Panther restoration (CWM)

[Wayne McGee]

That was a most enlightening nature walk.
Other useful tidbits gleaned from that trip;
a. an 81mm mortar bomb crater is about 12-18" across and only 2" deep and usually the whole fin assembly is left sticking out of the center of the crater. A quick look at the orientation of the fins and the fan shape of the laid down grass, that extends for several feet, you can determine the direction that the shot came from.
b. several kms out, and running perpendicular to the firing point we discovered a boundry road that was completely in dead ground from the firing point. Neatly arranged along this road was a kilometre long abandoned collumn of softskin vehicles. Faded red Duece-and-a-half fire trucks, 3/4 T SMP's, jeeps, and I'm sure there were CMP's in the mix. All these vehicles were virtually untouched, most had intact tires, glass and body work save for the odd stray 7.62 or a splash of splinters. Probably worth its weight in gold today. eh?
c. the earliest version of the HEAT-T (L19?) round for the 84mm needed a very steep angle at which to strike in order to set off the warhead (22Degs?), this resulted in a shockingly large number of un-exploded Carl G projectiles lying scattered around any tank hulk between 300-700m from the firing point. (I beleive current ammunition has cured that shortcoming.)
Anyways, it was an interesting walk, and I'm sure that there must be some sort of statute of limitations looking after me on this one anyways....right?