Eden Camp Heritage Restorations, August 2022

Eden Camp Heritage Restorations 

7th August 2022

My in-laws were over, visiting from New Zealand for the summer, so we decided to take them up to Yorkshire to see some of the sights. As my uncle has a cottage up there, I know the area fairly well, but there's loads of lovely stuff to see that I haven't gotten around to yet - we had a lovely trip on the North York Moors Railway, and went to Rievaulx Abbey and Kirkham Priory, which were spectacular and both new experiences for me. But I was especially excited to go back to Eden Camp, as we had visited it last year where we saw a Sherman being restored that I later saw driving in the display at Tankfest in Bovington. I was keen to see what they were working on now - fortunately, the in-laws were also on board with going through the World War II exhibits at Eden Camp. 

1. New Heritage Restoration Building

Last time we visited, in September 2021, work was ongoing to build the new heritage vehicle warehouse. It's completed now, and it's fantastic! They've got a nice little selection of vehicles in there, and even a bar (though it wasn't serving the day we were there, unfortunately). The only problem with the place is that it's already full, so they must be thinking of how to expand it. 

The new Heritage Hall

RAF recovery truck stationed outside the new hall

The bar had a screen showing off the M50 driving at Tankfest!

Eden Camp is very much focused on World War II, but in the Heritage Hall the guys seem to be interested in whatever vehicles they can get their hands on, which suits me fine! Actually, one of the interesting points I took away from it was the long history some of these vehicles have, which means that focusing on a single conflict doesn't cover their whole story - examples like the vehicles that were used in the Falklands, which was a significant, though short, engagement. Or the M50 Sherman that was in use decades past its life expectancy. They treat their vehicles as individuals and really try to preserve their whole story, which I thought was great.  

There was a good mix of old and newer vehicles on display. One particularly interesting piece was a bomb trepanning machine, and luckily the guy who had been putting it together was there and chatted to me about how it worked - drilling a hole into a bomb and melting out the explosives while (hopefully) keeping the trigger from activating. It wasn't something I was familiar with, but apparently these sorts of machines have been in use since the Second World War and still are to this day. So that was interesting! 

I really like how the vehicles are displayed in the new Heritage Hall, it's nicely laid out and feels bright and open. I think they've done a great job with it and it's definitely worth a visit if you're up in Yorkshire. There are plenty of other vehicles on the site too, outside of the Heritage Hall, and last time we were there I spent a lot longer walking around and photographing them. It's a great museum, and it even has a great play area for kids too.

Bomb trepanning machine for disposal of explosives

A Spartan CVRT transport, with a missile-toting Striker behind

A rare Fox CVRW, the only existing one licenced for road use

Polsten quad anti-aircraft machine gun turret

M16 half-track. Frank was working on adding gas bottles so
the guns to could 'fire' for displays

Willys jeep

2. Sherman M50 with Frank

There was a little sign advertising a guided tour of the Scorpion and I decided to wait around for it - luckily the family didn't mind wandering around the rest of the museum while I hung about the vehicle shed. And I was very glad I did, as Frank started up one of them (I think it was the Scimitar) and then (once he turned the engine off again) talked to the assembled crowd for about 45 minutes about the CVRTs. 

It was a great chat from Frank about the CVRT Scimitar and Scorpion, two of only 8 recon vehicles that were sent to the Falklands. Apparently there are only three surviving vehicles from that campaign, and the third one is owned by Eden Camp too; it was out getting repaired at the time. Frank was really knowledgeable, and he said it was useful researching the history of more recent vehicles as you can still reach out to the crews, unlike a lot of the Second World War stuff where unfortunately there aren't many still around. Talking directly to the crews who had driven these particular vehicles in the Falklands sounded like a gold mine of information. He did make the point that the Falklands conflict was a relatively short campaign and that these vehicles had served both before and after that deployment, but as it was the 40th anniversary this year they (quite rightly) wanted to highlight it. 

I have to confess I don't know all that much about the Falklands War beyond the basics, so hearing some more information in context of these vehicles was fascinating. We also talked about the other two CVRTs in the shed, and had the opportunity to get inside the Spartan transport, which was OK to stand in with the hatch open! All of this was great, but I had to ask him about the M50 Sherman while I was there, which he was only too happy to talk about.  

