Category: musée royal de l’armée et de l’histoire militaire

Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917

The Renault FT-17 was for its time a real innovation in tank design. These surviving tanks were at Bovington Tank Museum and he Musée royal de l’armée et de l’histoire militaire or Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.

The Renault FT or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917, inexactly known as the FT-17 or FT17, was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first operational tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret, and its configuration with the turret on top, engine in the back and the driver in front became the conventional one, repeated in most tanks until today; at the time it was a revolutionary innovation. Copies and derivative designs were manufactured in the United States (M1917 light tank), in Italy (Fiat 3000), and in the Soviet Union (T-18 tank).

France still had several thousand First World War Renault FT tanks in 1940. Over 500 of them were still in service in independent bataillons de chars de combat (BCC) tank battalions in the front lines. Although adequate for infantry support, they were totally outclassed by German tanks in a mobile battle. Unlike the French Army, the Belgian Army had withdrawn all FT tanks from front line service before World War II.

It is one of my favourite tanks, I have always had a fondness for this little tank, probably as a result of making that Matchbox plastic kit of the Renaultand the Char B1 when I was young.

As I am creating an Early War French army I got some of these little tanks for Flames of War.

VLC T.13 Type 2

VLC T.13 Type 2

During the interwar period, the Belgian army introduced an innovative series of self-propelled anti-tank guns, known as the T.13s. These vehicles were armed with the formidable 47-mm FRC gun, a weapon considered capable of destroying any tank of that era. Three distinct variants of the T.13 were produced: the first two featured their turret-mounted guns pointing rearward, while the third type had a forward-aiming weapon. The specific Type 2 example presented here is unique in the world and bears the markings of the Limburg Border Cyclists unit, which used it during the fighting in May 1940.

Citroën Kegresse Type P19

This Citroën Kegresse Type P19 was on display at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.

Citroën Kegresse Type P19

As early as 1911 Adolphe Kegresse conceived a vehicle featuring both wheels and tracks for more efficient driving on difficult terrains (snow, dirt and mud). In 1920 he teamed up with Andre Citroën for the production of a “half-track car”. That same year a demo of the “Citroen 10HP type A” fitted with the Kegresse tracks enthused both Andre Citroen and the military. The Citroen company acquired exclusivity for the Kegresse licence until 1934 and produced a series of vehicles featuring the Kegresse system. The Citroen Kegresse P19 was used to tow artillery.

Junkers Ju-52

The Ju52 was the last in a series of corrugated metal-skinned Junkers aircraft. The first aircraft, fitted with a single engine, flew in October 1930. The first three-engined version, the Ju52/3m, flew in April 1932.

Junkers Ju-52

This Junkers Ju-52 on display at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels was built for the Portuguese Air Force in 1937 and originally flew with the serial 109, later changed to 6309. Retired in 1972 and stored in Lisbon for the Portuguese Air Force museum until shipped to Belgium in 1985 for restoration to fly by the SABENA Old Timers. This was abandoned and the aircraft went on permanent display at the museum.

Dassault M.D.450 Ouragan

An Armee de L’air Ouragan (“UQ”) is displayed at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.

Dassault M.D.450 Ouragan

The Dassault M.D.450 Ouragan is a French fighter-bomber developed and produced by Dassault Aviation. It has its origins in a private venture by Dassault to produce an all-French aircraft which would make use of jet propulsion.

Belgian Universal Carrier

The Universal Carrier, also known as the Bren Gun Carrier is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrong.

The carrier is marked in the colours of the Brigade Piron, a Belgian force that fought with the Allies during World War II. This carrier was on display at the Musée royal de l’armée et de l’histoire militaire or Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.