I have returned from the Littlefield Armor Museum. Physically that is...My mind is still there. We drive up to the place and our guide takes us into the work room. The first thing is the place is massive but looks like any car restorer's garage...lots of boxes with hand written labels (German Rifle Clips, Browning MG, that kind of thing).
Immediately to the front is a Sherman Jumbo being put back together. He takes us to the next bay...there is a disassembled Panther, ausf A. He drags over a ladder and asks if we want a look from up top. So here we are standing on the rear deck of a Panther...about eight or nine feet in the air...I am struck by how big this thing is...behind us is the turret on a stand...waiting for its gun. The 12 cylinder engine is being worked...soon to be installed in the back of this monster. Looking carefully into the hull, I can see the brand new double torsion bars crossing the bottom of the hull. The tank is painted a nice yellow with red brown and olive green patches over the zimmerit.
You can read all the books you want...but until you actually see one of these you have no clue as to its size. At least I didn't.
That was how the day started...
There would be a Lee and a Grant...a couple of Stuarts, a Panzer IV a plethora of AT guns, even a Japanese field piece. A German armored car, a bunch of prime movers...and as you can see by the picture above an 88mm FlaK gun.
I need to get to sleep now...I have a ton of pictures and some incredible memories....
For more on the things I saw at the Littlefield museum, look here:
http://www.stugiii.com/littlefieldpanther.html.
http://www.stugiii.com/alkettchassis92475.html.Tim, they call him...
Edit (23 Mar 08) - The green/black thing to my right is a training turret for an M1 Abrahms. The thing behind me is an SdKfz 8 12 ton prime mover.
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