Hello everyone,
player Venturius_ was kind enough to share with us his pictures from the Cobbaton Combat Collection in North Devon (west of England) – thank you!. As he says, it’s a private collection, so the space in the buildings is a bit cramped for good photos, but I think it’s very interesting nonetheless. Descriptions are written by him.
Centaur Cruiser Tank MK IV (1994)
Build by Leland with a V12 27 litre 395 BHP Liberty engine. 0.6 MPG and top speed 28 MPH, 50 MPH with modified governors. This tank was converted to bulldozer tank by the army in 1945 and sold as scrap in 1957. The owner bought it in 1978 and restored it to full running orer and built a steel turret with replica 95mm howitzer. The markings around the turret are the degrees of the compass which were used to help bring all the guns in the troop to bear on a target quickly. This Centaur is identical to the much used Cromwell tanks with the exception of the engine which in the case o the Cromwell was the R&R Meteor, a detuned Spitfire Merlin. The Centaur has a detuned WWI Liberty bomber engine.
Churchill MK VII Crocodile Flame Thrower Infantry Tank (1944)
Here protection is more important than speed. Up to 6 inch of armour plate. 44 tons weight. Top speed 12 mph. Powered by flat 12 side valve engine 350bhp. Consumes 3 gallons of petrol per mile. This tank towed a 400 gallon flame fuel trailer at the rear.
T-54 (cca 1955, State Arsenal Czechoslovakia)
This one is Czech built (said to be the best engineered) but the radio, optics, gauges and most of the electrics are Russian. Still in original T-54 spec. This one was imported to UK in 1989, direct from Czech Army reserves. Weight 36 ton, max speed 48 kph, 38.8 litre v12 diesl, 520 bhp. With snorkel in place can drive under 5.5m water. Up to 2MPG which is very economical for a tank. There was as well some AD for a bag? featuring the T54 tank.
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T-34/85 (1944 USSR)
This tank was imported from Czech reserves in 1989. It was rebuilt in 1970/71 and stored since after an Egyptian deal was cancelled. Driving this is hard work with all controls requiring a lot of effort. Perfect driver is 4 feet tall, with arms of 4 feet long and the strength of an Ox!
Centurion Mk5 AVRE (1949)
This is a conversion of the standard Centurion gun tank with a 165mm demolition charge projector and a hydraulically operated dozer blade to destroy fortications. Engine petrol 27 litre V12, 650 bhp. 51 ton weight. Top speed 21 mph. This tank still operated in the Gulf war.
Sexton (1943)
25 pdr gun howitzer SPG mounted on a Canadian Ram tank chassis. 25 ton weight. 25 mph and fuel consumption 3/4 mile per gallon. 112 rounds of ammo. This vehicle spend most of its post war life in Portuguese army and came to England in 1984.
Comet cruiser tank (1945)
33 ton Comet was the successor to the Centaur/Cromwell line. 77 mm gun and 600 bhp engine. This was a rushed purchase in 1995 as it was about to be scrapped, it was intended to join the other play vehicles of the collection. They are still looking for a track for this tank. In the meanwhile a Oak tree is starting to grow out of this tank.
Sherman M4A4 (1942)
This tank features in the upcoming film “The Fury” about WWII with Brad Pitt. This tank has Murder Inc on the side of the gun.
Always nice to see. Having a little description makes it even loads better =D
Awsome! Love the story of the tank/ bulldozer, restored back to tank status! lol, love it. Anyone else notice the lower plate on the Cz 54? That thars a Nice tank…….That Czech 54 should be saved and copied to someones files. That tank could be used for a model IMHO.
Notice how their stored in some shed, just gathering dust? Like a time capsule, lol.
Centurion Mk 5? Sturmtiger counter?
Sexton was cool too.
Very Nice pics.
See the Commander in the T34/85, lol, Nice.
Thank you!
from the website of the collection:
“Vehicles are restored, often from derelict condition, not to look pristine, but, as a tribute to their original crews, like vehicles just back from the front line, with muddy tyres and tracks, and festooned with the kit which would have been carried by the soldiers who drove them to war almost seventy years ago”
The mud and all that is still on the tracks
Nice pics and well written backstories :)
Thanks mate!
2 bounces in the back of the sherman turret =)))) how stronk
LE:oh sorry its just one
I can still hear the one who shot that sherman screaming “F&*K RNG!!!”.
Yeah, what’s the story with that tank? It took a lot more hits on the hull too. Firing range target?
Nice post, as always.
Thanks Venturius_ and SilentStalker.
love to see the 165mm demolition gun in game haha jk although it would be kinda cool
Maybe you will :)
Another great pictures, thanks.
Oh wow, the turret of the Comet looks much taller than I thought it did. At first I thought it had some sort of a concrete block for a stand-in.
Most probably due to perspective and lens of the camera, if i recall standard fov for cameras is something about 35deg, while in wot we have more than 75deg, hence the skewed proportions between media.
Most likely the individual was using a lens other than 50mm that why the image looks distorted also having a camera on automatic where it choose the F stop and shutter speed and ISO will affect the quality of the image
I used a Sony Nex5n camera with 18-55mm lens. I am a camera noob so I just make pix in intelligent automatic mode.
I was already fairly happy that I managed to get mostly whole tanks in the picture as it is fairly cramped building…
thanks for sharing.
Unless I am very much mistaken, that T-54 starred in Goldeneye. I mean the number is the same and the font it is written in is the same
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMX7_z4ixFQ
Thanks for noticing.
From their website: http://www.cobbatoncombat.co.uk/sales/films.htm
“In 1989 we took the T54 to the Paris Motor Show as part of the World of James Bond display”
and more tv/ film:
1982 The Wall ( Pink Floyd )
1983 Razors Edge
1984 The Secret Servant. Gavin Lyle, BBC
1984 Nanny, BBC
1989 Paris Motor Show, Mondial James Bond
1997 Land Girls. Plus Films
1998 Perfect Strangers, Family Tree. Talkback
1999 T34 CD Rom. DMPS Absolute, Bristol
2000 The T34 Tank, Flashback Television Ltd. Taylor Downing
2000 The Imjin- Reconstruction, Shearman Productions, Bristol
2001 Das Haus Der Schwestern. Zeigler Film
2001 Reign of Fire. Reign of Fire Productions Ltd.
2001 “The League Against Tedium” Simon Munnery. BBC
2002 Murder Most Foul. Zenith North.
2003 Building the Indestructible: Tank, Granada TV.
2003 Churchill, the Hollywood Years. Hollywood Years Productions (I.O.M.) Ltd
2004 D-Day. Dangerous Films Ltd
2004 The Road to Berlin, All Murray. ITN Factual Ltd
2005 10 days to Victory. 3BM Victory Ltd.
2005 Great Battles of the 20th Century. BBC
2006 Oliver Sweeney shoe advert.
2006 Dr Who
2007 Casualty
2007 Dr Who
2008 Sarah Jane Adventures
2010 Casualty
Called It!, lol.
Sexton is from the Portuguese army? Hell Yeah!
Força Tugas!!!
inch ? mph ? dafuq ? we are in the 21st century why using some middle age crap i didn’t understand any of those
Sorry most of the info is copied from their collection guide book and didn’t feel like converting them myself :)
They should turn this into a Museum.