Posted on 05/18/2021 7:40:10 AM PDT by dynachrome
A Crowland, UK, farmer recently dug up an amphibious WWII military vehicle that was buried under 30 feet of earth. Now, he is working to restore the Buffalo LVT-4—once thought to be lost to history.
An excavation involving 50 men to exhume the tank in Lincolnshire Fens has afforded farmer Daniel Abbott the opportunity to restore and display the vehicle, which, for him, has become a passion. For the past three years, Abbott has been searching for the 20-ton amphibious assault vehicle, which itself has been buried for the last 74 years.
“There were a lot of rumors flying around about the Buffaloes not being there. People told me that they’d all been recovered,” he said. “But I remember as a young child my great-grandparents telling me there were amphibious vehicles around the site.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
In looking up Tanks lost in swamps, it appears several have been found. I remember about 15-20 years ago a Russian Tank, captured by the Germans, and remarked with German markings was pulled out of a swamp.
The trailer’s tire is going to BLOW , LOL
We had one of those one in a 100 year floods in a creek near where I live. Creek is 20 feet wide and maybe a foot deep most times of the year.
Through a extra long rainy spell and a huge rainfall deluge creek waters washed a triaxle White dump truck close to a mile down stream.
The power of water.
Back in the early 90’s when Russia opened up, A guy I know was dispatched by a rich American to find downed German planes for a Florida aviation museum.
He found one, in a sort of swampy area with the remains of the pilot still inside.
He had problems with a WW II Russian plane...... the wins were not removable
There was a show on History Channel a few years back where they restored tanks. Can’t remember the name. one episode restored a Panther tank recovered from a polish river. The restorers found it had been sabotaged, likely by a slave laborer. A Schindler tank.
Grab a shovel and we’ll have it out in no time.
More pictures here:
How does something get buried in 30 feet of dirt
Reminded me of a soil conservation study in the 30’s. By plowing so that the plow threw the dirt up hill, they created negative erosion. The practice never caught on.
It was summer so the mud had mostly dried up. We started by clearing a path through the brush to it. Then we started digging. After a day of dedicated effort we had most of the peaty dirt and mud cleared away from it. We had a surplus WWII hand winch that weighed about a 100 pounds that we were able to cart down the scene of the crime. It was basically a boat winch on steroids that had 1/2” steel cable instead of rope. We strapped the winch to a tree nearby and started cranking on it. We were able to pull the old Allis Chalmers out of the hole we had made using that winch.
The tires had all rotted off years before, but surprisingly the wheels were not in that bad of condition and we were able to joggle the gear box into a neutral position that let it roll. Once we got it to solid ground we were able to pull it back to our house using a jumbo sized garden tractor that we had. It was quite a sight.
My brother spent the next few months, all his money and some of my dad's rebuilding it. The first thing he did was start soaking everything with diesel and penetrating oil. He made a crank and we were eventually able to get the engine unseized. He had to replace all of the ignition parts. We didn't have a muffler when we first got it started so it made a terrible racket.
After he got new tires and he had it going again we had a lot of fun with that tractor. It went fast when it was in high gear. That first winter we pulled people around on inner-tubes and sleds behind it when it was snowed. There were not too many serious injuries. The most dangerous hazard was the homemade crank which went through several revisions before it would release reliably when you got the engine started.
Fire truck pumper and a 4” hose will do it faster.
Eh. A really *good* unit of the line would have dug itself out and gone looking for its old commander.
I wonder what the inside is like.
Either a Time Capsule or a rusted out disaster...................................
That’s an awesome story. Do you have a photo?
It’s in better shape, outside, than I though it’d be. But there was probably little/no oxygen down in all that mud, which helped preventing deterioration and rust. I have a friends who also collects WWII vehicles, and his collection has a Buffalo, which is pretty sparse inside, to begin with.
The tractor is still at my parent's place, covered with junk. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo to upload right now... We both had an interest in flying so we made huge kites out of plastic sheeting and dimensional lumber to tow behind it. Our idea was to make something big enough to tow us aloft. Fortunately we were never very successful with that. But I did eventually buy a hang glider that we could tow behind a boat. My brother has been a captain at a major airline for decades. And I live on a small airport with my wife and wiener dog.
Thinking back I think that it was the kickback that made the crank so dangerous. I don't think we had the timing quite right when we first got it going and our technique wasn't the best. The thing wacked my brother on the forearm so hard that he had to get x-rays to make sure it wasn't broken.
In 1916 a dam burst holding back Lake Toxaway in the Mts. of North Carolina. The resulting deluge scoured the canyon wall down to bedrock and washed away the power plant below.
The plant had two hydro generators the size of a short bus that were never found.
On purpose and with a bulldozer.
i would take that to my prom...
drive everyone there.
Anyone inside?
“There were not too many serious injuries”
LOL...leave ‘em begging for more.
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