilda.html From this the Matilda1 had thick plate all over so unless it was the belly plate it probably wasn't this. Did you have a ARV to get the plate home, it must have been heavy? If it is only c.12-14mm its looking more like a Light Tank MKI-VI.
Post subject When I was stationed at Catterick with the 57th (Heavy)Training Regiment, RAC. We used to go to a tank firing range at Fylingdale? I believe, stacks of old tanks there, do you think that's the place? And Welcome!
Re. Fylingdales No, sorry, I should have been a bit more precise about the location. The tank was located on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors, a few miles north of Kirbymoorside. (Not far from the few scattered remains of a Handley Page Halifax!)