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12 minutes ago, catfan said:

I once knew a bird in Clifton !  ;)

Catfan

When I was on leave I would go and pick up my Aunt and take her to the pictures and a Berni downtown. Used to have to have my passport stamped to get in and out of the Republic

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Centurion Mk 3 I believe, Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry based in Carlton although we had a couple of Mk 5s as well. Well before my time but I know the gunner with the sun glasses on, by the time I joined he had made Sgt and I was posted to his troop. It would be on a CFT (commanders fitness test) because of the deployment status they had to be proved roadworthy every 3 months or so.

 

By the time I joined they had gone due to complaints about road damage, our role changed to reconnaissance so we were equipped with the Saladin, Ferrets and Saracens all were wheeled so we could get out and about more.

 

Centurion was a good tank for its time, originally developed to take on the German Tiger it arrived to late for that war but served many countries over many years in many other wars.

 

One major fault though was the brakes, I was in Germany 72 doing road control for a Danish regiment conducting a night move and had parked the Saladin on a traffic island where two major roads met. The Danes had to come out of a forest, down an hill to the intersection and turn right onto the main road, all was well until I was told "bloody reverse NOW" or words to that effect. Wag the commander (the guy above) had noticed that one of the descending tanks had lost its brakes and was now a runaway. We reversed out of its way and watched it come straight over the island, through an hedge, across a field and into a barn, that stopped it. As Wag said "No bloody brakes means no bloody steering either. Another job for the BOAR damage commission.

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