Man Target Tanks

**dutchman** · 22-12-2006, 14:27

benny the one legged guy was a welder and once when sealing of the armoured plates on one of the tanks he set it on fire and didnt notice till he noticed we were all breaking up laughing on the floor and wondered why . al i only covered your eyes because i did'nt want you seeing what was coming next , its a real sad sight watching a fusilier running around otterburn screaming for mama and i did'nt want you humiliating yourself. oh by the way i never forgot to pack periscopes the bleedin swingfire demolished them , as if id make a schoolboy error like that , oh ok i would but not guilty this time

**ap1** · 22-12-2006, 16:10

To drive it was a complete nightmare. I dont think Health and Safety would allow it on the road now.

The drivers hatch was welded shut, so you had to drive using a very narrow periscope, bearing in mind that this tank is absolutely huge, and that Wiltshire's roads are very narrow, a receipe for disaster is in place.

The driving set up was similar to a car only supersized, 3 foot pedals, Acccelerator, Brake and Clutch. With a gear stick between the drivers legs 1-4 and reverse. You steered it using a left and right tiller.

You had to use two feet to depress the clutch pedal, and you needed two hands to move the gear stick. All gear changes had to be double clutched, or it would not engage.

So there you are, rumbling down Battlesbury Hill(from the washdown point), on a public rd........in third gear, ooops going a bit too fast, need to change down to 2nd. LET GO of the steering tillers(look at me mum 70 tons and no hands), two hands onto the gear stick, and two depresses of the clutch, by this time the tank will already be halfway up the hedge, or heading towards the oncoming car, and only the sound of Dutch quietly sobbing in the Commanders turret breaking this nightmare. Another technical hitch was the footbrake could only be applied for 5 seconds at a time, or the brakes would burn out.

As you can understand, my period of employment with the Manned Target Tank although brief, has left me with permanent mental scaring. I'm still receiving counselling, but thankfully the bedwetting has now stopped.

Merry Xmas

**dutchman** · 23-12-2006, 09:12

speak for yourself mate , mrs changed the sheets again this morning

**dutchman** · 23-12-2006, 09:59

speaking of periscopes as we were in an earlier part of this topic , when i first joined the mtt in the idb a corporal from the rhf was in command and while we were on a milan firing day the periscope was completely blown off and shrapnel fron milan entered the turret and rammed itself up jock hammill's (rhf) butt , it was so bad medics and transport were called and he was taken away .
needless to say the army was full of concern and the proper safety measures were put in place i.e a block of wood to block the turret and away we went again , as al said health and safety would have a fit today but were we any better -young foolish or just sh*t scared of getting a rollocking for not doing as we were told.
would i do it again ....in a flash