Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[Jakko Westerbeke]

This afternoon, I went to the workshop where the monument tank is being restored. The tank has been almost completely stripped.

Here’s some photos I took:

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And for interest, the inside of a VVSS bogie, showing details I never knew was there:

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Unfortunately, I could not find a chassis number on the hull. The vehicle data plate is long gone, and the area where the chassis number should be stamped into the sponson floor is very rusted — not to mention that the plate sounded very thin when I knocked on it, so I suspect it’s been replaced at some point previously (as someone told me when the tank was moved back in December).

There were concerns about how long the tank would last when it’s replaced. According to Stef Traas, who’s in charge of the restoration, it will be made watertight so no water will get into it, and the outside will be painted with something that’s also used to corrosion-proof wind turbines in the North Sea. This sounds to me like it should be a good solution to the problem.

I also fortuitously arrived just in time to hopefully correct the front mudguards. They had been looking at them recently, and were about to remake them as they had been — that is, flat and rectangular. I explained the shape they should have and will send them some drawings showing the real shape (scanned from a model kit’s instructions).

As for the colour to paint it, I will spray a bit of material in SCC 15 intended for models (for those interested: MRP No. 349, “SCC No. 15 Olive Drab”) and send it to the museum, so they can have the right colour mixed.