Com-Central.net

I've been in Thun, visiting the well know, outdoor Panzermuseum. Thanks to Tobias and Martin Haudenschild, I also visited the much less know SHP, a smaller collection, stored indoor, containing AFVs who served in the swiss army. I'll post more details within a few days.

Some pictures from the SHP surfaced over the years and has been seen on the internet (see shots from Stephen Drew). It's a very cool collection, including an FT-17 in running order. In fact the only vehicles that isn't in running order is the Vickers 34, but this is going to change in the near future!

6 Vickers 34 were bought by Switzerland in 1935. Nowadays two of them still survive

s/n: 825 (r/n: 7305) has been stored indoor in the last few years. Currently its engine has been removed, since the plan is to make a runner out of pieces coming from both tanks












Serial number: 824 (registration: 7304) has been stored outside for a very long time. And was still outdoor until last summer.

Right now it's under restoration at Swiss Army's workshop in Thun:





As you can see, they've fund empty cartridges inside the tank:







Massimo

Great photos, Massimo!

@Trevor, try to set apart some spare time, because I am assembling quite a bunch of material for you, including some pretty cool stuff

I also hope to visit the place again next year, to try and follow how the restoration goes. Kind of like I've been doing with the Kingtiger in Full.

Massimo

Excellent - I'm feeling snowed under at the moment, but in a good way!

I have updated the original VCL34 information and added Massimo's latest pics:

UID814: Thun VCL34

and added the new one and pics:

UID1202: Thun VCL34

That was straightforward, but knowing they were both built at the Vickers-Armstrongs Elswick works I have also written up the factory site over the weekend and added a link to it from both of them.

I plan to keep checking the status of the restoration (once a year or the like).
BTW It's not clear yet which of the two tanks will be restored to running condition. Most likely it will be the one currently in the workshop (Unique ID 814 for Trevor), while the other one will donate some parts.

Massimo

Do you think they'll bring that one up to the standard of the other one? Currently it looks a long way from being a runner.

From what I've heard, the current candidate to become the runner is the tank in the workshop, but it's not set in stone. Seems like the logic is "since we are working heavily on it anyway, let's make it a runner".

Tank 7305 was in a similar status just a few years ago, and the FT-17 was even worst.

Massimo

Understood. Updated.

Here's an update on the 2nd unrestored Vickers Panzerwagen 34/35 from above. She's now in Burgdorf and completely stripped down.

... some more pics

... the last one

Great news! Thanks

Massimo