CVRT Scorpion and Scimitar, used in the Falklands War

Scimitar and training turret

Side view of the Scorpion

Standing in the back of a Spartan

I said to Frank that I was very interested in the M50 Sherman, having seen it in pieces last year at Eden Camp and then running at Tankfest - I was really pleased that he had seen the photos from my blog post about it, and even more pleased that he offered to do another talk all about the Sherman for anyone that wanted to listen! He was really generous with his time, and really knew the tank inside out. The forensic detail he went into, showing the various welding scars and small details that could be seen on the tank itself to back up the research he had done into the tank itself, was amazing. It really put the long service history of this particular tank into context. I've no doubt missed some of the detail, but as far as I remember this is what he told us about the life of this tank all the way through from the 1940's, demonstrating the physical evidence on the hull for the various life stages it went through. The tank far exceeded its anticipated life expectancy!   

It started out as a M4A4 Sherman – most of these Sherman models were used by the British forces in World War II. This particular one has evidence of the snorkel attachment and side skirts that were added to make it suitable for amphibious landings – so, although they can’t confirm it definitely took part in D-Day, it did most likely go over to France during the Normandy landings.

After the war, the French bought a large number of Shermans to protect against any future aggression until their own new range of tanks had been designed and constructed. I expect we were only too happy to sell them to begin paying back our debt to America and save shipping them back across the Channel. They utilised some of the bits and pieces left by the Americans to upgrade the Shermans they purchased, extending their running life significantly. A ‘T’ designation was added to this and the other M4A4 tanks that the French upgraded, turning it into an M4A4T.

Once the French had begun to build their own range of newer tanks, they looked for allies to sell the old Shermans to. It was at this point that the tank was further upgraded to become an M50 ‘mark 1’ – Frank referred to it as a ‘mark 1’ M50 as his unofficial designation to distinguish it from the later modifications it underwent. The Israelis bought the tanks from the French and it was their request to modify the turret to include the larger AMX gun that the French had recently developed. The older guns on the Shermans weren't up to the task of taking on the T-34’s that the Israelis were fighting against in the desert. The French obliged, adding the enormous gun and performing the other turret modifications to make the new gun actually work (providing space to actually load the thing and counterbalancing the additional weight, for instance). 

These (and other) modifications helped keep the Sherman running long past its expected expiry date. The Israeli registration numbers can just about be made out under the paintwork, despite attempts to remove them. Over time, there were even more modifications such as widening the tracks and adding in a second row of wheels to hold them in place. They actually had to carve out recesses into the hull to avoid the wheels fouling on the tank body!

The Lebanese took the tank on in 1980, as part of their agreement to work with the Israelis – they got the tanks, fuel, ammo and logistical support in return for protecting certain regions. In general, Frank said the Lebanese did not care for these ancient tanks particularly well, and often ended up burying them at the top of ridges and using them as static gun emplacements. That’s when they painted them blue – to blend in with the skyline for anyone looking up from below. A less favourable interpretation might be that they hoped the blue tanks would be confused for UN Peacekeepers… but, it was probably the skyline thing!

Apparently, many of these tanks had their engines removed and the back of the hull opened out, turning them into something like a metal bunker (they used small generators to power the batteries to enable the turret to traverse). This particular M50 was lucky enough to keep its tracks and engine, though it had been buried so was in a bad way when it was recovered from the desert – full of sand and shell casings, gearbox broken and discarded under the debris… so it took a lot of effort to bring it back to life.

Eden Camp acquired the tank in the 90's, and it sat near the entrance for a few more decades before they decided it was time to try and get it up and running again. They've got some more work to do on it, for example getting the turret traversing (which I believe they have done since we were there), but it's running and looking great. They're planning to put in a platform to allow visitors to peek in the turret, which sounds like a grand excuse to go back up and visit again!

Side view of the M50

Close up of the wide treads

My budding young photographer getting a close up of the M50

The girls in front of the M50 - the Sherman is a very tall tank

It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Frank for so long, he was so passionate about the vehicles and clearly knew them very well. He did talk about the history of this particular Sherman and said that they could certainly make more money by painting it green so it could star in Second World War movies (like Fury), but they felt strongly that they should honour the whole history of this particular tank and show it in the blue colours that it was painted in at the end of its long combat service. And, I've got to say, I love that approach to the history of the tank. It makes this particular Sherman stand out (I'd never seen a blue one before!) and really makes the history of it come alive. Imagining all the things that this tank has done in over 40 years of active service... it's amazing, really. 

Thank you Frank!