Jump to content

How many military vehicle owners out there?


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 55
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Originally posted by Chad Harrison:

Does anyone remember that old 80's movie where that smuck had a fully refurbished Serman 75 that he drove around in. I hated that guy for it! All the machine guns (including the AAMG .50 cal!) worked, and the main gun even worked! Holywood or not, it was a nice tank!

-dreaming-

Chad

You mean TANK? With James Garner?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recall an article in the small Canadian hobby journal 'AFV News' about a (Canadain?) farmer who recently purchased an old Israeli SuperSherman. Has fun driving it around his back yard. It seems a stray .50 cal round had been overlooked when imported. It was wedged under the engine and it cooked-off while the owned was driving the tank around. Scared the hell outa him!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a collector here in Santa Rosa who has, I am not joking, a German halftrack. Not the big one, this one has a cut down rear end. It is painted in camo with German cross and everything.

Right now it is parked at the armory on display.

This damn thing still works, he can drive it.

He brings it out to the air show sometimes. He is suppose to also have a German 88, but I do not think it still works! Have not seen the 88, but eveybody who drives down HW 101 can see the track.

It is parked right next to the M113.

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Thomas Norton:

There is a collector here in Santa Rosa who has, I am not joking, a German halftrack. Not the big one, this one has a cut down rear end. It is painted in camo with German cross and everything.

Right now it is parked at the armory on display.

This damn thing still works, he can drive it.

He brings it out to the air show sometimes. He is suppose to also have a German 88, but I do not think it still works! Have not seen the 88, but eveybody who drives down HW 101 can see the track.

It is parked right next to the M113.

Tom

Is it German, or a Czech Tatra? The Czech vehicle was similar and have been used by a lot of re-enactors and movie companies to fill in for the Sd Kfz 251. I would guess they are more common than the German Hanomags.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The halftrack is indeed a Chek manufacture. It was purchased from a military museum that went under five years ago in Ill. The current owner is a collector here. He does indeed own a German 88mm, in need of some work (it is not able to fire). He has mostly German stuff, because, he is German. Apparently, he served in the 91st Infantry Division as a teen. Somewhat a success story. He might show off some of his other toys at the open house Oct 5th. I am told he has a

Door Knocker restored. In light of Russian Front just around the corner, I want to feel the power (not).

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How to get yr own tank, for free, from the US gub'ment:

from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals record:

Randell Smith is a World War II veteran and member of the Bloomington, Illinois chapter of the VFW. In 1995 he set his sights on getting a World War II tank for the VFW post. The VFW hoped to display the tank in a city park as a memorial to veterans of the Second World War. Smith sent numerous letters on VFW letterhead to various groups, identifying himself as working on behalf of the VFW and asking where he could get a tank. He discovered that WWII-era tanks are scarce, so he accepted the Army's offer to donate a modern tank, an M-60 that was used in the Desert Storm phase of the Persian Gulf war. But the Army does not give tanks to just anyone, and so its donation to the VFW was conditional: the VFW had to get written permission from its national headquarters and the post needed a written agreement from the Illinois National Guard to "demilitarize" (render inoperable) the tank. The VFW also had to agree to not transfer the tank without the government's consent.

After Smith obtained the written approvals the Army required, he appeared before the Bloomington city council seeking permission to display the tank in a city park. But the council shot down his request because it did not want a Desert Storm tank as a memorial to WWII veterans. With this turn of events, the VFW decided it no longer wanted the tank.

Undeterred, Smith decided to create his own memorial. He drafted a letter on VFW letterhead allowing him to "seek other appropriate use" for the tank, and got the post commander to sign it. He set aside three acres of his farm where he planned to build the memorial. He then hired a towing company, with his own money, to retrieve the tank from Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin and deliver it to his farm. Rather than have the National Guard demilitarize the tank as the Army required, Smith and a friend tried to do it themselves.

Eventually, the Army discovered that Smith, not the VFW, had the tank. Alarmed by this news, the Army deployed two agents to Smith's farm. The agents found that the tank remained partially operational, and, importantly, was within firing range of the Central Illinois Regional Airport. The agents notified members of the National Guard, who came to Smith's farm and towed the tank. Smith claims that when he objected, the agents restrained him and, at one point, threw him to the ground. The Army subsequently destroyed the tank during target practice.

Smith brought his suit against the government pro se, alleging that it had no right to seize the tank. He sought its return and a modest $23 million in damages for injuries he said he sustained. The district court granted summary judgment to the government on Smith's conversion and replevin claims. After a bench trial on the remaining trespass and battery claims, the district judge found for the government. Smith appeals raising a bevy of issues.

Smith's appeal was just recently shot down in court.

So there ya go, boys and grogs, order yr own war-surplus M60 today! Impress the ladies, delight the kiddies, confound the ATF!

[ September 18, 2002, 07:09 PM: Message edited by: von Lucke ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...the Czech called the 251- Replica " Hitlers Rache "- Hitlers revenge i think they know why ! :D . myself is driving a dark green SAAB 900 -the ultimate mixture between a SAAB Viggen and a Landswerk- tank (unfortunately without the parkinglot- problems- solving 37mm cannon :mad: ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

Since when does the Army have "agents"? I know the CIA and FBI have "agents", but the Army?

The plainclothes investigators of the different service criminal investigation offices are called "agents." They may or may not be military personnel. If they are military, they can conceal their rank or assume a false one for case purposes to spoof suspects.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by mch:

No chance of letting me borrow it then, eh? ;)

This site has some good ones for sale..Mostly eastern-bloc stuff..a few German toys.

http://www.tanksforsale.co.uk/

I've always had my eye on the Chinese motorbikes that were copies of WW II German ones; they were coming on the market at affordable rates. Maybe one day....</font>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by gunnergoz:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

Since when does the Army have "agents"? I know the CIA and FBI have "agents", but the Army?

The plainclothes investigators of the different service criminal investigation offices are called "agents." They may or may not be military personnel. If they are military, they can conceal their rank or assume a false one for case purposes to spoof suspects.</font>
Link to comment
Share on other sites


×
×
  • Create New...