Non-stop stupid facts quiz! (keep it going!)

Was it Kaj Birksted?

 

Kaj Birksted indeed.

Usually credited with 10 or 10.5 victories.

Next please.

 

ok, what's this:
Codename white rabbit
Developed between 1939 - 1941
Length 77' 6''
Width 6' 6''
Height 8'
Weight 130 tons
Engine 2x600hp diesel
Speed 0.5mph

 

Chuchill's moving cigar and liquor stock?

 

Is it another attempt at a trench-making machine?

 

Close but no Churchill cigar

name of vehicle please

 

Somehow I think a bunch of soldiers with spades are faster.

 

"Nellie".

 

Give that man a cigar.
Details:
The construction of the French Maginot and German Siegfried Lines during the inter-war years led to an assumption that any future conflict would again involve trench warfare. Mindful of the appalling loss of life in the trenches of 1914-18, Churchill wanted to find a way of allowing troops and supplies to advance in relative safety and quickly break through the German front line. He came up with the idea of machines which would dig large trenches through No Man's Land under cover of darkness and the noise of an artillery barrage. Troops and tanks would follow in these trenches, coming to the surface at or behind the enemy front line. The mechanical 'mole' designated NLE, standing for Naval Land Equipment, came to be known as 'Nellie' or in Paxman's Drawing Office as 'No man's Land Excavator' - a very apt description.

On 7th February 1940 Cabinet and Treasury approval was given for the construction of 200 narrow 'infantry' machines and 40 wide 'officer' machines. The original planned production rate was 20 machines (requiring 40 engines) per week. It her final form Nellie was 77' long, 6' 6" wide, 8' high and made in two sections. The main section, driven on caterpillar tracks, looked like a greatly elongated tank and weighed 100 tons. The front section, weighing another 30 tons, was capable of digging a trench 5' deep and 7' 6" wide. It comprised a plough which cut the top 2' 6" of the trench, and 'pick and shovel' cutting cylinders which excavated the bottom 2' 6". The spoil was carried away by conveyors to the top of each side of the trench to create 3' parapets. Nellie could move at just over half a mile an hour, removing some 8,000 tons of spoil in the process. When she reached the enemy's front line she would stop and act as a ramp for following tracked vehicles to climb up out of the trench onto open ground. Originally she was to be powered by a single 1,000 bhp marine version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Apart from the fire risks inherent in a petrol engine, it was soon pointed out this engine could only be expected to produce 800 bhp under continuous load, less than was required for the task. Shortly after, all Merlin engines were urgently needed by the RAF and Sir Harry Ricardo's advice was sought on a suitable alternative. He recommended using two Paxman-Ricardo engines of the type already in service with the Navy and of a proven design. The decision was made to use two 600 bhp Paxman 12TPs, necessitating a complete redesign of Nellie. One engine was to drive the cutter and conveyors at the front and the other used to propel the machine itself.

The war very quickly took a totally unexpected course. After Dunkirk and the fall of France the Nellie project collapsed. Large scale production of TPs for Nellie was abandoned and the engine capacity was turned over to the Admiralty. (Field trials of the pilot machine commenced in June 1941 and were not completed until about January 1942.)

The most detailed history of Churchill's trench digger is 'Nellie' - The History of Churchill's Lincoln-Built Trenching Machine by John T Turner, published in 1988 by The Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology (ISBN No 0 904680 68 1). It is a very well researched and written publication. According to this history only five of the smaller 'infantry' version of Nellie were actually completed. Four were scrapped at the end of the war and the fifth, believed to have been the pilot machine, was scrapped in the early 1950s. There is a suggestion that work was commenced on four of the wider 'officer' machines but that these were scrapped when Winston Churchill finally agreed to cancellation of the project in May 1943.
From website on Paxman engines. Picture and details also in 'Tanks and AFVs of the Blitzkreig era'

Your turn Skua

 

any pic of nellie?

 

This pic may not be 100% accurate!
Will post proper pic next time I'm home.

 

:lol:

 

looks like a gizmo from the thunderbirds cartoons :lol:

 

Matter of fact, Dave, it is.

Does anyone have a picture of the real Nellie NLE?

 

YES! I'll get it, honest!

 

and what are you waiting?

WE want to see the pics!!!! :angry:

 

Ready for a new one while we´re waiting for the pics of "Nellie" ?

What type of aircraft was the first British aircraft to shoot down an enemy aircraft in WWII ? Bonus points to those who can tell what was shot down as well.

 

A Skua shot down a Dornier Do17.

 

That was too easy for you, Ricky.

No bonus points, however, as it was a Do 18 it shot down, not a Do 17.