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Hellfish6

First one is a Chinese Type 59 (or 69).

I thought the Spruce Goose was in LA Harbor?

Roy_A_Lingle

Hi HF6! Hi Folks!

- Hellfish6

I thought the Spruce Goose was in LA Harbor?

It was and a few years ago it was move someplace north of there.
Oregon or Washingtion state.

Sgt, Scouts Out! Smile

timroberts

The first photo is a chinese type 69, a t59 is very basic compared to this.
The second is a czech built T54 with modifications by the israelis, so a tiran4, see the mg mount on the turret top, this tank has other extra israeli fittings if it is the one i think it is

Burik · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Mar 05, 2006 Posts: 119

- Roy_A_Lingle

Hi HF6! Hi Folks!

- Hellfish6

I thought the Spruce Goose was in LA Harbor?

It was and a few years ago it was move someplace north of there.
Oregon or Washingtion state.

Sgt, Scouts Out!

It is in McMinnville, Oregon, which is a little south of Portland; Evergreen Air Museum. Very nice museum. They have an SR71 and recently procured an Apollo missile. Now these Soviet style tanks and APCs are out back, and there is an F4 Phantom and B25 Mitchell out there too with them.

Bob

trooper · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jul 14, 2008 Posts: 5

Hi guys - I am a little late to this discussion and you all may have moved on but I thought I would add my .02 cents worth to the discussion. The tanks are newly-built (1975) Labdy Works (Poland - they now make tractors) T55LD's. "L" being the hull mark and "D" being the turret mark. It is stamped on the front glacis plate but I can't remember where the stamp is on the turret? I was one of the original crewman on the tanks when I served in the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment in 1979/80. The pics are ones I took and donated to R. Allports "Op Quartz" article (I am the guy top left with AKM & sunglasses trying to look cool.) I donated my original class notes to the International War Museum in Joberg S/A when I visited the display in 2005. We tried to start the old girl up but the battery pack the S/A's modified to do the starting chores wasn't up to the job - we were unable to use the air start mechanism. FYI of the 10 T55's seized in 1979 the 8 sent to us in Rhodesia were squadron tanks and the 2 kept by the S/A's were the squadron command tanks - they were equipped with big means radio equipment while the squadron tanks could only communicate with one another on their small means radios. We modified all 8 tanks with both large and small means radios from Eland 90's and moved them from the loaders position to the commander position. The camo pattern is one the museum volunteers applied without knowing what the original Libyan or later South African applied camo scheme looked like. At least the pattern appears correct. Hope this settles the debate - it was an interesting time in African history and one that I am proud to have been a part of.

TrevorLarkum

- trooper

Hi guys - I am a little late to this discussion and you all may have moved on but I thought I would add my .02 cents worth to the discussion. The tanks are newly-built (1975) Labdy Works (Poland - they now make tractors) T55LD's. "L" being the hull mark and "D" being the turret mark. It is stamped on the front glacis plate but I can't remember where the stamp is on the turret? I was one of the original crewman on the tanks when I served in the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment in 1979/80. The pics are ones I took and donated to R. Allports "Op Quartz" article (I am the guy top left with AKM & sunglasses trying to look cool.) I donated my original class notes to the International War Museum in Joberg S/A when I visited the display in 2005. We tried to start the old girl up but the battery pack the S/A's modified to do the starting chores wasn't up to the job - we were unable to use the air start mechanism. FYI of the 10 T55's seized in 1979 the 8 sent to us in Rhodesia were squadron tanks and the 2 kept by the S/A's were the squadron command tanks - they were equipped with big means radio equipment while the squadron tanks could only communicate with one another on their small means radios. We modified all 8 tanks with both large and small means radios from Eland 90's and moved them from the loaders position to the commander position. The camo pattern is one the museum volunteers applied without knowing what the original Libyan or later South African applied camo scheme looked like. At least the pattern appears correct. Hope this settles the debate - it was an interesting time in African history and one that I am proud to have been a part of. :chug:

Very interesting, trooper - all contributions welcome!

