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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, October 11, 2018 7:20 AM

BOB WITHORN

Just call in an A-10 and poof, tank gone!

 
An A-10 is just ugly and tough enough to merit the official Thunderbolt name.
The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 11:10 PM

Good Lord. I feel sick. 95% of my family was murdered by this Racist War, which they kept up right to the end long after the military war was hopeless. That is what was important to them. 

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 10:48 PM

Firelock76
The only thing missing is some background music, like "Panzerlied."

Here are the words that go with this 'tank song'.  With a translation (provided by Armin Deutsch):

 

1. Ob's stürmt oder schneit,
Ob die Sonne uns lacht,
Der Tag glühend heiß
Oder eiskalt die Nacht.
Verstaubt sind die Gesichter,
Doch froh ist unser Sinn,
Ja unser Sinn;
Es braust unser Panzer
Im Sturmwind dahin.

2. Mit donnernden Motoren,
Geschwind wie der Blitz,
Dem Feinde entgegen,
Im Panzer geschützt.
Voraus den Kameraden,
Im Kampf steh'n wir allein,
Steh'n wir allein,
So stoßen wir tief
In die feindlichen Reihn.

3. Wenn vor uns ein feindliches
Heer dann erscheint,
Wird Vollgas gegeben
Und ran an den Feind!
Was gilt denn unser Leben
Für uns'res Reiches Heer?
Ja Reiches Heer?
Für Deutschland zu sterben
Ist uns höchste Ehr.

4. Mit Sperren und Minen
Hält der Gegner uns auf,
Wir lachen darüber
Und fahren nicht drauf.
Und droh'n vor uns Geschütze,
Versteckt im gelben Sand,
Im gelben Sand,
Wir suchen uns Wege,
Die keiner sonst fand.

5. Und läßt uns im Stich
Einst das treulose Glück,
Und kehren wir nicht mehr
Zur Heimat zurück,
Trifft uns die Todeskugel,
Ruft uns das Schicksal ab,
Ja Schicksal ab,
Dann wird uns der Panzer
Ein ehernes Grab.

English Translation

1. In rainstorm or snow
Or in sun's laughing light,
In day's scorching heat
Or in bitter cold night,
Faces covered with dust
But hearts filled with joy
(Yes,with joy are filled),
Our panzers like whirlwinds
Advance in the field.

2. With thundering engines
And lightning fast speed
We charge toward the front
On our steel-sided steed,
And leading our comrades
In the fight alone we stand
(Alone we stand),
We break through the ranks
Of the foe's hostile band.

3. When foes may appear
With their tanks in our sight,
We step on the throttle
And race toward the fight.
What value then has life for us?
We serve the Reich's army
(Yes, Reich's army),
Our life's highest honor
We give Germany.

4. With trenches and mines
The foe seeks to impede,
We laugh in derision
And pay him no heed,
And when he trains his guns on us
Emplaced in yellow sand
(Yes, yellow sand)
We find other ways
That the foe had not planned.

5. And when fickle luck
Will desert us at last
Then comforts of home
Are but memories past,
And when the fatal shell strikes us
Then no one can save
(No one can save)
Our panzer will be
Our glorious grave. 
 

Easy to make adjustments to make this song right for other armor corps!

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 8:05 PM

BOB WITHORN
Just call in an A-10 and poof, tank gone!

Had the opportunity to watch the Hawg Smoke competition a few years ago.  From the vantage point of the range building, within a few hundred yards of the targets.  Very impressive.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 4:25 PM
Just call in an A-10 and poof, tank gone!
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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 11:29 AM

The 2 most effective ways to destroy or knock out a tank kill the crew or destroy the gun. Destroying the ammunition carried does both .

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Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 7:40 PM

'Light, there was a T-34 on outdoor display at The Basic School in Quantico Va when I was there in 1975.  Captured during the Korean War you could see where the shot hit that knocked it out, a small hole in the front glacis plate about the size of a quarter with cracks radiating out from it. That may not sound like much but remember, the main purpose of an anti-tank shell isn't to kill the tank, it's to kill the crew.

It was wide open, and let me tell you if you think it's small on the outside you should try the inside!  I'm a six-footer and I had a hard time moving around in there.  Interestingly, the turret rotating and main gun elevation cranks still worked, so I was able to rotate the turret and raise and depress the gun, but it did take some effort to do so.

The tank's now on display in the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, although I very much doubt they let anyone inside it now to play like I did.

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Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 5:49 PM

Fascinating stuff, Firelock! There's one of those tank destroyers in the tank museum at Camp Borden near Barrie, Ontario. I was amazed at how small it was. The star of the collection for me was a T-34 and that was pretty small too. I recall that song from the film "The Battle of the Bulge" from when I was a kid. 

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Posted by Backshop on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 5:47 PM

tree68
 

Which would be two feet more target to shoot at...

