SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Can anyone tell me when live ammo was last used on the tank firing range at the defunct tank factory at Crossgates? Or am I imagining that it was.

Liits seema to bthe Barnbow expert

this link may be of interest.http://www.pontefractus.co.uk/history/b ... lasses.htm

A few morw to lok at -http://www.secretleeds.co.uk/forum/Mess ... /4746.html

There was never any live firing at Barnbow. The folks in Aberford would have had something to say about that!The main armament was preliminarily aligned using a system of lights fixed in a rig, the turret being mounted on a fixed point.The fine tuning of the alignment is an ongoing process, normally carried out by the gunner and the loader, an instrument is fitted in the end of the barrel looks down the barrel and at a some other item in the distance [an optical T piece] The “cross-hairs” on the aiming graticule can en be moved to suit. [a very simplified explanation]

Thanks liits That's put paid to my long held belief that the area of land along the bottom of Manston Lane was a firing range of some sort. Could it have been used for something like that at some time? Perhaps a test area for shells or even a rifle range?

In the 1950s we used to play as kids in loads of craters and rubble on waste land near Barnbow which I have always assumed were WWII bomb craters. Could that be where the idea of live ammo test firings came from?

I can remember the searchlights on those tanks! What a beam - even in bright sunlight. Does anyone know if they stopped running the tank testing when anyone was watching on the perimeter path or was it just my imagination?

liits wrote: The main armament was preliminarily aligned using a system of lights fixed in a rig, the turret being mounted on a fixed point.The fine tuning of the alignment is an ongoing process, normally carried out by the gunner and the loader... It certainly is. The gun is aimed using a laser rangefinder mounted in the front of the turret. At the end of the barrel is a device which "looks back" at the laser, and in conjunction with the on-board computer, makes tiny adjustments to the aim, caused by warpage in the barrel due to heat generated by firing, etc. There is also a wind strength and direction sensor on the turret roof, which factors in more fine adjustments. First shot hit probability (including moving targets) is above 90%.I'm assuming the searchlight mentioned above, was an infra-red light with dual white light/infra-red capability. At night, infra-red is great so long as your opponent doesn't have it, otherwise you may as well use normal searchlights! Thermal sights (heat sensitive) are much better as they are truly "invisible", can see through smoke and fog, and have a much longer range.     

[quotenick="Si"] liits wrote: I'm assuming the searchlight mentioned above, was an infra-red light with dual white light/infra-red capability. At night, infra-red is great so long as your opponent doesn't have it, otherwise you may as well use normal searchlights! Thermal sights (heat sensitive) are much better as they are truly "invisible", can see through smoke and fog, and have a much longer range. Thanks for that Si but I was really meaning pre-laser and thermal days. I would think it was the late 60s or around that time. I only saw them a couple of times but those searchlights certainly left an impression on me.