David Fletcher | The Man Behind the Moustache | The Tank Museum 

Uhm, not so sure about that. I would love to have a pint of beer with him, but as a teacher? I remember him saying in one of his videos not to write an opinion, because nobody is interested in it. Not very pedagogic, I think.

This was the type of history that I wanted to learn about, WWI and WWII history, not about some fat t**t who couldn't keep it in his trousers

God yes

Aye, David & Lance (The History Guy) = dream team. 😻

@@ronaldderooij1774 context; that was his bottom 5 worst tanks presentation, and he was stamping out the Fanboy flame War before it started. Of all the presentations he's done, he's never said that or anyting particularly close to that in any of the other dozens or scores I've watched.

There is a rumour it's getting it's own series

Ha!

Inside the Stache

His level of moustache-dom is so high, that he also his mini moustaches over his eyes. Awe inspiring!

I'd like to get inside Fletcher's hatch...

RU-vid is hopefully the long term preservist(?) of his legacy along with the tank museums own archive of course

Put a statue of him outside the Tank Museum

@Pixy Wine but still a nice statue of him would be great or maybe a bust with a plinth commemorating his time and effort to giving different generations knowledge, it doesn't have to be a statue of him just because he's dead, just give him one to immortalize him

Don't tell anyone but rumour is when he shuffles off, they are going to have him mounted in a class case next to the Covenanter with his tank chat, playing on a constant loop.

@@Co_Vesta I'd say at least a framed photo and a plaque, paired with a multimedia terminal with all his video recordings (not just the YT stuff).

Agreed Well As long as the tog ll isn’t included He’s the most valuable If it is included Nobody is allowed to say anything We don’t upset the tog ll

If anything the vcc should be named for him

It makes me shudder to think of.

His hearse must be a tank.

@@HandFromCoffin tog ll

David, your moustache is out of shape today!

By the way i love the David s tank talks!

Its so weird to see you guys here! Lol

Just imagine enjoying a weekend stroll down a country path and you see David Fletcher coming from the opposite direction

Sir David it is.

Legend has it, that in the event of Mr Fletcher's life ending, the moustache comes off and stalks the halls of the museum, waiting for The One Who Is Worthy, to latch itself onto said person and thus creating the next David Fletcher to continue the legacy.

@@agp11001 if only it were possible......

LOL I agree.

I'm thinking of the comment "when I can't walk, they say they'll wheel me in." To damn right. I'm expecting them to wheel him in on a hospital bed if need be. The Tank Chats are the only thing keeping us tank fans going through Lockdown.

There is UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and David Fletcher belongs on that list. His expertise and desiccant wit are simply worth keeping.

And an absolute icon to any tank enthusiast.

Based

@mandellorian Well, a mobile home is about as static as the TOG.

@mandellorian Came here to make sure this had been said.

And no one should dare state that Fletcher didn't host any small ballroom dances in that same TOG 2.

@@ratleader90 When Fletcher says you can hold a dance in there, one must assume he's speaking with personal authority.

👍

Looks like the Valiant showed up for a 2nd one.

@@VosperCDN Just can't get rid of the darn thing.

I suspect that it was both members of the Covenanter Appreciation Society.

And the second was from a rota-trailer

@@chrisgibson5267 hey, I appreciate the Covenanter! A wonderful example of how not to build a tank [at home]

Gotta flip the slat armor up for better visibility.

David's facial hair has long puzzled the Crown's best scientists, but they all insist it be kept at a reasonable length lest it achieve sentience.

Eyetaches

David Fletcher: Only man alive who has bad eyebrow days.

@@j.mcq.8418 Definitely not the only one, we all get exploding brows as we age. Best to learn to love them.

Brilliant. Was taken aback at how small Mr Fletcher is.

@@heinrichzerbe He could have been a tanker himself.

@@Briselance a tortise crewed by 7 davids

Meanwhile Willey's like "I hate being Bilbo! I wanted to be Aragorn!"

Just give them laser beams in their freakin buttholes for the treacherous talk

@go away Pogonophobes might :)

Not at all sure what Dr. Willey was talking about. I've seen every David Fletcher video and not once have I ever seen anybody slagging him in the comments.

@@harveywallbanger3123 got to second you on that one

@@harveywallbanger3123 there's several i've found on the Bottom 5 Tanks videos

For the night watchman job, he trained his mustache to yell "OI!".

The best bit was he could walk to work easier.

