Hello Andrew and Seo, Seo: the bracket at the front is (I think) attached to the track tension adjuster. There is something on that adjuster. But what it is ... Andrew, mounting points .... you could be right. I have looked for pictures but could not find a Mark Iv with a crane that was attached to those points. I have only seen pictures of cranes on Mark IV's that were attached on the inside of the two sides with tracks. What I have found is a Mark V ** with something that looks to be attached at those points. But on a Mark IV....? Any suggestions?
I think the front ends of both tanks are pretty much the same in those areas. I suspect that even a smaller Mk IV would have the mass to support the bridge. The anchor points on the Mk V** to look very similar to those shown on the Mk IV and if you project a straight line through the two points it forms a very similar angle to the MK V** bridge
Hello Andrew,
you are right, the same places as on the Mark V**
I will look through my books this weekend to find any picture or reference to a Mark IV bridgelayer.
thanks!
Best regards,
Willem
Great photo with the Whippet prototype towing a Mark IV. So there were more Mark IV's with those brackets or could it be that the officers that started their business at Soutend on Sea bought this Mark IV from Bovington? That would explain the bracket on the tank in Southend on Sea. And when I look at the picture it looks like there is also a bracket at the rear? The extra bracket on the track tension adjuster seems not attached in this picture/at this Mark IV.
A little step further and another question and maybe a trace .......
I found this photo. It does not show the brackets but I had seen that picture before. It is in Haynes Great War Tank manual. (page 131 bottom right)
Reading about it I came to the next page (132, top left) where the picture that Vollketten put here can be see. Under that picture you can read: "The same tank .... (the rest of the text does not matter). They refer to the mine roller tank on the previous page. And that mine rolling tank has a sponson on the right side, the picture on the next page shows the same tank without a sponson on the left side..... No brackets on the right but brackets on the left? The pictures show two different moments in time so maybe the brackets have been removed or added depending to which picture we refer.
But what strikes me: This tank might well be the Joy Rides Tank that was bought by the officers to ride at the Kursaal in Southend on Sea. That one (or one of the two tanks at Kursaal) has a sponson on the right and no sponson on the left. Any ideas .......?
Ok, SMK (Ronald) told me that it may not be as I stated above and he may be right ....
The first picture gives the Joy Ride tank with the lower part of the left sponson (the doors that are beneath the female sponson. In the picture of the Mark IV that is used as a "dead weight" behind the Whippet uou can cleraly see that there is an all wooden left side. So where did those doors came from? Spare parts that were part of the deal? Or two different tanks with those brackets.......
