| jkavanagh67 | 18 Mar 2014 10:46 a.m. PST |
The last A7V left in the world (apparently). Safely stored 12000 miles away from the western front. link You can go and see it here: link I think I'll take the kids. All the best. |
| jkavanagh67 | 18 Mar 2014 11:24 a.m. PST |
Aren't politicians always larger than life? (Ducks for cover). |
| Sparker | 18 Mar 2014 1:54 p.m. PST |
Thats very impressive! Shouldn't it be down at Puckapunyal Australian Armour museum though….
:-) |
| Gustav | 18 Mar 2014 8:42 p.m. PST |
No way Sparker. Awesome thing to see ! Us poor QLD'ers have little enough in the way of military history to see as it is. |
| Paint Pig | 18 Mar 2014 11:44 p.m. PST |
I'll walk down to the workshops and find out when they are going to transport the wee beastie, see if I can sneak in and take some photo's of it being loaded for the trip. regards
dave |
| Shaun Travers | 19 Mar 2014 3:37 a.m. PST |
The museum is about 3 kilometres from where I live. I go with the children (now 5 and 7) all the time. It will be good to see the Mephisto again after all this time; I remember it from the old museum site when I was a child. |
| Camcleod | 19 Mar 2014 10:01 a.m. PST |
When Mephisto was captured, the upper superstructure had been partly blown apart.
Was it rebuilt?
See the following display pic:
And where is it in the pic in the first post? |
| Etranger | 19 Mar 2014 5:45 p.m. PST |
The WWI era photo is a little misleading in that the 'turret' on top was actually composed of plates that could be folded down (front, back and top plate IIRC) & that's what have come adrift. There does look to be damage too but mostly it's just dislodged plates. The damage can still be seen on the last photo above. Here's one off the net showing a 'coupe' A7V in use….
Here's one of Mephisto just after capture & you can see the folded top plate along with dislodged and damaged plates on the roof of the main superstructure. According to the AWM caption the tank was captured at Villers-Bretonneux, which is presumably where the two WWI era photos come from.. |
| Paint Pig | 19 Mar 2014 9:58 p.m. PST |
Is it a conspiracy to deceive?  |
| Etranger | 19 Mar 2014 10:51 p.m. PST |
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| deflatermouse | 22 Mar 2014 12:09 a.m. PST |
In 1986 I climbed inside this tank one night on my way home from work. It had been moved from outside of the old Museum in Fortitude Valley to the front of the new museum at South Bank. The circular hatch at the rear was missing. VERY low "roof" inside. Engine and all equipment missing. A shell virtually. From what I understand 26 Batt was from Qld. (will check that up) They recovered the vehicle during a night operation at Villers-Bretonneux.
Hence it not being at Puckapunyal. The roof is a mockup from the mid-'80's (as is the new circular rear hatch).
I'll have to check my book but I think the original "turret" was damaged in the recovery. I was very surprised/disappointed on my return to Brisbane to see by the mid-90's it had been moved to behind glass. |
| Great War Ace | 23 Mar 2014 1:40 p.m. PST |
Only 5" of ground clearance! Tank designers sure learned a thing or three right away, didn't they? link any further about this possible other "survivor" A7V?… |
ponders nirvana.
