Post by John Tapsell on Sept 18, 2010 16:32:24 GMT
I've posted this as a new thread since the original enquiry has dropped so far down the list.
Having carried out some initial investigations, it seems that the connection between Kirkham Priory and 79th Armoured Division may be erroneous.
Kirkham Priory was the HQ for 11th Armoured Division during the build-up to D-Day and the area was used to test techniques for waterproofing vehicles. This was a standard procedure for all vehicles landing in Normandy during the initial phases of the invasion and was not unique to 79th Armoured Division. It may well be that the initial trials were carried out here before the process was cleared for use by other units.
The process involved waterproofed canvas, wading stacks, extended exhaust pipes and the extensive use of a 'bostick' rubber compound. As an example, part of the procedure for a typical tank was to remove all the bolted access covers in the floor, before smearing copious amounts of bostick around the edges of the openings and then bolting the plates back on again. Once the whole waterproofing process was complete, each vehicle was driven into a concrete water tank (or convenient lake or river) to test the seals. A poor job meant a flooded engine, an embarrassing recovery from the water and stripping off all the bostick before starting again, so crews tried to do it right first time!
It's possible that individual vehicles from 79th Armoured Division were shipped to Kirkham Priory for waterproofing trials but given the secrecy of their equipment it is far more likely (and practical) that trained personnel were sent to the Division's existing camps instead. 79th Armoured Division used other parts of the UK for training, Orfordness for much of their beach assault trials and Instow for landing craft loading trails for example.
DD amphibious tanks, Churchill Crocodiles and CDL tanks are all commonly associated with 79th Armoured Division but were not used by them until well into the NW Europe campaign – the Normandy DD regiments belonged to standard armoured brigades, as did the first Crocodile regiment. CDL tanks belonged to 35 Tank Brigade prior to D-Day and in fact a squadron of 49 RTR had to retrain with them in late 1944 as they had been converted to an APC regiment using Ram Kangaroos.
Regards,
John
Having carried out some initial investigations, it seems that the connection between Kirkham Priory and 79th Armoured Division may be erroneous.
Kirkham Priory was the HQ for 11th Armoured Division during the build-up to D-Day and the area was used to test techniques for waterproofing vehicles. This was a standard procedure for all vehicles landing in Normandy during the initial phases of the invasion and was not unique to 79th Armoured Division. It may well be that the initial trials were carried out here before the process was cleared for use by other units.
The process involved waterproofed canvas, wading stacks, extended exhaust pipes and the extensive use of a 'bostick' rubber compound. As an example, part of the procedure for a typical tank was to remove all the bolted access covers in the floor, before smearing copious amounts of bostick around the edges of the openings and then bolting the plates back on again. Once the whole waterproofing process was complete, each vehicle was driven into a concrete water tank (or convenient lake or river) to test the seals. A poor job meant a flooded engine, an embarrassing recovery from the water and stripping off all the bostick before starting again, so crews tried to do it right first time!
It's possible that individual vehicles from 79th Armoured Division were shipped to Kirkham Priory for waterproofing trials but given the secrecy of their equipment it is far more likely (and practical) that trained personnel were sent to the Division's existing camps instead. 79th Armoured Division used other parts of the UK for training, Orfordness for much of their beach assault trials and Instow for landing craft loading trails for example.
DD amphibious tanks, Churchill Crocodiles and CDL tanks are all commonly associated with 79th Armoured Division but were not used by them until well into the NW Europe campaign – the Normandy DD regiments belonged to standard armoured brigades, as did the first Crocodile regiment. CDL tanks belonged to 35 Tank Brigade prior to D-Day and in fact a squadron of 49 RTR had to retrain with them in late 1944 as they had been converted to an APC regiment using Ram Kangaroos.
Regards,
John
