"Falaise" Otter number 2

[Robin Craig]

Congratulations on your trophy and thank you for being the temporary custodian of such a great piece of history for future generations.

R

[eddy8men]

nice project, good luck with it.
the battle damage raises a good question as to how to go about restoring it. I left some of the damage on my cromwell turret from it's time as an artillery target as I thought it added a bit more interest to the vehicle and it just didn't seem right to grind it off and bog it up. there's a strike on the turret roof where it meets the vertical side armour and a piece of the round has been sheared off and is lodged in the gap. not particularly historical but interesting non the less.

[James Gosling]

Here are some pictures of the damage to the footwell, roof and the blown out fuel tank.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by James Gosling

Here are some pictures of the damage to the footwell, roof and the blown out fuel tank.

James, your question re. the Otter bracket reminded me of this thread.

Looking at the damage on your Otter, there are a couple of basic options for its restoration:

1. Leave in as-is Normandy battlefield relic state
2. Repair to minimal running condition with all damage and rust retained (much like the Pirbright M3 Grant Tank)
3. Restore to in-service battle-damage repaired condition
4. Restore to factory-new condition

As stated before, my preference would be to go for option 3.

Seeing the damage, I wonder if this Otter could have sustained this type of damage without being written off immediately? In reality it was of course written off, which is why it could be recovered in this state by Mr Leloup after the war.

But: what if there is a reasoning that could be made that this Otter sustained severe damage, but could have been repaired to running order within, say 48 hrs? If the chassis and running gear was not damaged, it could have been repaired and quickly returned to service if there was a need but no replacements available, right?

The scenario could have been that after removing casualties (*) REME LAD crews could have worked round the clock, patching the armour, rigging up a new fuel tank and get it back in action as a turretless recce car. As Terry worded it aptly, restoring it as such you would tell the story of the inventive use of existing or salvaged parts to make urgent repairs in wartime conditions. This would highlight the performance of front-line soldier-mechanics, and put a tangible exhibit in the field to demonstrate the astounding amounts of repair/conversion work carried out in very short periods during WW2 (like the conversion of M7 Priests into Kangaroos).

I wish you all the wisdom with the choice of the options you have with this Otter, and look forward to seeing the end result. I know my boys and Tony will line up again for a ride

Hanno

(*) To get a graphic picture of what was entailed to get battle-damaged tanks back in action, I would recommend reading the book "Death Traps" by US 3rd Armored WW2 veteran Belton Cooper.

[James Gosling]

Hi Hanno,

Thank you for the suggestions. I do like your idea of the field patch up! It is certainly something to mull over.

Yesterday I cleared out about 4 inches of tree mulch from the inside and found more damage. These holes are right below the blown in section of roof. I'm going to have a look underneath tomorrow and see if the shrapnal hit anything else. Hopefully it missed the transfer case! Notice the slice out of the foot ring for the turret basket, its right above one of the holes.
James

[Bob Cohoon]

Just a thought, but maybe you can do standard battle damage repair on 90 % of it, and leave a small spot as-is to preserve the history of what happened to it, maybe that jagged hole in the side plate.People will ask why is it like that, and then the history could be explained

[lssah2025]

Looking good James.....did you ever get any other information on the other item we were talking about?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Gary Burns now owns this Otter. He has restored the "Normandy battle damage". I am using quotes as Gary noted that this Otter is fitted with an extra latch to keep the doors open. He analysed many photos and concluded that only the post war Dutch ones have these latches fitted. So, it is more likely this Otter was damaged on a Dutch range, rather than in Normandy...

69991665_10220676376006194_4484259685989351424_o.jpg 69932939_10220678631382577_2604959473898356736_o.jpg


I looked at a few photos and I think Gary has proved the French owner made up a story for his Otter. Anyhow, it is now in good hands and is under restoration.

Take a close look, these Otters have a latch to keep the doors in the open position:

70475311_928119557525253_4868217946796720128_n.jpg 69905201_928118707525338_6074879697118822400_n.jpg

Not all Dutch Otters had them, though:

69848145_928118870858655_2555151163368407040_n.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by James Gosling

Hi Hanno,

Thank you for the suggestions. I do like your idea of the field patch up! It is certainly something to mull over.

James,

Here are a few pictures from TANK RECOVERY to help you in your mulling over this subject

The subject vehicle in the pictures is a Sherman but I do not know why they would not do this on light armoured vehicles if such a field repair could return them into service.

12241781_1684429715136351_1710190953335764854_n.jpg 12239744_1684429755136347_9065192960131308834_n.jpg

[Tim Bell]

Looks a little like a firefly.

Pity no other pictures in the series.

Nice photos though.

Tim