Described as: film of a Mark I tank at the Royal Armoured Corps Centre, Bovington, Dorset, showing exterior shrapnel damage, compartment, ammunition storage, 6 pounder gun and engine, with commentary.
The tank is in the open, on a sloping plinth. Can't see enough of the buildings in the background to say exactly where. View of the rear shows tail wheel in place. Commentator explains damage sustained in action, and film shows rear right-hand side of vehicle and six irregularly shaped holes, forward of drive sprocket. The starboard sponson is Mk I female with Vickers guns, and the port is Mk I male - the door opens towards the hull - but with a short 6 pounder. One thing that slightly threw me is what looks like a bracket for an unditching beam rail, so I wondered if this was the same tank, but I can see that it's fitted on the Mk II, so I assume it is.
The tour of the vehicle is conducted by a not very imposing squaddie, who clambers into the male sponson, goes through the motions of firing the 6 pounder, changes the secondary gears, and feigns effort, unconvincingly, in turning the starting handle, which is clearly broken and not attached to very much.
The commentary is spoken by someone who is not named but who is astonishingly posh. At one point he actually says that the 6 pounder "went orf with quait a creck."
He also explains that the squaddie is wearing "1917 uniform." Does that mean that the film was made after the 1938 kit was issued?
Finally, there's footage of the Mk V T9199, in the mysterious three-tone camouflage. It trundles around in familiar fashion for a while, but there is an unusual and very agreeable sequence obviously shot by someone sitting alongside or slightly behind the driver. It's a sort of three-quarters rear view, so he's not quite in profile. He's looking through the flap, and through it, beyond him, can be seen the track passing over the front horn as the tank moves forward. Have I explained that properly?
That's everything I thought was important. It does seem to be The Flying Scotsman, but one or two questions remain. Why the male sponson? Why the short 6 pounder? And so on. Any observations/questions/theories welcome.
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Even if it is a MKII it would still be interesting to see, as the tail mechanism would be real and possibly in WW1 condition. The damage is confusing me as it sounds like there's more of it than on the Bovington's MKII, but could just be me , I had better go look at some photos.
The Unditching Beam Brackets, could it just be the remains of the Exhaust Brackets still visible on the remaining Tank?
I've pinched this photo of the damage on the Flying Scotsman, and I'm pretty sure it tallies. Don't know why I counted six, but the film is in black and white so I might have slipped up. Maybe the tail wheel is the one that's now on the Clan Leslie - did the Mk II have the necessary holes etc for the wheel assembly? And here's a pic of what I thought was the rail bracket - never noticed them before.
Trouble is: I didn't know what to expect when I was watching it, so I was having to try and remember what I was supposed to look out for, and now I'm having to try and remember what I saw. It wasn't actually all that easy to make out the roof hatch, but I think it was the raised type.
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
