OT - Australina Camoflague ...is it the best around the world?

[General Pain]

[Targan]

Meh, that sort of thing happens all the time here. It was probably stolen by a wombat. Those little buggers are notorious car thieves.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by Targan

Meh, that sort of thing happens all the time here. It was probably stolen by a wombat. Those little buggers are notorious car thieves.

I am brought to mind of an apocryphal story about the decommissioning of CFB Lahr in Germany. A friend told me when the crews were almost done, the Germans asked what they wanted done with "the tanks" in some far-off forested part of the base. Apparently, a pair of Centurion tanks had been camouflaged and then forgotten, possibly in the period the CF upgraded to Leopard Is or later (being used at some point in some kind of "find the tank" exercise?). Sorry, no citation or photo proof!

Tony

[pmulcahy11b]

General Pain, I can't see your post...

[rcaf_777]

Originally Posted by helbent4

I am brought to mind of an apocryphal story about the decommissioning of CFB Lahr in Germany. A friend told me when the crews were almost done, the Germans asked what they wanted done with "the tanks" in some far-off forested part of the base. Apparently, a pair of Centurion tanks had been camouflaged and then forgotten, possibly in the period the CF upgraded to Leopard Is or later (being used at some point in some kind of "find the tank" exercise?). Sorry, no citation or photo proof!

Tony

LOL that old chestnut funny how that story keeps resurfacing every few years, the bases keep changing and so dose the tank form sherman to centurions, I image in a few years it will be a Leopard I found in back waters of Gagetown, Do you really like think a country like Canada with a grand total of 120 tanks would really be able to loss two and no one find would them for about 20 some years, besides giving the size of Lahr and activitiy both air and ground I find highly doubt full nobody would find theses "hidden tanks" No to metion what happens when the IIV CH Regt trun in their old tanks for a new ones, excuse mr LCol you seem to short two tanks. It's army urban legend just like the tide box myth.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by helbent4

I am brought to mind of an apocryphal story...

Apocyrphal: adjective
1. Of questionable authorship or authenticity.
2. Erroneous; fictitious: "Wildly apocryphal rumors about starvation in Petrograd . . . raced through Russia's trenches" (W. Bruce Lincoln).

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

LOL that old chestnut funny how that story keeps resurfacing every few years, the bases keep changing and so dose the tank form sherman to centurions, I image in a few years it will be a Leopard I found in back waters of Gagetown, Do you really like think a country like Canada with a grand total of 120 tanks would really be able to loss two and no one find would them for about 20 some years, besides giving the size of Lahr and activitiy both air and ground I find highly doubt full nobody would find theses "hidden tanks" No to metion what happens when the IIV CH Regt trun in their old tanks for a new ones, excuse mr LCol you seem to short two tanks. It's army urban legend just like the tide box myth.

RACF,

I did qualify the story as likely being pretty dodgy, although I should have added a "friend of a friend" told me because he read it on the Intewebz.

Sure it's an old chesnut, but could it have been true or at least plausible in some sense? Purely hypothetically, if said apocryphal tanks were hulks used for training purposes, then they wouldn't be "lost" for 20 years. If a Lieut. Col. signs off on a couple of now-surplus Centurions to be used for training of some kind, it wouldn't be his problem anymore (out of sight, out of mind). They would be left behind like all the other detritus and then cleanup crews stumbled across them. Probably the legend has its roots in the aftermath of WWII, when surplus vehicles, supplies and weapons were destroyed and/or simply abandoned in remote locations (especially after the construction of the Alcan highway). Mind you, I'm just spitballing how a story could be plausible, not defending the veracity of the story any more than I did in the first place!

Speaking of the Centurion, apparently one was used during atomic testing in Australia in 1953:

It was placed less than 500 yards (460 m) from the epicentre and left with the engine running. Examination after detonation found it had been pushed away from the blast point by about 5 feet (1.5 m) and that its engine had stopped working only because it had run out of fuel. Antennas were missing, lights and periscopes were heavily sandblasted, the cloth mantlet cover was incinerated, and the armoured side plates had been blown off and carried up to 200 yards (180 m) from the tank.[23] Remarkably the tank could be driven from the site. Had it been manned the crew would probably have been killed by the shock wave.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_tank

As this tank was used for another 23 years, it's safe to say it wasn't radioactive. It's now permanently parked at Robertson Barracks. These were relatively small tests, with yields between 7 and 9 kt. Other tanks hit by battlefield nuclear weapons might be left in a similar recoverable and semi-operational state.

Tony

[Adm.Lee]

The "lost tanks" reminds me of a story from Michael Lee Lanning's book on commanding a mech. company in 1970s Germany, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...ttles-of-peace. When he took over the company, he went over the equipment inventory, and found they were short by 1 M113 (nothing much)!

Someone remembered that Brigade had the idea a year or two ago, that each company should park 1 track at the supply depot, so they could load ammo quickly from the stores if they went on alert. Everyone forgot about the concept, but no one remembered to collect the tracks from the dump.

Sooooo, the captain and a sergeant went to check it out. Gee, wouldn't you know, the cleanest, shiniest, newest one there was the one that matched their serial number! At least it did by the time they got back to the company.... The maintenance manual was even free of greasy thumbprints.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

The "lost tanks" reminds me of a story from Michael Lee Lanning's book on commanding a mech. company in 1970s Germany, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...ttles-of-peace. When he took over the company, he went over the equipment inventory, and found they were short by 1 M113 (nothing much)!

Someone remembered that Brigade had the idea a year or two ago, that each company should park 1 track at the supply depot, so they could load ammo quickly from the stores if they went on alert. Everyone forgot about the concept, but no one remembered to collect the tracks from the dump.

Sooooo, the captain and a sergeant went to check it out. Gee, wouldn't you know, the cleanest, shiniest, newest one there was the one that matched their serial number! At least it did by the time they got back to the company.... The maintenance manual was even free of greasy thumbprints.

Not that I would know... (cough cough) there are three things you have to look out for if, say, hypothetically speaking of course, if a M1A2 suffered a massive maintenance because someone's sergeant forgot to oil the final drives and they welded themselves to the hull, two days before an IG inspection. And assuming that the Orph yard at carson has a A2 on hand, and that you have the pockets to buy 3 separate people a case of their favorite tipple (One at the yard, one at the 8000 bldg that can repaint the numbers and such, and one to pick up the old one to dump at the orph yard. It helps that the orph yard guy was 5 days from terminal ETS leave) There is two serial plates, one in the hull, and one in the turret. You have to swap out the FBCB2 gear, and you need a welder to grind off the old cast numbers on the cheeks, and weld the new ones onto the brand spanking new A2 you got from the orph yard. Make sure you grind the old numbers off of the one you are leaving in the yard, somebody is gonna be pissed when they find it. But if, hypothetically speaking, you was required to try to do such a thing, works surprisingly well.