film/book review Classic Military Vehicle 184 Sept 16

[Bob Grundy]

Well what do we all think of the latest issue.......

Front cover 'The First Tank Battles', really this about tanks supporting an infantry operation not battle between tanks which is what the words suggest.

Page 8 'Military Historian Dies' a obituary for Lt Col (Rtd) George Forty, seems it has been lifted with a few words different from the Times. It has a photo of six men in Russian uniforms, I know which one his him but the obit borders on disrespectful. Also did he command an Armoured Division in Aden, surly a smaller unit?

Page 29 A Centurion ARV is captioned Chieftain AVR.

Pages 40 & 41 The word 'posing' is used three times, poor writing.

Now I have not read every word, can we add to the above?

[Runflat]

I try not to get too wound up by what I read - those of us that have been around a while can self-edit.

 

That said, I am looking forward to future article on the "1943 Nuffield modified Jeep, thought to be the only one in the world with a shortened chassis amd lower body." Am I right in thinking the vehicle is one of at least two replicas?

 

You'll note that I'm holding back on "Jeep" having a capital 'J'!

[wattie]

How many Willys Nuffields were made ? Is is possible that one survived ? I thought they were just a prototype that never went into production .

 

The late Bob James built a replica one in the eighty's I have pictures of it somewhere . I think it was sold to the channel Islands and ended up in Holland . I recall seeing another in the Windscreen recently .

[simon king]

How many Willys Nuffields were made ? Is is possible that one survived .

 

I think only one was built. It survived to be sold off after the war as surplus. It was road registered and a photo of it parked on the street appeared in Classic and Sports Car magazine a number of years ago. I seem to recall that the caption indicated that the copywriters had no idea what they were looking at!

 

Presumably it was eventually scrapped although I suppose it could linger on somewhere festering in a lock-up or derelict barn.

[Runflat]

The answers to some of the above can be found in Wheels & Tracks #50:

 

What is assumed to have been the prototype saw post-war use in Surrey (reg KPH911).

 

Replica "Little Nel" (VAD275) appeared in the same article and issue #14. This seems to have started in the Worcestershire area and then moved to Jersey (becoming J832 and then J8797). The chassis wasn't shortened.

 

Another (UYJ337), with a shortened chassis, was built by a Mr A Haworth of Lancashire.

[Richard Farrant]

As this Nuffield jeep was by us at W&P this year, I can say after looking at it and talking to a guy there, that this is a genuine one, going by the Ministry of Supply plate, it was issued with a post war number in the YH range and had a specified repair in 1955. The plate bears 'Nuffield Mech' on it and also 'Exp', which is obviously Experimental. The workmanship in the mods is good, as to where it has been, I understood it was recently bought in Holland and now resides in the West Country.

I guess there will be more in CMV when it comes out.

[wattie]

Replica "Little Nel" (VAD275) appeared in the same article and issue #14. This seems to have started in the Worcestershire area and then moved to Jersey (becoming J832 and then J8797). The chassis wasn't shortened.

 

 

Bob James from Evesham built Little Nell and I am sure it ended up in Holland . It was over 30 years ago so may have had another restoration since then . We heard it had been given a certificate of authenticity by who we have no idea.

Sadly Bob passed away this year but I do know he had several photos of it.

 

Looking forward to the next CMV to see what it has to say .

[matchlesswdg3]

Getting back to the original post, I regretfully did not renew by sub for CMV due to my own opinion that the quality had markedly dropped off after the last change of editor. I commented at the time that CMV seemed to be just going through the motions to just about pass muster and keep at least some punters paying up.

[Runflat]

And for interest there's another being built in Australia: http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=188540

 

Page 8 'Military Historian Dies' a obituary for Lt Col (Rtd) George Forty, seems it has been lifted with a few words different from the Times. It has a photo of six men in Russian uniforms, I know which one his him but the obit borders on disrespectful.

 

Sorry Bob, I missed you saying this. I don't know but I wonder if the obit was provided by the Tank Museum as a press release along with the photo. Either way, I agree with you. I was surprised how pithy it was - and I've no idea which of those in the picture is him or why it was more meaningful than a close up portrait of the man.

[Bob Grundy]

And for interest there's another being built in Australia: http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=188540

 

 

 

Sorry Bob, I missed you saying this. I don't know but I wonder if the obit was provided by the Tank Museum as a press release along with the photo. Either way, I agree with you. I was surprised how pithy it was - and I've no idea which of those in the picture is him or why it was more meaningful than a close up portrait of the man.

 

He is the chap second from the left. I dealt with him in the 1980's and 90's, it was a pleasure...

