found churchills and m10 bulldog

[Nige H]

Yes as Ade stated be aware that even on disused ranges, there can be a lot of dud rounds laying around near, inside and under hard targets, having talked to several people over the years who have restored tanks recovered from U.K. ranges most targets have a mine field of unexploded ordnance surrounding them, most of which is highly unstable and could detonate when disturbed, at Sennybridge for example most of the targets had dud PIAT rounds laying around them after WW2, most of which were tided up after the war, however it only takes one such item to really spoil your day.

Nige.

Also as a footnote all the best vehicles have long been removed by the Cadman brothers, Budge, Bovingdon tank museum and other private individuals who have approached the MOD through the correct channels. In most cases what's left is scrap, suitable for certain spares only.

[Johnny-D]

it only takes one such item to really spoil your day.

Possibly the funniest quote of the day!!!

Nice one Nige!

[Davidh]

nice pics tho i wonder how many more ww2 tanks are just sat rusting away on these ranges,, rgds Dave

[eddy8men]

hi fella's thanks for the advice and yeah your right the tanks were pretty badly shot up but what do you do,i want to restore a ww2 tank .i can't afford to buy one so i'll have to scrounge one and the ranges and the sea bed are the only places left with any chance of success.i'm not ready to give up yet.It might come to that but i'll have a damn good go at it first.if i achieve nothing else at least i'll get together an upto date list of what's out there so that others may find a use for it.does anyone know the proper channels to go through if i find something that's a possible goer.cheers eddy

[kradbuilder]

I would suggest a different route but for different reasons.....mainly cost.

those range wrecks have basically had it. Even if you could get one the cost of moving it and restoring it would be prohibitive. The cost of recovering one from the ocean would also be crazy, then you have to restore it.

How deep are your pockets.

tanks are money pits. Make an estimate to the cost of a restoration then triple it. My kettenkrad cost me three times my original estimate to finish.

my kubelwagen will cost me about twice my original estimate (i am getting better).

if you have about £60k to spend go buy a stuart.

all depends upon how deep those pockets are.

look on millweb, classic military vehicles and such like, you will find a tank or armoured vehicle for a fraction of the cost of recovery and restoration of a range or ocean wreck.

at the end of the day, do whatever you are happy doing but those wreck range and recovery costs would be crippling.

not trying to be negative, just a bit realistic.

philip

[eddy8men]

thanks philip i don't know if i should share my master plan with everyone but i'm probably the only one crazy enough to try it anyway,basically i want to cosmetically restore a churchill then see if i can't swap it for a gate guardian in restorable condition i had my eye on one outside the old tank factory in sheffield but some bugger beat me to it and just took the tank early one morning, never to be seen again.at least i was going to swap it for another.anyway there's plenty still out there,i'm gonna give a go anyway and see what happens.all the best eddy

[GasMasksUK]

Just to let eddy know, the MOD seem to be quite happy to clear old wreckages of tanks etc from the ranges, well up here they are anyway. A while back one of two Alvis Saracen wrecks were removed. The one thats gone now was the better one and the other has had pretty much all parts of it which can be removed missing, so what I'm thinking is that someone has managed to get it for a restoration project. Then again a wheeled APC is a lot lighter and easier to remove than a tracked "main battle tank". Good luck though and I hope you find something suitable that you can aquire through the proper channels.



Thanks

Danny

[Nige H]

Again having spoken to folks who've gone down this route, then in some cases the MOD are more than happy to let you remove hard targets, and in some cases as long as the target is replaced with something more modern to shot at they don't mind. As to what's still around, I would recommend you purchase a copy of "Range targets" by Mark Khan this is a nice little book which lists a whole range of WWII soft and hard targets around U.K. firing ranges, however I will say that even this book is now out of date, as since publication a large percentage of the restorable vehicles featured in the book have now been removed and restored to original condition. Including two M4A4' s one of which is now running on a rebuilt Multibank engine, a M3 Grant running but left in Range condition ( Anti Tank round holes and all) and finally saving the best for last a Jagdpanther. All of the above vehicle have been at Beltring over the last couple of years, since being recovered and restored.

Eddy restoring a tank is not a cheap or quick afar, even if you get the tank for nothing, parts for completing a restoration are extremely expensive, and a range target or similar would suffer from all the normal tank problems of have been exposed to the elements for over half a century, the result to quote a guy a spoke to in Normandy in 1994, who had just spent ten years restoring a range recoverd M5 Stuart " you'll find that everything below the 18 water line will be shot, rusted to hell and need replacing".

Nige.

[kradbuilder]

thanks philip i don't know if i should share my master plan with everyone but i'm probably the only one crazy enough to try it anyway,basically i want to cosmetically restore a churchill then see if i can't swap it for a gate guardian in restorable condition i had my eye on one outside the old tank factory in sheffield but some bugger beat me to it and just took the tank early one morning, never to be seen again.at least i was going to swap it for another.anyway there's plenty still out there,i'm gonna give a go anyway and see what happens.all the best eddy

hi

don't get me wrong, nice idea but please be warned, even if you get one for free you will find it horribly expensive to restore, even cosmetically.

go for it by all means but imo there is a better and probably cheaper way of getting a tank.

philip

[Panzer 3]

Hi Eddy,
Ten miles from where i live there are 54 tonne cheiftain tanks for sale, all driverble for £18,000, and Abbot SPG,s, for sale for £12,000. Everything works except the guns, ( deactivated )
But cheaper than restoring a tank, and you can drive them away.
dave.