RAAC Centurions in Vietnam....color?

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks John,

Envelope went into yesterday's mail.

Regards

Mike

[jdmcm]

Awesome Mike thank you! That thread with the fellow building the Amortek Centurion is incredible. Strangely I face several similar problems. My Centurion is a Mk5 hull, not a Mk5/1 so no up-armoring on the glacis plate. Of course this can be done, relatively easy from mild steel I would think, but does one want to needlessly add that weight for purely aesthetics? Also my turret being a Mk3 has a different position for the loaders hatch, though I am confident I have read of at least one RAAC Centurion that went to Vietnam that way.

Regards
John

[Mike Cecil]

John,

You would have great difficulty converting the Mk3...Mk5 to a Mk5/1 as per RAAC in Svn as all but one tank (a dozer) had the L6A1 .50 cal ranging gun (RG) fitted, which necessitated the boring of an additional aperture through the mantlet, and a complete change of MG mounts, internal stowage, and so on. The up-armour is easy by comparison to adding the RG.

Radio/wireless fit might also be an issue: Aust tanks were fitted with Larkspur, so unless your Mk3 turret was upgraded to Larkspur at some stage, then it is possibly still fitted for WS19/88AFV sets (different mounting studs, antennae mounts, and so on).

Not sure about the early Mk3 loader's hatch orientation on upgraded Aust Cents deployed to SVN: I'd have to check my notes (quite a while since I've looked at Cent stuff). I have a feeling the Aust tanks with early (angled) position loaders hatches were part of the later (1971) purchase of tanks from Brit stocks in Hong Kong, which of course, were not deployed to SVN, but as I said, I'd have to check.

Glad the Armortek thread is of interest.

Mike

[jdmcm]

Hi Mike

I am pretty sure I have come across a site, perhaps steel-tripod, that showed at least one Mk3 style turret on a ex-SVN tank. I will search for it as well. Tim Vibert has all the machine gun mounts to add the RNG, boring the mantlet should be easy enough (he says having no real idea). Again, would like to be accurate but I am not trying to fool anyone that this was an actual RAAC tank that went to Vietnam. Perhaps just mounting the omega brackets and road wheels on the glacis will be sufficient, as I am sure the next owner will have his or her own idea how the tank should be presented. And lets face it we are only one late night documentary on the October war away before we are breaking out the Sinai grey!

John

[jdmcm]

This two pictures seem to show a Centurion with SVN modifications but no .50 ranging gun. The second seems to be Mk5 without the up-armored glacis...even though the track guards look like the way they modified them in SE Asia, perhaps the 2nd picture is not a SVN tank?



169017.jpg

169052x.jpg

A Centurion Mk V/1 tank, (ARN 169017), from C Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment, which was commanded by 37709 Sergeant (Sgt) Stan Hanuszewicz (nick named ham sandwich).

cntrefwlk_au_cent169017_02_org_001.jpg

cntrefwlk_au_cent169017_02_org_006.jpg

cntrefwlk_au_cent169017_org_046.jpg

Definitely still carrying the Mk3 turret with angled loaders hatch...

So I guess what I am getting it is, there seems to be no real combination that is "wrong" when it comes to these tanks...or is there???

[Mike Cecil]

Sorry to ruin the theory, John, but the turret currently on 169017 (gate guard @ 1 Brigade, Palmerston, NT the last time I saw it) was transferred to that hull in the 1970s from an ex-British Army Centurion sourced from Hong Kong. A rear view of that turret will show you that is has the rear escape hatch, too. It's a really early turret.

2nd image: 169052 did not serve in SVN. It was one of the tanks not uparmoured to Mk5/1 standard, but remained as a Mk.5 with Aust mods such as the L6A1 RG. Virtually all track guards on Aust Cents were shortened in this way by the time they were withdrawn from service in 1977. Note also the DBG paint on the manlet visible beneath the ripped mantlet cover. I'm pretty sure I know where this image was taken, too: Bowna, NSW.

Regards

Mike