[LarryH57]

Seeing as you can buy a decent book or two at military shows for a few quid, Id rather not buy CMV for £4.40 or more

[snowtracdave]

I read a post on FB a couple of days ago extolling the virtues of the latest edition , I assume this means that it is now in the shops . It always used to be the case that subscribers could expect to get their copies before it went on general release - one of the 'perks' of subscribing . Maybe mine will turn up soonish and I'll get to see what is in it ! As others have said , the quality has declined noticeably since the last change of editor . I did wonder what to expect when one of the first editorials under the new man said (And I paraphrase here) Here I am sitting in France , don't know much about this subject but you all send me your copy and pictures and I'll shuffle them round a bit to make something magazine like .

 

Having taken CMV since it was first published when my current sub runs out that will be it . A shame as it used to be a good interesting little mag if you didn't want the in depth detail of Wheels & Tracks and the like .

[Degsy]

i read a post on fb a couple of days ago extolling the virtues of the latest edition , i assume this means that it is now in the shops . It always used to be the case that subscribers could expect to get their copies before it went on general release - one of the 'perks' of subscribing . Maybe mine will turn up soonish and i'll get to see what is in it ! As others have said , the quality has declined noticeably since the last change of editor . I did wonder what to expect when one of the first editorials under the new man said (and i paraphrase here) here i am sitting in france , don't know much about this subject but you all send me your copy and pictures and i'll shuffle them round a bit to make something magazine like .

 

Having taken cmv since it was first published when my current sub runs out that will be it . A shame as it used to be a good interesting little mag if you didn't want the in depth detail of wheels & tracks and the like .

 

snap:-d

[cordenj]

I read a post on FB a couple of days ago extolling the virtues of the latest edition , I assume this means that it is now in the shops . It always used to be the case that subscribers could expect to get their copies before it went on general release - one of the 'perks' of subscribing . Maybe mine will turn up soonish and I'll get to see what is in it ! As others have said , the quality has declined noticeably since the last change of editor . I did wonder what to expect when one of the first editorials under the new man said (And I paraphrase here) Here I am sitting in France , don't know much about this subject but you all send me your copy and pictures and I'll shuffle them round a bit to make something magazine like .

 

Having taken CMV since it was first published when my current sub runs out that will be it . A shame as it used to be a good interesting little mag if you didn't want the in depth detail of Wheels & Tracks and the like .

 

Ditto. Sadly. One only has to look back and the first editions to see the change from Pat's days as editor.

[hickjc]

For a magazine like this to survive in what is a relatively niche hobby, it needs the people who are in it to contribute a bit. I bought the first issue of both CMV and Military Machines and most issues after that, but at the end of the day there are only so many subjects that can be written about. I have often thought that they could reprint an article from the early 2000's and would I remember reading it the first time round? The task of filling a monthly magazine like this and keeping it interesting is enormous!!

 

I have personally written a few articles recently - you may have thought they were complete rubbish, but most of them took no more than a couple of evenings to write, I am too busy really but I just thought if no one bothers then there will never be any content.

 

Some 'Characters' have been in the hobby a long time, some make their living from it, give a bit back and spend some time to write something.........

 

KR Jon

[LarryH57]

Land Rover magazines are good at churning articles as the subjects in hand always appear current to newer owners but with such a wide variety of MVs in the hobby CMV could only get away with churning when talking about Jeeps! The other problem for CMV is that articles have to be brief, so if it did an Anthony Tucker-Jones article on German armour on the Eastern Front by the time a few words and photos are included on Panzer I they'd have to get on and describe King Tigers within a few paragraphs otherwise the article would take up too much space, and in any case we probably know most of what is to be written. So perhaps they could do some articles on the personal experiences of people who used MVs.

Edited August 30, 2016 by LarryH57

[Great War truck]

For a magazine like this to survive in what is a relatively niche hobby, it needs the people who are in it to contribute a bit. I bought the first issue of both CMV and Military Machines and most issues after that, but at the end of the day there are only so many subjects that can be written about. I have often thought that they could reprint an article from the early 2000's and would I remember reading it the first time round? The task of filling a monthly magazine like this and keeping it interesting is enormous!!

 

I have personally written a few articles recently - you may have thought they were complete rubbish, but most of them took no more than a couple of evenings to write, I am too busy really but I just thought if no one bothers then there will never be any content.

 

Some 'Characters' have been in the hobby a long time, some make their living from it, give a bit back and spend some time to write something.........

 

KR Jon

 

I don't think that will do any good. I was a regular contributor to MMI and have submitted five articles to CMV in the last 18 Months and none of these have been published. It could be that he thinks that the readership wont like them but I thought they were interesting. I have always had plenty of positive feedback about them in the past but I wont bother writing any more. It seems that the magazine has been dumbed down and no longer gives me something new.

[Highland_laddie]

While I agree that people need to support something, in this case magazines/publications, for them to continue I have found the constraints of the format in CMV to be too restrictive. As the previous poster said the focus is more on pictures and less words. So I don't think whatever I would proffer would make the cut.

