8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars (1948-50)

  Between 1948-50, my uncle Ken was a gunner driving Cromwell Tanks (above) in the Yorkshire Hussars at York and Middlesborough T.A. Regment stationed at Leicester East Airfield. He was demobbed before the regiment left for Korea. Over 60 years later, if he's not feeding the Buzzard on the bird table in his garden at Wrockwardine near the Wrekin, you can find him building scale models of tanks from 75mm shell cases in his work shop.

Model of a Cromwell Tank

 

 This is where it all starts from with 75mm shells to build the tanks

Treack guards

 

Side plate

drilling the wheels

 

 

Starting to take shape

 

And finally the end product all built from the 75mm shells, Note the tiny shovel on top of the track guard to the right

 

 

  

He's only just started building from the shells and so far this is what he's made. Pretty good stuff!

 

 

My uncle on the right leaning on a Cromwell Tank

 

 

The Cromwell was of the most successful series of cruiser tanks fielded by Britain in the Second World War. The Cromwell tank, named after the English Civil War leader Oliver Cromwell, was the first tank put into service by the British to combine a dual-purpose gun, high speed from the powerful and reliable Meteor engine, and reasonable armour, all in one balanced package. Its design formed the basis of the Comet tank.