"Falaise" Otter number 2

[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?

[James Gosling]

Hi Lance,

No, I only managed last week to get a reply on some spares. A long proces!!!

[lssah2025]

Yea I have pretty much given up on that and some other things.

[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...

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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:

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Not all Dutch Otters had them, though:

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Gary Burns just completed his restoration on this Otter - a job very well done!

“ Tarka basking in the mid winter sun driven out under it's own power for the first time in probably 60 years very proud been a task but got there with the help of many new friends cheers to all ”

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

See the 300+ photos documenting Gary's restoration project here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...8734966&type=3

[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.

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[Tim Bell]

Looks a little like a firefly.

Pity no other pictures in the series.

Nice photos though.

Tim

[jdmcm]

Love the Otter! what unique piece of history...as for the damage...it'd kind of a tough call, patching as would have been done in service will leave a lot of the uninformed thinking it was a poor restoration...tough on some folks ego, not on others..completely repairing it as if it never happened seems to be like re-writing history...as for range damage..I think it is fine to leave it as long as you don't misrepresent it...it is a very interesting thing to see what kind of damage can be inflicted on armor plate...I have some plates we cut out of our range find Sherman that I kept just to be able to show people exactly what happens when a round penetrates a tank...the circle left on the inside around the point of entry is amazing...and frightening to think where those metal splinters would end up

[David Dunlop]

That makes for a very interesting compromise. The range damaged plates are part of the history of the vehicle. By saving some of the more interesting examples for display with a fully restored vehicle, respects it's history and adds great value to any display of it in the future. Personally, I would go that route.

David