Which would only matter if you had a weapon that could punch through its frontal armor.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 5:19 PM

I've just got to pop a video of that "Koenigs-Tiger" for everyone, and as an added attraction it's being followed by a little brother, who's pretty scary in his own right!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQI0loSxOKA

The only thing missing is some background music, like "Panzerlied."

I can supply that too, the best arrangement of it I've ever heard, and from a very surprising source!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzQZfO-Bc_Y

 

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Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 9:38 AM

I'd love to buy that Morgan but I doubt I could afford it. It was the first one I ever saw. 

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Posted by MikeFF on Monday, October 8, 2018 5:41 PM

Yes, 54Light15, the Morgan is still in the collection, but not currently operable.  We did just acquire as "Depot" Model T that is extremely original and in good shape.

Mike

 

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, October 8, 2018 1:47 PM

Backshop

I was at the Patton Armor Museum many years ago when it still was at Ft Knox.  I was comparing the Abrams with the Tiger, and physically the Tiger was much more imposing.  It was about 2 feet taller.  The deck of the M1 came to chest level while the Tiger was almost to the top of my head (I'm 5'7").

 

Which would be two feet more target to shoot at...

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Posted by Backshop on Monday, October 8, 2018 12:42 PM

I was at the Patton Armor Museum many years ago when it still was at Ft Knox.  I was comparing the Abrams with the Tiger, and physically the Tiger was much more imposing.  It was about 2 feet taller.  The deck of the M1 came to chest level while the Tiger was almost to the top of my head (I'm 5'7").

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Posted by Firelock76 on Monday, October 8, 2018 11:24 AM

'light, I think from looking at the other videos from the same place that Renault was filmed at a tank/ military vehicle exhibition in Belgium.

I looked at the video of the King Tiger tank as well.  You know, that thing's almost 75 years old, and a present day M1A1 Abrams would make short work of it, but you know, that King Tiger is still one terrifying-looking tank!  I can't imagine what a GI in the Ardennes thought when he saw one of those things bearing down on him.

Maybe I don't want to know.

I did some reading on "Savannah," and found out the nuclear reactor is still in there, although de-fueled and inert.  Maybe that's why the NRC is still involved with it.

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Posted by 54light15 on Monday, October 8, 2018 11:04 AM

Firelock, Thanks for that- Do you know where that was filmed? Looks like a lot of fun was being had. 

sampfFF- Thanks for that also, I always wondered about what happened to the Savannah. 

MikeFF- Does the aerodrome still have that Matchless-engined Morgan 3-wheeler? I love those! 

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Posted by samfp1943 on Monday, October 8, 2018 8:03 AM

SALfan
Firelock76

Someone a lot more familiar with "Savannah" would have to tell the story, it's been years since I've read anything about it, but if I remember correctly it did carry paying cargoes for a while but the nuclear powered cargo ship concept just didn't catch on, so the ship was quietly retired. 

Too ahead of it's time maybe?  Probably?

I read somewhere years ago that the ship didn't carry enough cargo to be successful as a cargo ship or enough passengers to be successful as a passenger liner, and there weren't any routes that had demand for passenger and freight hauling for it to be successful as a hybrid.  Don't know if the author knew what he was talking about, but am just throwing it out there as a possible reason it wasn't successful.  It was built not long before containers revolutionized ocean freight, which couldn't have helped.

When I was a young boy it docked in Savannah, GA and offered tours to the public.  I went thru it, but must have been between the ages of 5 and 10, because I only have a couple of hazy memories of it.

  OK! You all got my interest up!  I had seen the N.S. Savanah a long time ago when it was moored in the Savanah River in South Carolina. I too, had wondered what became of this interesting experiment of the then-Cold War. So, as Paul Harvey would relate.."Here is the rest of that story".  

lnked @ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/07/aboard-the-ns-savannah-americas-first-and-last-nuclear-merchant-ship/

FTL:"...Savannah officially became a museum ship in South Carolina in 1981 as part of the state's Patriot's Point Naval and Maritime Museum. In the process, the state became a Nuclear Regulatory Commission co-licensee with MARAD. But in 1993, Savannah was turned back over to the Maritime Administration when she needed to be drydocked. "The museum said, 'Just don't bring it back,'" recounted Erhard Koehler, the ship's senior technical advisor and manager. "That was when I became involved."...

For the past 24 years, Koehler's life has been tethered to Savannah, first as a project engineer for MARAD and then as her chief caretaker for this past decade. Koehler is the man whose name is on the ship's license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. During his tenure, Savannah has been drydocked or moored up and down the Chesapeake, coming to rest at her current Baltimore home eight years ago.

Designated as a national landmark, Savannah continues to be preserved. But the ship is also still regulated by the NRC and awaiting congressional funding for full decommissioning. It's a step that the US government didn't really even think about back when Savannah was built..."   

So now we know, at least more of the story! Whistling

 

 


 

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Sunday, October 7, 2018 7:20 PM

Firelock76
Well, here's my dream car!

   At least you won't be getting many speeding tickets.

