The only surviving A7V

[Jason]

Good evening gents

I have finally (!) gotten around to taking some pics of the only surviving A7V. Its located at the Queensland Museum in a climate controlled environment to prevent further deterioration. It was originally located at the "old" museum at Bowen Hills in the garden, behind a wire fence and under a tin roof.

Just as a side note, the names of the "Tank Boys" cold-chiselled into the rear armour plate includes one H WILLIAMS - my great-uncle.

Unfortunately, the way its displayed is a bit hard to get a large number of pictures at different angles! Hope you enjoy these anyway.

cheers

Jason

[Jason]

Front

[Jason]

name - note the shrapnel scars under the gun mount!

Edited October 3, 2006 by Jason

[Jason]

broadside

[Jason]

insignia

[Jason]

on the same theme...a Mauser anti-tank rifle, 1918 vintage, also in the Museum's collection

[Jason]

one more of the rifle

cheers

Jason

[David Gregory]

Jason,

Thanks for sharing these great images. Not all of us will ever have the opportunity to see that unique piece of armour in person.

Until I get to your part of the world, the replica at Muster tank museum is the closest I have seen to anything that conveys an impression.

Thanks,

David

[Gerd Becker]

Great pictures, Jason. Thanks for posting them here. Like David said, most of us won?t have the opportunity to see this due to its location.

Impressive piece of armor!

[Tony]

Good evening gents

I have finally (!) gotten around to taking some pics of the only surviving A7V. Its located at the Queensland Museum in a climate controlled environment to prevent further deterioration. It was originally located at the "old" museum at Bowen Hills in the garden, behind a wire fence and under a tin roof.

Just as a side note, the names of the "Tank Boys" cold-chiselled into the rear armour plate includes one H WILLIAMS - my great-uncle.

Unfortunately, the way its displayed is a bit hard to get a large number of pictures at different angles! Hope you enjoy these anyway.

cheers

Jason

Queensland Museum? As in South Bank?

H. Williams as in Herbert?

Oh well, the list of things to do is getting longer all the time.

Tony

[Tony]

Jas,

That devil on the front looks like a surfer

Tony

[Robin Lumsden]

Now......THAT'S what I call a BATTLE WAGON!

[dond]

Am I the only guy here that would love to park this in the front yard?

[Chip]

Jason,

Somewhere, I have a black and white photo of the A7V that we had here in the States. It was on display (outside in a field) at Aberdeen before it was finally scrapped. Very short sighted on someones part! Someone in Australia is a bit more historically savvy. You are lucky to have it and to have kept it in relatively good shape for all of these years.

Chip

[Jason]

Thanks guys...I remember when I was a kid I'd go to see it "in the open" pretty much every weekend with my father. A friend of mine is one of the curators at the museum who gets to climb around inside it occasionally when it needs to be checked to see how it's holding up!

Tony - yep, you're right on all counts! Good old Uncle Herb - in between stealing a farmer's fruit and being wounded he managed to leave his mark on this little beauty!!

cheers

Jason

[Jacques]

Do you mean that the tank displayed at the Panzermuseum in Munster isn't an original ?

[David Gregory]

Do you mean that the tank displayed at the Panzermuseum in Munster isn't an original ?

Jaques,

The A7V displayed at Munster is a replica.

David

[Kev in Deva]

Jaques,

The A7V displayed at Munster is a replica.

David

Yeah it's the biggest kit, 1:1 scale Tamiya bought out

Kevin in Deva

[Gaffken]

Actually, I think I recall reading somewhere that the Munster replica was actually based off of dimensions gathered from the captured Mephisto, currently interned Down Under... Edited October 5, 2006 by Gaffken

[Hauptmann]

Yeah it's the biggest kit, 1:1 scale Tamiya bought out

Kevin in Deva

Hi Kevin,

Now that's a kit I'd love to order and build! WOW!

Dan

[gregM]

Great pictures--Thanks for sharing them.

Who would have thought that the last German A7V would be in Australia ?

[Guest Rick Research]

I wonder what some 1919 bean counter thought of THAT shipping bill!!!

Is that all ORIGINAL paint??????

Some dullard at Aberdeen decided to paint all tanks generic "outdoor storage color" over all markings.... yech.

[Gaffken]

Would anyone have pics of the old Aberdeen A7V? I never knew they [once] had one until it was mentioned in this thread.

And on a similar note, does anyone know if others might have survived the war in addition to these two examples?

[Jason]

I'll see if I can scan some of the pictures from the Mephisto reference book I have here when I go back to work next week to show the condition it was in aftre it was captured.

From those it was covered in graffiti by allied soldiers who came to have a look at it, so that current paint scheme isn't original unfortunately!

cheers

Jason

[Jason]

Thought I'd test out my camera and cropping skills. Here are some images from the book I have about the tank. First up - the graffiti. The tank was at the 5th Tank Brigade demonstration ground at Vaux-en-Amienois (near Amiens) when this pic was taken, August 1918.

Note the fuel tanks on the ground at the left of the picture.

Edited October 7, 2006 by Jason