This is the log of an at first impossible project, a dream come true, but also of a long and difficult struggle. Only goal: giving back Poelkapelle it's tank on the marketplace, once it's major tourist attraction !
Thanks to the donators, volunteers and cooperating firms !
All the images are copyrighted YpresSalientTanks part of the P1917A !
ing. Vanbeselaere Johan july 2016
The beast waiting to get trackplates and cladding.
31st May we were invited by Robert Vandaele in the workshops of Vandaele Machinery at Oostrozebeke, because he has finished the work he promised : the excavator tracks we bought last summer were able to be driven by the Gardner motor via the hydraulic pump. All this material is bought second hand and was put together into running condition by Robert in the workshops of Vandaele Machinery. Unnecesarry to say Robert is now eternally linked to this tankproject and we ow him a lot. Without him this second phase of making the framework mobile would not have been possible, while a lot of thanks must go also to Georges, who's making this financially possible. Georges is standing besides me in the beginning of the film, I'm the youngest chap, while Robert in his grey-red coloured overall is operating the motor. At the end I'm operating the hydraulic pump levers, testing both directions. Unnecessary to say I was and still am marvelled ...
To have a first idea about what we are talking about, have a look at the youtube film :
