I am working on some tank ramps that were to be used in the Belgian coast invasion of 1917 that never happened and am having a tough time with how they were attached to the MkIVs. From the one picture I have of it, it looks like it attached to the nose some how. Any ideas or pictures?
I have researched this subject before, Mr. Fletcher at the Tank Museum send me some drawings of the ramps, unfortunately I can not locate them. You can email him (DavidF@tankmuseum.co.uk) The photo copies of the information he sent me was around £ 5.
All the Best
Tim R
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"The life given us by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal" -Cicero 106-43BC
I suspect that I have the same drawings that Tim refers to, except that I got mine from The National Archives at Kew, and I also have a description from the same source that explains the operation of the ramps.
That description says that the ramp was carried at the end of a pole or boom, which was in turn stayed back to the turret by means of wire rope guys. The odd thing is that the drawings (which agree with the text) do not accord with the photograph. Presumably there was some trial and error involved in this, and the photograph may be of an earlier attempt that worked in a different way than what is presumably the final version described in the text and drawings.
I am a little confused from the items I have read. Did the third tank (Mk IV Female) carry a ramp? The first two tanks (Males) were to climb the sea wall and cross over but was the female to use one the ramps placed by the males or place her own and then cross?