Chieftain Mk 5 Guide

[John Clarke]

Fantastic reports guys. Feeling like I've joined the professionals

[Mark Heaps]

Fantastic reports guys. Feeling like I've joined the professionals

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Have you got a Capri ?
My wife has, a 2.3L V6

[John Clarke]

No, sorry Mark, though I did prefer Doyle's RS 2000. I did have a XR3 and later a wacky XR4 2.8 V6 that did have gas guzzling tendencies."If" one was to drive a "little" faster than the speed limit, it's aerodynamics would generate lift

[John Clarke]

Another curious detail part, two box sections welded under the left hand side basket. one with a cover and latch.
Barrel cleaning rods storage?

[Mark Heaps]

Spotted them as well on a Chieftain at Tankfest on the tankpark with the contents still inside them.
John Heaps immediately comfirmed my thoughts. He was stood at my side and waiting to see if I had an idea for what they were for and laugh at me if I got it completely and hopelessly wrong. They were track rails to be put between the top rollers to make a track change easier, the track would ride along the rail rather than dropping down between the top rollers and having to be lifted back up to clear the next top roller.

Mark

[John Clarke]

Brilliant, Mark /John

Would they have a hook or anchor device of some sort to prevent them being dragged off?

[Pete Nash]

Cor blimey.....tanks are more complicated than hairyplanes.
To harmonise the guns we aligned a board up 83 feet 4 inches from the hairyplane and boresighted the gun, adjusting it in the vertical and horizontal planes until it pointed at the target.
If it missed it was the pilot's fault

From what I hear its even easier now as some radars track the fall of shot and adjust the sights.

As for Overpressure inside the fighting compartment to keep nasty NBC out, you need good filters to filter out the nasties before it gets inside. We had overpressure hardened personnel shelters etc on our 'hardened' airfields, except for the Hardened Aircraft Shelters of course.

One question for you 'tank Operators', did you have to wear full NBC gear inside the tanks when operating or training in an NBC environment?

[Stephen White]

Now there would be a challenge for Mr Dibb, Pete, a crew in full NBC protective kit, including the SR6 respirator, rubber overboots and black marigolds, which made your hands wrinkle. Yes, we had to wear full NBC kit even when closed down. We spent long periods in NBC clothing and regularly operated at NBC State Red, with respirators on, including a period of live firing. In theory, you could attach a hose between the respirator and the filtered air ducts, which assisted breathing but the hose seriously compromised your movement in the tank and we rarely, if ever, used them.

Apart from the discomfort, the main problem with NBC kit was the degradation of communications. With Clansman, we did get a dedicated microphone to fit to the mask air outlet, which improved things but comms were still degraded. Heat stress was another issue, particularly for the loaders and drivers (and for everyone at a replen). Still, we took it seriously and didn’t play around by taking the mask off when out of sight. Having seen at first hand the chemical and nuclear capability of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, I didn’t need any convincing. At least their protective kit was even more uncomfortable. I did once observe a TMS-65 decontamination vehicle doing its stuff. It was a jet engine on a truck. I lived in hope the driver would inadvertently let the brake off at full chat.

[John Clarke]

Before anyone starts getting sweaty over the NBC suits, what about these objects on the turret roof behind the loaders hatch?

The suits worn by the human torpedoes sailors during the second world war were called "clammy death", I can imagine these suits were not much better.

[Mark Heaps]

If I remember correctly, the two turret batteries were underneath that hatch with the metadynes being underneath the hatch behind the commander´s cupola.
The small round thing would then just be the breather valve from the battery compartment so if the batteries started off-gassing, the fumes had some method to escape, looks like a breather valve to me.
Triangular plates were usually used to blank off a connector that was not being used so likely to be a 2 or 3 pin power connector below each of them, but I have no clue what they were intended to provide power for, or if they were just there for the case that they were ever needed in the future.
Chieftain had a lot of rev-modes ( Reversionary modes that the crews would adopt if systems failed, and keep fighting ).
Mark

[Mark Heaps]

Another possible reason for the blanking plates, but you would need a gunfitter to confirm or deny it, or a crewman to say exactly what was there.
They may have covered the filling and vent points for the coolant tank for the temperature compensated sight linkage. On Chieftain, the sights were mechanically linked to the gun, and coolant was pumped around the linkage to keep it at a constant temperature and prevent it contracting or extending, thereby destroying the gun / sight relationship.
One of my jobs was to ensure the electrical pump worked, it was one of the gunfitters jobs to ensure coolant would be there. I seem to recall it was a closed system so only ever needed to be topped up and /or bled if a repair had been carried out.

[John Clarke]

Great stuff Mark

Even though most of us will make dummy versions of the detailing parts, it's a great insight into what was actually there and available to the crews.

I have to ask a stupid question that has bugged me for some time, What are the "Metadynes"? I've believe they form the basis of the main gun gyro stabilization. If so, why not just call them the main gun gyro stabilization.

Is it a commercial name for the manufacturer?

I believe that the gyros where mechanical, noisy, drew a lot o power and took a little time to startup.

Other than a thesis on main gun stabilization, I have not come up with any more info.

These days, a solid state gyro can sit on the end of your little finger, instant operation, running on milliamps,,,, how times change.

[Adrian Harris]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadyne

Adrian

[John Clarke]

Thanks Adrian, Obviously my fat fingers haven't been stamping the right keys

[John Clarke]

I've just read though the explanation, and I'm ready for bye byes.
"Flux fluxing"
I'll call "Doc brown" in the morning.