Does anyone know how to get in touch with the author of the excellent Landships Google site? There is no name and no contact information, and the owners of Google sites are hidden.
I have found 2 images of presentation tanks matching numbers that site has listed as "no information" and I would like to pass them over so that the lists can be updated.
Here they are. Mk IV Female 2790 outside Victoria Barracks in Portsmouth and Mk IV Male 2336 outside the British Museum. The photo of 2336 is dated 16 October 1919 and I believe it had literally just been installed. 2790 is said to have been scavenged for parts in 1940 to support the restoration of the HMS Excellent Mk IV now at Bovington (which IMO cannot be 2324).
I would very much like to get in touch with him as there are several other things I would like to discuss with him. The true identity of the Bovington Mk IV being one of them, along with the correct identity of their Whippet.
That Mk IV cannot possibly be 2324, listed as twice damaged in action. And we know that it was training tank 103 from Bovington that was presented to HMS Excellent. If training tank serials were ever recorded at Bovington, that record does not seem to have survived. Even the official presentation just describes it as "103".
I and a friend firmly believe the Medium A to be A253, not A259 - you can clearly see that the last digit has been altered from 3 to 9, but the tank has of course been repainted. Also, there is other evidence that Lt Sewell was in fact mounted in his company commander's tank A253 'Conqueror III' on that fateful day. Including the notebook of the Company commander, Capt Henderson. A259 was Mr Sewell's usual mount. I found a video of the museum in its pre-public days at about the end of WW2 but annoyingly the serial of the Medium A is obscured. The brass plaque is present.
Forgive my ignorance, but does this site have a private message facility?
I'm not sue that I have worked out how to message anyone on this site. And if that member has not been active for 12 years it does seem rather pointless.
I don't understand why someone behind such a significant and useful information resource insists on remaining anonymous and un-contactable. It is not as if the site content is controversial. I would want to bask in the glory if it was my work. And there are definitely things I would like with talk to him about.
