The Vespers War goes on a field trip

This weekend, I took a little trip to the Virginia War Museum, since I had seen on Surviving Panzers that they had some World War I era vehicles. So, here's a bit of a photo gallery post for everyone.

This is an armored Holt 10-Ton Tractor, used for
hauling artillery. While slow (the top speed was only 4 miles per hour), it was more reliable on the battlefield than horses. Holt is one of the companies that formed the basis of the modern Caterpillar company.

Not the good side, if you're a hostile

Despite what you may think, this is not a Renault FT. It's a Six Ton Special Tractor. The exhaust is on the other side, the front armor is very slightly different, and (in this case) it carries a Browning .30cal instead of the FT's Hotchkiss. Other than that, it's basically a license-built FT. This one's beautifully restored and mounted near the entrance of the museum, in front of posters from the era.

Note the open door at the rear

One thing that caught my attention was the space between the gun shield and the turret face. You can also see that the left edge of the shield is white, and the odd appearance in the first photo really is how it's painted, rather than being glare. As with all M1917s, the faceted turret is used, not the rounded one used on some FTs. The thick "barrel" is the water jacket for the Browning machine gun.

The good side

This is the view from the other side of the tank. The raised deck over the engine area is visible, but the details inside the turret are obscured by the mannequin. Of interest is that the tank carries a pair of shovels and a pick. After the war, the vehicle would be renamed the Six-Ton Light Tank, Model 1917.




This is a 57mm gun from a British heavy tank, one of the later Marks with the L/23.5 that was shortened to prevent grounding issues. You can see it's rather stubby looking. The yellow-and-brown to the left of the fire extinguisher is the M1917's left driving wheel and tread.





This is an experimental helmet and visor made during World War I. The design came from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and around 1,500 of these were produced in late 1918. They probably would have helped with shrapnel, but I'm sure soldiers would have hated them as heavy, hot, and claustrophobic.

This wasn't labeled, but I believe it's a 2S1, a 122mm self-propelled gun built on an MT-LB APC chassis.

There's an M60 and a Duster, because who doesn't have those just laying around the spare parts lot?

Well, somebody's compensating for something here. This is the 240mm prototype for the M65 "Atomic Annie". The full-size version was a 280mm cannon capable of firing a warhead equivalent to Little Boy (15 kt) to a range of 20 miles. They were semi-portable, using a pair of custom-designed tractors to move between firing spots, taking around 15 minutes to set up at a position.