Tank Wreckage, East lothian

[the_historian]

No idea whether this is even in the right thread, so feel free to move it. I had no idea where it should
be.
The John Muir Country Park is on the western edge of Dunbar, in East Lothian. It incorporates Hedderwick Hill Plantation, which was a wartime training ground, and there are still anti-glider landing poles to be seen in Belhaven Bay.
Anyhoo, I heard in the PSG Forum last October that there was a tank in the park, and went looking for it. The wreckage is actually at the extreme western end of a massive t-shaped sandbar called Spike Island, and between the sandbar and the mainland are saltmarshes which are covered at high tide.

I'm reliably informed by a fellow anorak that this is one set of bogies belonging to a Matilda IIA, though no-one has the foggiest how the tank got there.

 

[the_historian]

When the finder originally came across it in the late '60s, he found an almost complete tank which included the turret; all long gone.
About 50 yards to the left of the camera are the demolished remains of a minewatcher's post, which was in what can be fairly described as a isolated position!

These molten metal remains lie about 50 yards to the right of the bogies.

Apologies for the blurred images, but my hands were literally shaking with the cold....and there were lunatics out windsurfing that bloody morning!

 

[daddybear]

sorry to butt in but the tank would have looked like this when it was completley intact

 

[night crawler]

Interesting find though there is not a lot left to say it was a tank though the last photo looks like some tracks.

 

[Badoosh]

Great stuff, thanks for posting! So some beachcomber, souvenir hunter has probably got parts of the tank sat in their house or back garden. Imagine the wife's surprise when hubby & his mates strolls through the door & plonks rusted parts of a tank in the room!

 

[the_historian]

Cheers Daddybear.
It didn't look much like a tank to me either, but a mate of mine who has forgotten more about AFVs than I'm ever likely to know positively ID'd it. Keep meaning to get back over there to see what else is lurking in the dunes.

 

[Krypton]

Thats an interesting piece!

 

[shatters]

Daddybear, I presume that there are records to say that it's a Matilda II, or you must know your tanks to make it out from what remains on the beach

Phil

 

[Seahorse]

Not so sure about the defining elements of what mark of Matilda it might have been. As far as I remember (and I'm relying on decades old memories of Airfix models and associated literature that may not have been too accurate to begin with), the IIA's only improvement was a change of machine gun.

Tank anoraks, please feel free to correct me.

 

[the_historian]

Phil,
It was actually a mate of mine who identified it from the sprockets in the photos. I have no idea how the hell he knew .......

 

[shatters]

Phil,
It was actually a mate of mine who identified it from the sprockets in the photos. I have no idea how the hell he knew .......

Sorry Historian, I didn't read the last line of your second post saying it was a matilda II, I credited daddybear for identifying it

Phil

 

[Foxylady]

Blimey, that's a real interesting find! A nice little puzzle to solve too.

 

[daddybear]

Sorry Historian, I didn't read the last line of your second post saying it was a matilda II, I credited daddybear for identifying it

Phil

thats o.k guys all i did was google matilda II hope it helped.cheers daddybear.and NO i,m not a tank anorak,but i do like them

 

[shatters]

NO i,m not a tank anorak,but i do like them

I am among many other things

Phil

 

[Dirus_Strictus]

Phil,
It was actually a mate of mine who identified it from the sprockets in the photos. I have no idea how the hell he knew .......

Sorry to be a pedantic know all. There are no sprockets on the sandbar. Your mate identified the type of tank from the size and style of the road wheels, that were still attached to the bogie remains.

 

[the_historian]

Sorry to be a pedantic know all. There are no sprockets on the sandbar. Your mate identified the type of tank from the size and style of the road wheels, that were still attached to the bogie remains.

No offence taken! I remember him saying something along those lines.
Personally, I wouldn't know the bleedin' difference.....

 

[tigger2]

Anyhoo, I heard in the PSG Forum last October that there was a tank in the park, and went looking for it. The wreckage is actually at the extreme western end of a massive t-shaped sandbar called Spike Island, and between the sandbar and the mainland are saltmarshes which are covered at high tide.

Nice photos. There was a chap in PSG who posted a whole load of pictures of stuff from around John Muir Park to flickr or one of the other online photo storage sites. Same chap had taken photos of the various bits and pieces around Ross Sands (as per http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=5719) IIRC

 

[Sabtr]

Interesting find this. It looks like the old gas axe had its way with this one - perhaps the scrapmen left this bit because it became buried in the sand as they worked away?

There are many other old target sites around the UK coastline and I'd bet there are plenty remnants like this still lying round..... this has set me thinking.

 

[jonney]

yes you are a tank botherer Daddybear, now don't try and deny it. Anyhoo as Sausage was saying what else is left on the target sites that the scrapmen have not got to. There has to be tonnes of the stuff buried on the beaches that hasn't surfaced yet.

 

[the_historian]

There are a lot here, but most are too far for me to get to-
Military vehicles