514th Q.M. T.C.

[mick.wilson]

Well this story will make you sad and make you laugh.

Last week me and Gordon went out to the Republic of Djibouti in East Africa, with the intent of possibly bringing back a Sherman tank sat in
a scrap yard and left by the Foreign Legion back in the 1960’s, we left having only one contact that we could find out there on line, our guide
Ali and a stack of photo taken about 10 years ago by a French army pilot (Philippe),


With the help of Philippe we located where the photos were taken and set out to save the Sherman from the cutting torch, after travelling for 3.5
hour to Istanbul, then another 5 hour flight on to Djibouti we finally arrived at our destination of Djibouti city International airport. The airport is also
used by the American military to keep an eye on the Somalia boarder a short distance away and the pirates that operate off the Somalia cost.

The taxi from the airport to the Hotel was an real eye opener, taxis in Djibouti seam to be all old Nissans that would have been scraped long ago
in an European country and as our taxi crabbed and banged its way through the city at 6:30am we sew through the cracked windows that
every other street corner had a scrap yard brimming with rusty cars. The city was dirty and poor but as we got closer to the hotel the expensive
building of the foreign embassy’s started to appear.










Not knowing what to expect we were happy to find that our hotel was old but well looked after with very friendly staff, with the temperature at 30c
the pool looked inviting but after a quick nap we started on our mission and got our guide Ali working on the maps we had made for him.










Our first stop was to a large Scrap yards outside the city, as we entered we could not have been more surprised with the amount of kit that was
there, aircraft, trucks and Jeeps litter the place in mixed piles, there was no order to it all so it was a case of just climbing up mountains of trucks to
see what was out there, we had hopped that with Djibouti being so hot the metal skins of the trucks and jeeps would be in good condition but
unfortunately this was not the case, the jeeps and truck looked no better than trucks and jeeps that would have been found in a wet European yard
but this yard is near the sea.





























































Jeep art




F100 Super Sabres











One interesting find was Chaffee tank hull that looked as if it had taken a hit on the top of the hull near the turret, the turret laid 50ft away from the
hull, it also look to have been decommissioned by the troops that left it behind, the barrel was splayed out as if a charge had be put down the
front and the twin engines looks as if somebody a thrown a grenade in the engine bay.




































We went on to scrap yard after scrap yard looking for the Sherman as the place that it was last seen had been levelled and we hoped that the tank
had be moved or sold on to one of the other yards, there was no luck and after talking to many people we came to the conclusion that it had been
cut up for scrap and sent to India, that’s where we were told all the scrap from Djibouti goes.










We drove with our guide for miles closer to the Somalia boarder hoping to see military scrap kit but it was hard work as the countryside is littered
with scrap along with shanty towns made from various materials. As we got closer to the boarder we had Predator drowns fly above us and the
sound of distant gun fire, when we saw the French military tanks ahead of us, they flagging us down by moving there barrel up and down as they
pointed it towards our car, it was time to turn back to the city.
















We also went to see the six Stuart Tanks and a Panhard dumped in the sea by the Foreign Legion back in the 1960’s, this was within the French
camp and was only thanks to a French Major that understood that we had come a long way to see them that we got onto the base.


























Well we got back yesterday, we may not have saved any Sherman’s but I did get lot of good contacts out there with the possibility of saving
something in the future and wow what an adventure.

Thanks go to Philippe and all the people that made this happen

[fayjo56]

Mick, Gordon, I am in awe of your trip . Thanks for sharing the pictures with us. Would importing stuff from there be straight forward? Do I see a new business venture in second hand parts? Perhaps you should apply for Dragons Den! I'll come and work for you, CV in the post
All the very best to all.
Paul

[mick.wilson]

Hi Paul, we are looking into something out there but it’s along way off anything happening yet

[peter davies]

Wow what an amazing adventure, thank you for shareing with us. I would never have ever have immagined so many scrap WW2 vehicles in this day and age.
Thanks again Peter.

[Keito]

Well done guys, looks like a great adventure

[jmcqo]

Quel réel dommage que l'armée française ait abandonné ainsi une part importante de son matériel roulant et volant, matériel qui aurait pu faire le bonheur de nombreux collectionneurs. Aujourd'hui, seules quelques pièces peuvent être récupérées, mais à quel prix ?
JM

[peter davies]

For those like me whose understanding of the French Language is limited to yes and no, Google provide the follow translation.

What real shame that the French army had abandoned as an important part of its rolling stock and flying equipment that could bring happiness to many collectors. Today, only a few parts can be recovered, but at what price?
JM

[raschippo]

Mick, incredible. If you do get the chance to get some stuff, my business partner has been in the international freight business for 40 years, so he will happilly get you competitive container quotes. We recently shipped a 76mm andi aircraft gun from a collector in the UK to a dealer in the USA.

[mick.wilson]

Some video footage with some of the old photos of the main scrap yard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMdlpAjdXAE

[PJ]

Oh Mick, I could do with some of those jeep bits! You could make a few good newones out of the best bits of a few. Somegood looking dodges in there too.

As for the stuarts - what a shame!

18 years ago we went on holiday to Corfu and when driving through one area, we saw loads of Chafees - we thought were abandoned in teh fields. After we'd driven passed about 8 I stopped at one and me and Emma (then 4 years old) ran over and climbed on it. Looked rough on the outside - no engine in but, when we climbed in the open turret hatches, it looked good - no, I suddenly realised it looked like new - all optics etc ammo and everything in.
We quickly started to climb out and then saw 4 greek soldiers coming across the fields shouting...
We legged it to the car and drove off.
They must have been using them like pill boxes - facing Turkey. It was not long after those plane spotters had been arrested so I think we did well to get away!
I will try to k
look out the pics and post them here. I wonder if they are up for selling them yet pre scrapping!
Paul

[mick.wilson]

Been there done that Paul
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