Tank crew

[David Skeldon]

Hi,
Anybody know what British tank crews worn when operating centurions? Some pictures would be helpful


David

[Roy Pickavance]

Hi David.
I recently went to a chaps house for lunch who served in Korea as a centurion commander in the Kings Royal Hussars.
He loved the 20 pdr gun and rubbished the early 17 pdr centurions.
He did 2 tours over there and if this is the time frame you are interested in i will call round and see if he has any pics i could scan and mail you.
Let me know,
Regards Roy

[Stephen White]

David

Can you be more specific about which theatre and what time frame?

Try this link.

http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/a ... orce/3699/

For the early Centurions, you could get away with the Terry Davis figure wearing a WWII pixie suit. After WWII, tank crews were also issueed with "Overalls, AFV Crew" which were a denim one piece suit in green (or black for the RTR). They were quite distiinctive, with four patch pociets on chest and thighs and a small pocket (for a compass) on the hip.

Experience in the bitter winters of the Korean War lead to the introduction in 1960 of a green coloured two piece combat suit to replace the WWII battledress. This was replaced with the DPM (disruptive pattern) suit from 1969.

Two piece suits were never popular with tank crews because they tended to catch on the hatches. Tank crews generally preferred the one piece suit (and they looked cooler anyway).

Headgear would have been a black beret for the Royal Tank Regiment or navy blue for the donkey wallopers. Tank crews rarely wore the rimless AFV steel helmet which survived until the introduction of a dedicated "Helmet, Crewman AFV" in the seventies. With both the old 19 Set and the Larkspur radios, crewmen would have worn headsets and used a hand held microphone.

Sounds like a visit to Bovington would help.

Regards

Stephen

[David Skeldon]

Hi,
Thanks for the interest.I am going to build a bridgelayer,They came into service about 1963.

David