Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronin
Was just thinking of some improvised tanks that were used in WWII.
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The Bob Semple tank was a tank designed by New Zealand Minister of Works Bob Semple during World War II. Originating out of the need to build military hardware from available materials, the tank was built from corrugated iron on a tractor base. Designed and built without formal plans or blueprints, it had numerous design flaws and practical difficulties, and was never put into mass production or used in combat. Despite this, it has become something of an icon of the New Zealand 'do it yourself' mentality.
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The Right Honourable Robert 'Bob' Semple was my father's father's father (my paternal great grandfather (he's where I got my middle name from)). He was originally a miner from Ballarat in Australia, at which time he was also a fairly well-known bare knuckle prize fighter. That's why his nickname in the New Zealand Labour Party was "Fightin' Bob Semple". He was personally involved in the design and construction of the Bob Semple Tank, as in he drove down to the rail works where he used to work before becoming a cabinet minister, told the workers there what he had in mind and personally oversaw the project.
Great grandad was a tall, imposing man, scary-looking in all the old photos on my dad's wall including one in which he stands in a pugilist's pose, stripped to the waist and with a big, handlebar moustache, photographed right before a fight. It's probably pretty obvious that I'm very proud that my paternal ancestor designed and built his own tank, even if it was a completely crap tank.
