Armortek

I’ve been looking through YouTube for information on the UC.

This link is to the Australian War Memorial site on YouTube. It is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in the military
history of Australia.
The first link is a film made by the British on the mark 1 UC. It gives an overall view off the mechanics and build of the carrier.
There’s an interesting model animation on how the steering system worked.




The second video is from the same source, a mark1 UC. A training film again on how to use the carrier and its weapons .




This video shows the recovery of a derelict UC (possibly a mark2 or 3?) in Israel. There’s an interesting section when the carrier is unloaded in the workshop yard, it is on its side and shows the underside, complete with rusted through holes and what I take to be the exhausts? This first video was made in 2015, I’ve not watched all the videos so far but I think it is now a runner.




The next video is a fully restored UC being put through its paces. Interspersed with historic footage.




This video is of an engine rebuild, on a test bed. Including shots of a restored control panel.




Hope these will be of use when we get our kits
John

Books I’m using for my research on the universal carrier.
If you can get hold of a copy of Nigel Watson’s volume 2 on the UC it has the best description/photos on the mark2 UC

More books with some small reference to the UC.
My favourite research is always connected to the Staffordshire Yeomanry.
I built a display many years ago for the new staffs yeomanry museum, which
Opened in the Ancient High House in the centre of Stafford.
I worked for the son of Jim Eadie , Jim was commanding the regiment
In Syria , in 1941, when they transitioned from horses to become a armoured regiment.
There are several photos on the internet and many books of Jim with Monty, the
Most famous being just before Alamein where they were both standing on the
top of Jim’s Grant tank.
Staffs went from Alam Halfa all the way through the North African campaign to Tunisia.
They next appeared on D Day, as part of 27th armoured brigade. In the afternoon the regiment
engaged tanks of 21 panzer div.
They fought in a lot of the Normandy battles until the end of July when the 27th brigade was
disbanded. They returned to England and retrained on DD tanks as part of 79th
armoured div, takings part in the Schelt estuary crossing and later in 45 the Rhine crossing.
Lots of film of their exploits on the IWM and British Pathé sites.

John

I forgot about this one until a reminder came via instagram.



Tank chats from the Tank Museum.

John

My only UC of the Staffordshire yeomanry HQ squadron downloaded from the IWM site, under none commercial license.
For use on forums not behind a paywall and not for monetary gain. The license is a five page pdf download.
Unfortunately the original photo is damaged so the T number is unclear and apart from the yellow HQ sign no other Markings are visible.
If any one can help with further markings I would be most grateful.

The only place I’ve seen this photo in a book is The British Soldier volume 2 by Jean Bouchery.
I have a copy of the seahorse emblem used by 27th armoured brigade.

John

The following photos are downloaded from the IWM website. They are under the terms of the license for none commercial use. I have included the reference card (to save time adding the reference number to the photos). Lots of references refer to Bren carriers, I’ve tried to select mark2 carriers. The photos because of the license restrictions are low resolution, the only changes I have made to them is to increase the contrast.
More to come.
John

More from the IWM .

Even more from the IWM.

On further research the next photo is a Mk1 Windsor carrier. It was similar to
A T16 carrier (they are both longer than the UC and have an extra road wheel).
Next up will be photos of internal layouts.

The next series of photos are again from the IWM. They’re photographs taken by The Ministry of Supply and do not have cards to describe them. They’re all from the Kidbrooke Collection.
I like the one that shows the 19 set. I’ve owned many over the last 45 years, I sold my last
one, last year to a fellow radio amateur. It was a post war model that didn’t have the B set.
It was complete and not butchered like most of the early models. They’re extremely heavy
when mounted on a carrying tray, it’s a two man lift. It is still working and still in use on
the 80metre amateur band. I can’t find any photos of the ones I’ve owned but I
Do have a 1/6 scale model that I bought a few years ago from the USA , I cannot remember
The company I bought it from, some one on the forum must know?

John

A couple of links on YouTube.

The first is a restored mark2 and 2pdr anti tank gun in a garage.
Near the end of the video there are shots of the interior of the UC.




The second is an Australian pattern carrier to compare with the British built UC.




John

I’ve been searching the Canadian Library and Archives site on the internet.
Under the terms of their license agreement I’ve downloaded a few images of the UC.
Unfortunately I can only upload onto our forum site the image information with the image
behind the description. The full image you can download for yourself. The Canadian site is a bit
slow at the moment, they’re making changes to it, But it’s well worth a visit, with over one hundred
images with UC content.
I’ve found out how to upload the images, they’re in the post following this one.

A few more references to Canadian universal carriers.
Hopefully a future Kompact kit?
John

Managed to upload this image. I’ll try to upload some of the others later......

John

Some of the images cited in the previous post.

First and last are the same carrier being loaded with piat rounds......’light the blue touch paper.....and retire’
sooner them than me.

John