Snapper

Welcome aboard Dave. Stay sane.

My Iltis was nearly in the recent film Children of Men, but the producers did something different at the end or found someone elses. The money was amazing. I even managed to arrange the time off. But.....Never mind, we made it into a recent edition of VW Driver magazine.

Hi Alan, looks like you've got not one, but two, rarities there. Yours is one of the best discovery/recovery stories I've heard in a while. Please keep posting snaps and snippets of info. Brilliant stuff, and what the forum is here for. Good luck. MB

There's no question it is a serious restoration project and you may not wish to do it yourselves. But what a find! Amazing. If you don't keep it, let's hope it stays in the UK. Does anyone have a snap of a contemporary vehicle to show us how they looked?

Great stuff. How many motors do you predict on the Saturday, based on entry forms?

Hey Lee, my spies tell me you're digging trenches for the WW1 crowd. Fantastic. I hope they don't get Passchendaele weather. Very authentic, but exceedingly unpleasant. Hopefully all the rain fell last year. It certainly felt like it. MB

Cheers one and all. I've learned a lot more now and the org team have been superb. I like to be very organised and not let people down. There are aspects to the event that I want to snap that won't necessarily make it in to CMV but will be worth doing. I'll camp at Framlingham and hope to hitch-hike the daily tour routes with people taking part so my Toyota doesn't get in the way. I want to snap everyone from HMVF and elsewhere taking part and build up a good diary of the run. I would appreciate any assistance with this. Beers will be bought etc and I promise not to look reasonably military-like for those making the effort. Thanks once again. See you all there.

My Grandad was an ERA with Grey Funnel during WW1 and then started collecting rings with Blue Star. He was second engineer on the Arandora Star, the Canberra of it's time. He was KIA with Grey Funnel in 1941 aged 48. I am 48 this year. Time marches on. The funny thing is, my father-in-law who was a Marconi Wireless officer from 39-46 with the MN has little but contempt for ERAs. Where would any of them been without the stokers? Tough men in tough times.

Like I said, FTM, we need to get you writing articles for the forum front end. You're a natural.

All very nice, beers, flights, low loaders etc etc But my original question remains unanswered. Maybe I need to have a chat with the man Clive. If you're reading this Clive, look out for a PM from me. And if you're not reading this Clive, look out for a PM from me. To Beckettstan, and don't spare the horses!

I thought you'd be on the Horlicks.

You are coming, aren't you Jack?

The King of Beckettstan, i like it!!!! Serious question I'd like some input on. I'm covering the event for CMV and have to come up in my less than military Toyota Verso because I don't think bringing the Iltis is either practical or proper. Where are you lot staying and operating from? I seem to have missed something here. I presume you're camping out? I need somewhere to charge batteries and run a laptop from. Tough times for the press scum. Sleeping in the car has never bothered me. I've done a lot worse.

stokers

Complete with old motor. Good shot. One of yours Prince of Thieves? Will we see more? The last time I was in Normandy my mate John and I fancied a day or so on the BoB trail, but it never happened. I suppose it was because it was more a case of being in an interesting location rather than there being something obvious to see; and this would not have appealed to the rest of our party at all (wives and kids). But when we were on the Somme last Oct and walked out into Trones Wood beyond Guillemont where Noel Chavasse won his first VC, they were very interested. There's a moral or two in there somewhere and I guess one of them is "get back to Normandy PDQ". But I am on the Somme again in Oct for another week. So it may have to be in 2008. Ah but....next year we are off to Verdun for a proper explore. In a few weeks I will be in Flanders around Poperinge and Kemmel. Can't wait - only a day trip but it is amazing how much you can squeeze in (no jokes please).

I don't remember references to him having died earlier. It's clear he was one of the more quiet veterans on the scene. I always felt desperately sorry for him finding his mrs had given him up. Life during wartime! Isn't he the chap who had a son in the British army? One thing is for sure, any insight he had on the killing of POWs went with him. In Wikipedia it says he shot one of his own sergeants. But how accurate is Wikipedia these days...there are often dark mutterings about sections of it.

Lotus = Loads Of Trouble Usually Serious - doesn't it? Regrets - for me the BIGGEST in my life was my army career, or more to the point the lack of it. I still think about it thirty years later. But, as you have said, Neil, without it I would not have my wife and kids, and wouldn't have had the adventures that make me who I am now. I left school with four CSEs, got two O Levels at nightschool and have spent the next thirty odd years just reading and learning as much as I can. I would have not had this informal education if I'd stayed in the Royal Artillery I really wish I'd started battlefield touring in the 1970s. But I did not actually start until 2003. That's life. Onwards and upwards!

Sorry if I've appeared to be asleep. Got some family stuff going on. But have I missed any posts on the death of Ronald Spiers? I noticed him as a "recent death" on Wikipedia. MB

They made those Clinker Knockers tough, didn't they!

You need to check the clubhouse cleaning rota, it seems you missed your turn on the septic tank. Jack is having HMVF overalls made. Welcome back. The dancing girls say "hi".

Welcome George. The PW branch will gladly welcome a French Hotchkiss in the ranks. What a chap does with his MV is his own beeswax, but it is nice to see the odd one being kept in original guise. The dancing girls always do an extra turn for the PW wing. Good move.

THANKS MARK!!!! The Bombardier version shown differs externally in small ways - but it is the ambulance config that makes the difference - it looks brilliant. I'd love one. There is something about the Iltis, it is purposeful and pig ugly. I am resolved to keeping mine and am still trying to find the elusive hours to start tarting the poor thing up. I think the Iltis is one of the few hack types that looks good without guns. I have seen snaps of Canadian Iltis in Aghanistan mounting a Milan post and machine guns. Now, that would be something!

If I remember correctly, my brother in law saw lorry loads of palm trees driving through Dagenham when the film was being made.

Good. Bolero looms. Lots to sort out!

Thanks Colin and Richard for your comments...and you too, Prince of Thieves (Dorset Branch). I have always loved RAFM and will go back. I was very peed off I couldn't show James the Bf110, Ju88 and He111 in decent light or take my usual pix -to match ancient snaps from the 70s 80s and 90s. The museum can be a bind to get to round the M25 and it took us an age to get home to Westcliff. James was very impressed, nonetheless. We had a good look at the Humber. A gem, but it was surrounded by kids and we moved on. I did snap the Crossley and Model T in the Grahame-White factory. Panther bikes - I have heard of them. I think it is good the museum doesn't just concentrate on aircraft. I wanted to show James the RR armoured car, but I think that is upstairs. Maybe next time.