- Dirk

- JimWeb

Its a T-54 for a start - though it may be more accurate to say it started out in life as a T-54....

Thanks for the correction.

According to the following PDF document listing all preserved tanks in South Africa
PDF Document : Preserved Tanks in South Africa this tank is a T-55L manufactured in Labedy in Poland.

Cheers :chug:

Dirk

It's a few years since I wrote that PDF, I'll try to update it later this year. This thread will be a goldmine for information on this particular tank.

trooper · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jul 14, 2008 Posts: 5

I thought I would add a few more pics of the original 8 T55's sent to us in Rhodesia: (top to bottom)

1. Looking down through the commanders hatch at the gunners seat in front and below the commaders seat - a close relationship to say the least. Commanders periscope just below top of turret hatch ring could override the gunners control by pressing one of the buttons which would cause the turret to quickly swing onto the target the commander was viewing;
2. Loaders position from inside the turret - the loaders safety switch is on the r/f side of the breechblock. The loader would hit this switch after loading the maingun and ensuring his body was out of the way of the recoiling breechblock.
3. Gunners scope and maingun control mechanism - these guns were stabilized and could be shot on the move. The turret swing speed was extremely fast, no doubt a legacy of the Russians encounters with Tiger Tanks in WW2.

trooper · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jul 14, 2008 Posts: 5

Another shot during the obligatory "kit check" for the RSM:

Polar

Well in Poland never was produced tank T-55LD. In Poland in production was T-54, T-55, T-55A. If this tank was upgraded T-54 is designation is T-55U

trooper · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jul 14, 2008 Posts: 5

- Polar

Well in Poland never was produced tank T-55LD. In Poland in production was T-54, T-55, T-55A. If this tank was upgraded T-54 is designation is T-55U

Well, I hate to tell you (seeing as you are from Poland) but stamped on the front glacis plate is the hull designation "L" and on the turret (if my memory is correct - it could also be on the glacis plate) is the designation "D". I'll try and explain it - each modification from the original design is designated by an alphabetical letter stamped onto the hull and turret (perhaps production run numbers?). They were built in Poland at Labdy Works in 1975 for Muyammer Ghadafi's Army - probably part of then Communist Govt. of Polands "arms for oil" barter program. Many ex-pat Poles were employed in the oil fields at the time as Ghadafi was pissed at the West. We also recieved brand new AKM's in the package and they were also stamped "Made in Poland 1975".

Polar

I ask my buddy's on polish forum about tanks. Mayby for few days will ba answer what know "L" and "D"

BTW on Gliwice in Labendy Plant stiil production tank PT-91 "Hard" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT-91

trooper · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jul 14, 2008 Posts: 5

- Polar

I ask my buddy's on polish forum about tanks. Mayby for few days will ba answer what know "L" and "D"

BTW on Gliwice in Labendy Plant stiil production tank PT-91 "Hard" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT-91

I just took a quick look on the I-net for Bumar-Labedy works and found one reference to "T-55LD's as 200 units converted from T54 for export to Africa in 1975."

That would make sense as far as the timeline is concerned - so maybe they are originally T54's upgraded to T55?

timroberts

This is a very popular page judging by the number of views!
Thanks for the updated information Razz

TrevorLarkum

News, as it's uncovered! I'll hold off updating my notes until we get a conclusion.

- trooper

I just took a quick look on the I-net for Bumar-Labedy works and found one reference to "T-55LD's as 200 units converted from T54 for export to Africa in 1975."

That would make sense as far as the timeline is concerned - so maybe they are originally T54's upgraded to T55?

That's a good reference - do you have a link?

Polar

- TrevorLarkum

News, as it's uncovered! I'll hold off updating my notes until we get a conclusion.

- trooper

I just took a quick look on the I-net for Bumar-Labedy works and found one reference to "T-55LD's as 200 units converted from T54 for export to Africa in 1975."

That would make sense as far as the timeline is concerned - so maybe they are originally T54's upgraded to T55?

That's a good reference - do you have a link?

Information is from Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...d_variants

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