Challenger tank 1 careless owner

OUT OF HOURS BULLY'S TRUCKSTOP BAR (INTERACTIVE)
1

Ok I’ll fess up about the tank (naturally it wasn’t my fault :blush: )

Back in the 80’s when I was a tank transporter pilot the Army were trialling the (then) new Challenger main battle tank and myself, my number two, and another crew had to go and pick two of these beasts up from some field trials in an area of West Germany.

We reached what was known as the MUP (marrying up point) which basically means we pass a point and they leap out of the undergrowth and follow us for a few hundred yards (like a big zip fastener if you get my drift). Anyhoo, the road was heavily cambered and the tanks tracks were coated in mud, so once I stopped, dropped the trailer ramps and guided the tank driver to the foot of the ramps the fun really began.

If you can imagine it, once the tank climbs the ramps the front is pointing skyward and very little of the tracks are in contact with the trailer it becomes very easy for the tank to “pivot” around its point of balance and fall off the side of the trailer.

With this in mind I brought the tank to the ramps and had him angled very much to the left. It was at this point that one of the watching top brass (a Brigadier IIRC) came over and told me to straighten the tank up. I did try to explain just why I was doing it this way, but then he ordered me to straighten it up. I called my troop commander over, (a Lieutenant) but he didn’t have the bottle to back me. Technically, even though I was only a Corporal because I was the vehicle commander I could actually outrank the brasshat here, but I was 20yr old and didn’t.

So I straightened the tank up as ordered and saw the fear in the tank drivers eyes because he knew exactly what was coming next, so up I brought him, and sure enough as it reached the pivot point it did indeed pivot and topple off the side of the trailer and down the embankment onto its turret. Oh well, only 7 million quid each!

Mind you, as I stood there looking aghast an even higher ranking brasshat came over to me and said “don’t worry son, the only career nipped in the bud today is his” as he pointed to the Brigadier.

A bit long winded, but that’s the story.

2

Nice story, I had a Brigadier stop his staff car and give me 5 minutes of his time for not saluting him in the street in Munster,I’d only just come out of the dentest after major fillings so was slobbering every where. A night in the nick & 7 days RP’s .Glad you got one back.

3

Good story.

I loaded a Russian APC earlier this year on my 8 wheeler, well we tried but being 10’ wide and having tracks that were only 12" wide there was not a lot of one in contact with the other. We almost got it on before it crabbed off to the side and I’d already decided by then that even if we did successfully load it we’d have to try and keep it there and unload safely. In the end I admitted defeat and came back with our lowloader with outriggers.

4

Quality story, love it. I hate people that think just because they are “above” you in a position they think that they automatically are an expert and can do your job better than you.

5

Until he died, I was friends with a man called Les Sayer. His claim to fame was that he was the TAG (Telegraphist Air Gunner) on the Swordfish which hit the Bismarck. He had some brilliant stories to tell, but one of my favourites was when his ship was on their way to Malta with a load of Hurricanes. On their way back, they were ordered to call in at Gibraltar, so that Les could attend a Court Martial. When they did so, and he attended, he was asked if he recognised the man in the dock. As the accused was an army man, and Les was Fleet Air Arm, and he didn’t know him from Adam, he said no. He was then asked if he was sure, and if he remembered recruiting him into the FAA. Then the penny dropped…

On their way out to Malta, they had stopped at Gib over New Year. As Les had managed to upset somebody higher up on the way out, he was put in charge of the Guard House overnight. In the early hours, this army guy had wandered in, several sheets to the wind, and generally being abusive. Les spoke to him, and calmed him down a bit, and after a chat found out that the reason that he was so offensive was that he hadn’t wanted to go in the army in the first place, but had wanted to be in the Navy. Seeing a Navy hat on the shelf, he put it on this guy’s head, told him to say a few made up words after him, and then pronounced him in the Navy, and told him to go back to his barracks, and report it in the morning, figuring that this guy would realised it was all a joke, and calm down.

However, on his way back to the barracks, he had seen a senior Army officer and walked straight past. When the officer challlenged him, and demanded to know why he wasn’t saluting a senior officer, the guy had replied - ‘I’m in the Navy, not the bloody Army, stick it up your arse.’, and then chinnned the officer.

Hence the Court Martial!

Les wrote a superb book, called Tag on a Stringbag, which was done to raise money for the welfare of old TAGs. He describes the Bismarck attack in it well, but not as well as hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth. He was a true gent and I miss him still.

Gary