 

However I believe the problem is more about the economics, it appears that all printed periodicals newspapers/magazines rely heavily on advertising revenue. The Land Rover Mags have lots of paid for advertising, CMV seems to have much less advertising revenue, due to the much smaller pool of companies available. So whatever the content, it's always going to be a struggle to cover the costs.

 

Yes good content will help, but without the advertising there is a good chance that a lot of publications will move to online only. :cry:

 

Just my my two cent/tuppence worth

 

julian

[sirhc]

I agree the standard of CMV has gone downhill, we have gone from 2 monthly magazines which were mostly ok to 1 which is hard work not to launch across the room. Take pages 30 & 31 of the latest issue, there is an article about W&P. Rather than walk around the showground and take photos of the interesting, rare and well restored vehicles on display they have walked up to the first stall in the stalls area and taken photos of the half a dozen vehicles R&R were selling. This double page spread has 8 photos, 6 of them are the 6 vehicles on that stall! If that's not enough, the next page of the article has 5 photos, 4 of them taken in the stalls. (Incidently the same half track on page 30 is pictured again on page 72)

 

I first thought this could just be laziness, but I guess it might be more likely that the editor doesn't know one vehicle from the next and the vehicles in the stalls often have something in/on/near them with a description?

 

The Streaker article wound me up too. It appears to be well researched at first glance, but it does contain mistakes and again suggest laziness. The final paragraph says one survives according to the Alvis Fighting Vehicle Society website and asks where have they all gone. A call or email to the AFV society would have established that there were only 2, and they were both at Tanks, Trucks & Firepower last year.

 

I did once write an article for CMV, it was supposed to be published and was even featured on the 'Coming next month' page, but it was never published and I don't know why, so I won't bother again.

 

Chris

[hickjc]

I don't think that will do any good. I was a regular contributor to MMI and have submitted five articles to CMV in the last 18 Months and none of these have been published. It could be that he thinks that the readership wont like them but I thought they were interesting. I have always had plenty of positive feedback about them in the past but I wont bother writing any more. It seems that the magazine has been dumbed down and no longer gives me something new.

 

Did you just write what you wanted to write about or ask what they would like articles on? I just said is there anything you would like an article on, and they have all been published so far.

 

I guess you will never please everyone, I have not had Windscreen in a while because I dropped out of the MVT and did not miss it,, I found the endless articles about the wiring on some rare radio based lightweight Land Rover rather dull. In my view a magazine like this should now be mainly filled with peoples experiences, photos of a trip they went on, show reports etc. The details of the vehicle's themselves have been done to death!! Unless it is a one off or something very unusual.

 

You can do articles on individuals and their collections or vehicle, but people are always reserved about doing this, as not wanting to appear to show off!!

 

KR J

[LarryH57]

KR J

 

Seeing as Ian Young (ex editor of MMI) is now Windscreen Editor and there are around 6 issues a year then perhaps its time to re-join the MVT, especially as I'm in the process of writing a few more articles for it.

[ARMYPHOTOS]

Pat Ware and Ian Young did a great job at CMV and MMI. It is a pity the Publisher did not listen to it's readers. The MVT's Windscreen is now a good magazine under Ian Young's Editorship and will take readers away from CMV for sure.

[Whittingham warrior]

CMV has certainly gone down hill. One page which I assume is there because it is quick and easy to do is 'The military vehicle price guide' for vehicles as advertised on Milweb, whose adverts are no longer included in the magazine.... But CMV hasn't got the monopoly on such. Someone has already alluded to on the dullness of some of the MVT Windscreen articles such as wiring for rare radios in Land Rovers. Many was the time I was expecting a piece on 'Shoe Laces of the British Army 1919-1939 with supplement on Plimsolls of the Phoney War' or 'British Army cheese graters on the Western Front 1915-1918-the years of entrenchment' and finally 'Envelopes of the Warsaw Pact Forces 1955-1956-The struggle against poor quality gum.' And last but by no means least 'Hitler's Thimbles, Nazi ceramic thimbles in the years of struggle 1919-1932'.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Whittingham warrior

[Bob Grundy]

A friend who is too stingy to purchase the magazine reads mine. He has pointed out that the article on the Wasp flame thrower carrier was used at Auschwitze to destroy the inmates sheds. This we think is an error as the camp was liberated by our then allies, the Russian army and to my knowledge the Wasp was not used by them.

[Tony Lawrence]

A friend who is too stingy to purchase the magazine reads mine. He has pointed out that the article on the Wasp flame thrower carrier was used at Auschwitze to destroy the inmates sheds. This we think is an error as the camp was liberated by our then allies, the Russian army and to my knowledge the Wasp was not used by them.

 

I assume the article meant Belsen - yet another factual error