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169091

C/S 2A--- Having a bit of Fun

169091 out for a run

Mick Rainey driving 2A down a bank

It looks a spectacular shot

There is no big bump -- you just seem to roll down

Its a lot of fun

Nothing to it--down on the deck----note the .30 cal flex on the turret

Down on the flat and away

And away he goes

Up the knife edge

The driver, when the tank goes up just before the point of balance, can only see blue sky and he is about 18 feet up in the air. A few more inches and she will slowly drop down and sit on the point of balance, quite level, and then the driver will  hold it there before moving off and down the other side. This exercise needs excellent control by the driver to slowly drive up, and then hold the tank and slowly come over onto the point of balance, its also quite exciting as well. Most drivers loved the knife edges and went over them when ever the opportunity arose.

At this point the driver view is starting to be blue sky.

Imagine sitting in a bunker as this comes towards you

She is just starting to come down now

Now down on the point of balance

I remember our knife edges at Puckapunyal being hard clay and about 8 ft high. The point of the exercise was driver control. You had to approach the knife edge at the correct speed, so as when it slowly climbed up to the top of the climb and then she started to move down, the driver had to hold her there and so she would just balance on the middle road wheels, as above. He would hold her there for about 30 seconds as she rocked back and forth and then move off and down the other side---as I said, great fun.

How a Cent handles a creek crossing --with ease

I drove this tank last year and it went like a new one, its in excellent condition, having been fully restored with no expense spared.  I had a ball flying around private dirt roads in W.A.

This story was passed on to me by a friend. I have removed names so as people may not be embarrassed, but it does show the emotion that can still come up after about 35 years.

It was at a display day when a centurion was on display and also doing a speed run for the crowd. This is the story as given to me.

There were 2 vets standing next to the tank almost in tears. They shook my hand and one of them told me their story.

A platoon of young diggers were caught in a firefight in Vietnam. It was fairly thick with jungle and they were in a clearing.
They were under heavy fire, especially as the Vietcong had captured an M60 and were pouring lead on them.
The young digger, as he was then, told me that he was down to his last few rounds and started to think that they were going to get wasted. He began to think "Oh God, we're stuffed" when he heard a massive groan from the jungle. The groan was no less than a centurion tank appearing, then another and another and another.
The next thing he knew was that one parked itself within a few inches of his body.

He could not believe what he had just seen. How the hell could these tanks have got there.

This is what followed.

The Vietcong began to concentrate their fire on the tanks. Unfortunately for this digger, he was right next to the lead centurion and consequently was watching the splash of the M60 bullets getting to close for comfort.
Some of the diggers had been trying to get the M.G. for some time but with no effect.

He watched bemused as the main gun turned its position towards the captured M60 and then F**k, the M60 disappeared.
All he could remember was looking up at the barrel and reading "THE CASTRATOR" when the gun fired, he was lifted off the ground and dust was all around him and then landed back on tera, thinking that I hope the driver knows I'm here.

And this was the tank at the display