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

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Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, October 7, 2018 6:58 PM

Well Mike, you know what the late, great David P. Morgan said?

"Big things that move are a lot more interesting than big things that don't!"

Folks were talking about classic cars a bit earlier?  Well, here's my dream car!

Primitive, but oh-so-cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16UnMSfvLzw

 

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Posted by MikeFF on Sunday, October 7, 2018 4:55 PM

I gotta tell you that as a railfan who is also an aviation enthusiast (I sit on the BoT of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome-70 machines from 1909-1941 and about 20 flyable–and I believe we are in the discussion somewhere) and a sailor (we grew up in my dad's daysailers on the Hudson) it tickles me that one of the longest running (since 2008!) threads on the Trains Forum is Historic Warbirds and now encompasses an esoteric ship!  How elecletic are we?

Mike

 

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Posted by SALfan on Sunday, October 7, 2018 4:38 PM

Firelock76

Someone a lot more familiar with "Savannah" would have to tell the story, it's been years since I've read anything about it, but if I remember correctly it did carry paying cargoes for a while but the nuclear powered cargo ship concept just didn't catch on, so the ship was quietly retired. 

Too ahead of it's time maybe?  Probably?

 

I read somewhere years ago that the ship didn't carry enough cargo to be successful as a cargo ship or enough passengers to be successful as a passenger liner, and there weren't any routes that had demand for passenger and freight hauling for it to be successful as a hybrid.  Don't know if the author knew what he was talking about, but am just throwing it out there as a possible reason it wasn't successful.  It was built not long before containers revolutionized ocean freight, which couldn't have helped.

When I was a young boy it docked in Savannah, GA and offered tours to the public.  I went thru it, but must have been between the ages of 5 and 10, because I only have a couple of hazy memories of it.

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, October 6, 2018 9:37 PM

Sorry for the historical commercials.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Miningman on Saturday, October 6, 2018 2:18 PM
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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, October 6, 2018 11:25 AM

Someone a lot more familiar with "Savannah" would have to tell the story, it's been years since I've read anything about it, but if I remember correctly it did carry paying cargoes for a while but the nuclear powered cargo ship concept just didn't catch on, so the ship was quietly retired. 

Too ahead of it's time maybe?  Probably?

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Posted by 54light15 on Saturday, October 6, 2018 10:26 AM

I saw the Savannah docked on the west side of Manhattan when my father flew us over the city in his 1947 Aeronca. Around 1967 as I recall. I always wondered about it myself. Did it ever carry a paying cargo or was it a kind of "demonstrator?" 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Friday, October 5, 2018 4:56 PM

So THAT'S where "Savannah"  wound up!

When I went to Florida with a friend in 1975 you could see "Savannah" docked in  Savannah from the highway, I think it was Route 17 since Route 95 wasn't completed through Georgia yet.  It's been a while so I don't remember exactly, but "Savannah" itself was very recognizable.  Looked in rough shape at the time.

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, October 4, 2018 9:11 PM

If I am going to tour Savannah, I'll go to Baltimore.  Far more interesting that a few little aircraft, really ...

http://www.ns-savannah.org/

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Posted by SALfan on Thursday, October 4, 2018 8:50 PM

Firelock76

Yeah, me too, however Savannah was where the 8th Air Force first came into being, a paper organization at first, and eventually the colossus and military legend it became.  Pooler's very close to Savannah and the location off Route 95 gives it a lot of exposure.

anyway, here's a peek...

www.mightyeighth.org

 

 

 

Firelock76

Yeah, me too, however Savannah was where the 8th Air Force first came into being, a paper organization at first, and eventually the colossus and military legend it became.  Pooler's very close to Savannah and the location off Route 95 gives it a lot of exposure.

anyway, here's a peek...

www.mightyeighth.org

 

 

 

I have been to the museum, and if you are ever anywhere close it is well worth your time and effort to go.  The Historic District in Savannah (only 10-15 miles from the museum) is one of the best-preserved antebellum areas in the country, and there are a lot of historic locations within easy driving distance.  Savannah is especially beautiful in the spring when the azaleas and dogwoods are blooming, and the Historic District is very walkable.  One caveat - any time after mid-May the weather will be hot and humid, and it will stay that way until around October 1.  There are also plenty of things for your family to do in and around Savannah if they aren't interested in warbirds.  

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Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, October 4, 2018 5:49 PM

Yeah, me too, however Savannah was where the 8th Air Force first came into being, a paper organization at first, and eventually the colossus and military legend it became.  Pooler's very close to Savannah and the location off Route 95 gives it a lot of exposure.

anyway, here's a peek...

www.mightyeighth.org

 

 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, October 4, 2018 7:12 AM

Firelock76

If you're traveling through Georgia on Route 95 try and make time to see the Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler GA, right off the highway.

The wife and I stopped in for a quick visit several years ago, and stayed for hours!

Well worth a visit!

 
I just wish that it was a lot closer than GeorgiaSigh
The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul

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