@@Rutherford_Inchworm_III moustache*

and curator on top of that :)

The indespensible man

He's not just a national treasure, he's an international treasure! I'm greatly enjoying his content from over here in Sweden. :D

Agreed. Even the best designs tend to have flaws and the awful designs usually have good (or at least interesting) ideas behind them even if poorly implemented.

@@Akm72 We have a saying in engineering: nothing goes onto an assembly (machine) for no reason. It might not have been a *good* reason, or properly executed, but you need to figure that out as a big part of learning your trade.

Exactly the reason that I model them!

@@patclaydon6088 Same, I would be a messy aircraft modeller!

National or International treasure?

At least he will be immortalised on the internet as well :) i hope to see him whilst i still can

Classic quote right there -

Absolutely!

Exactly a real understanding of any lineage has to include the projects that failed. There are many tanks that failed as a package but had features that carried on into generations, frankly that's how any successful tank came to be. And Fletcher is right to want to preserve that as much as the successful tanks. Sure, you don't have prioritize them but don't discard them like trash. Much can still be learned and gleaned from tanks like the Valiant, TOG or the Charioteer. If nothing else those have examples of what not to do.

@@adamg7984 Like with aircraft and the saying if it looks right then it flies right. You look at successful tanks and then the failures and wonder what were they thinking?

He is a MBE

He should be preserved as an exhibit when he croaks. Prop him up in a corner next to Valiant so he can frown at it in disappointment for generations to come.

@@pepperthekobold Is that how much you think the workshop can do? It's going to be a big series, probably the 24 episodes of Matilda will be left behind, but they will restore him. They deal with old blocks every day they can, so fixing an old bloke isn't that far away. After all they even have Tom who is only second to David with his moustache.

Did you actually get to talk to him?! I'd honestly prefer david over any modern celebrity.

@@LowieDM Yes, that was from a conversation I was having with David on the phone late, 1980s or somewhen in the 1990s. David has endured my woffle/waffle on quite a number of occasions, going back to January 1967 when, as described in this video, he was a visiting enthusiast at the Tank Museum Library together with his friend from the British Army. I was researching there too. I was invited to join them for lunch, hosted at either David's family home or it may have been his friend's home, that detail now, 54 years on escapes me. Happy days. I had been a regular visitor to The Museum since 1958 but Jan. '67 was the first time I used The Library facility and my first meeting with 'The Moustache, MBE'.

A tracked mobile buggy would be so much fun for our Dave, especially for his walks in the countryside!

Oh. My. God. Brilliant

So, where's the fundraiser and how do I fill it?

Hell yes lmao

So, better late than never.

19:50 LOL

Right.. 2 rules to live by. 1 don't mess with people who handle your food. 2 DO NOT anger someone with access to a tiger 1.

This gentleman is one for whom the words 'national treasure' could have been mated for

the stache!

No. “The Man Who Cares for Finn.”

Finn's pet human

@@gastonbell108 you make it sound like thats a bad thing tho, having someone thats relatable is something that is always good for that type of thing as well

@@gastonbell108 yes, he has no cult for his person. Which is one of the characteristics of a perfect British gentleman, as he appears to me on the screen.

@@gastonbell108 YEah. But Finn does

Nope, mr Fletcher is so much better!

Attenborough, Blessed, Fletcher. Deserve a museum of their own.

I was thinking that too!

Attenborough isn’t a National treasure, he made a Netflix film about Walruses throwing themselves of a cliff because of a lack of ice but he failed to mention the marauding Polar Bears on the cliff top, the producer of the programme later apologised

@@lesterbeedell9725 True. And he filmed starving polar bears, blaming global heating. When knowing polar bears have no natural enemies and therefore die when to old and weak to hunt.

Spot on

There seems to be something about British gentlemen named David and being good at portraying the world.

They probably meant well, it's just because their thumb is upside down.

From Australia, we love him at least as much as everyone else, the man the legend, thanks for the interview.

@@leighharding5449 Agreed.

@@leighharding5449 ken oath mate

Well, he did say he ended up in the part of the Navy that didn't go to sea ... which seems a good basis for calling it silly.

@@VosperCDN I joined the cavalry. Never did figure out what the parachute was for.

@@dougjb7848 Probably to slow down your horse when it got spooked and ran off?

@@VosperCDN Yeah, guess so. He was in office, think Jingles was too, but then on a ship......

@@vanvan-oc4nj IIRC Jingles was a radio operator of some sorts.

Good one! Cheers!

Tank'stein

i am also sweden