Chris Insidethearmour

Slightly off topic for a moment, I thought the mismatch of accents to uniforms was downright hilarious. I heard Brummie 'Germans', German 'US Marines on Okinawa' and everything in between. Seems reenacting your own country is positively dull when there are all those foreign uniforms to wear! Worst outfit I saw this weekend; a civilian 'security' contractor in M4A4, webbing and Jeans. Perhaps he couldn't afford the fatigues? Perhaps he just likes dressing as an ex soldier that now earns a living as a 'private soldier' That one is positively metaphysical :confused: Getting back on topic, personally I did find the Croatian reenactors in slightly poor taste too. They had a sign basically defending that saying 'all wars are bad innit, this is edumacational' , basically the same argument the SS guys use, but I didn't learn anything at all from their presence or diorama beyond the fact they like black quite a lot. And that was a nasty war. They also had three kids with them, maybe mid teens, all with hardward, including one with an MG and one with a Barret 50 calibre sniper rifle. I think unwittingly they said more with their unintentional portrayal of child soldiers in modern war zones than the older members did with their trench A LOT of kids go to that show. Especially on the Wednesday 'Schools' day. I think it behoves all the reenactors with even the slightest whiff of controversy about their chosen area (SS, Heer, the guy I saw in RUC Riot Gear, the Soviets, all of it) to be ready, able and keen to explain to people, especially kids, the full history behind their area, and not just to wear the uniform and say 'look at our sweet original weapons and painstaking attention to clothing detail'. If they don't then they are glorifying by omission. If they do then they are more than justifying their presence, they are adding something educational and informative that our school system currently either cannot or does not want to, and therefore a very valuable thing indeed On a positive note, two members of Windhund came to my stand and we had a good chat (although neither of the swines bought anything - tightwad wermacht!) they were VERY clued up on their chosen unit, made no excuses for doing 'German' but were very open about everything in a well informed and grown up way. They definitely taught me that some of these guys are capable of doing this sort of thing very well and genuinely educating people in the process

Spent 5 days at War & Peace this year, and I have to say I too am very uncomfortable with SS uniforms being worn The point has been made that they remind people of the history, but the point has also been made that there is widespread ignorance of the history. Personally I think that reenactors dressing as SS sanitises the SS and their behaviour in WWII. The reenactors are not reenacting the attrocities (granted you wouldn't want to see that!) but because of that they lack context. Essentially they represent the idea that these were just highly trained soldiers fighting an honourable war, and the rest is not mentioned. This means that the attrocities are deleted from history Worse still though is the amount of Children I saw dressed in SS uniform this year (with their SS dads) Kids are too young to truly get it, and it made me feel deeply uneasy to see them proudly wandering about with their deactivated KARs and SS collar flashes. Of course, there are also certain traders that sell truly awful things like Hitler busts and icons. The SS reenactors at the show I believe chose to represent an SS Unit that had no history of attrocity. Rregettably though I think this point is somewhat lost on those that know what most of the SS units did in the war and don't appreciate the borderline symantic defence (they are basically just SS to most people) As for the argument about all wars containing attrocities; yes they do, but that argument always sounds to me like 'they were all as bad as each other' and frankly they were very much NOT all as bad as each other. A few isolated incidents on the american and british side does not equate to starting a war that decimated Europe and the systematic murder and sterilisation of millions of people based on their enthicity, religion or even handicapped status I totally agree that you can't have reenactment without the bad guys (light needs shade and vice versa). I also don't mind people dressing up in whatever they want, but I think they need to make a bit more effort to actually educate in what they do (other than just making sure their uniform and kit is correct and calling their well dressed presence 'education' on its own) As things stand they represent the 'cool' bit with no effort to educate about the evil, rendering the SS nothing more than some kind of 'cool special forces guys with the best kit'

I suspect to payment by the Japanese government was probably part of the terms of reparation imposed on them by allied forces after the war, or maybe an attempt at something to start rehabilitating their perception in the world, although given the lack of any official apology it seems dubtful. Even by 1955 though I would think they could ill afford it which may explain the very small amount £1000 is not to be sniffed at, but considering your Father's experiences, it could never be more than derisory. No amount of money could have made up for that The only thing which causes me to wonder about the veracity of the calculators I used is; if 77000 Yen equaled £77, then how much could you buy for 50 yen and who would issue a note for an amount that small?

Based on a currency converter on the National Archives Online site (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/results.asp#mid) £76 10s was worth circa £1,300 in 2005 (I think the site needs updating, bt 2005 is close enough I think) After the war, to avoid the Yen crashing completely and taking the already decimated Japanese economy with it, the value of the yen was apparently fixed to the value of the US Dollar at a value of US$1 to 360 Yen. This lasted from 1949 to 1973 According to this site; http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/etc/USDpages.pdf US$1 was worth £0.35714 in 1995 So in 1955: £77.00 (rounding up to avoid shillings calcuation) = US$215.40 US$215.60 = JPY77616 So if all the above is correct, in 1955 £77 was equal to JPY77,616 Hope that helps Chris

Very happy to bow to superior knowledge! Private Message on the way Thanks Adrian Chris

Thanks Adrian I've been led to believe it had a Merrit Brown though, although I could be wrong as I am most certainly not an expert! Chris

Hi and thanks Yes, I do have a request in for information, but I always like to cross reference when I can Chris

Hi Guys I'm looking for information on the gearbox used in the A13 and Covenanter Cruisers. Specifically either technical drawings or photographs If anyone can help please do let me know! Thanks Chris

Thanks for the welcome guys:-D

Hi Guys My name is Chris and my first confession is that I do not own a military vehicle (Although I would like to one day and I'm working on the missus using the erosion technique - drip drip drip drip) I certainly do have an interest in British Military Vehicles though, no doubt fostered by having a Royal Marine Mechanic for a father and the countless childhood memories of staring at broken down Bedford TKs and the like while he climbed about underneath them! I do however run a model business and produce kits of British vehicles as we as interiors for existing kits - www.insidethearmour.com I have to be honest and say that I have joined in the hope of hooking up with collectors with a view to maybe visiting, measuring and producing kits of their vehicles One thing I am really interested in is speaking to anyone that owns a Bedford MW. If you own one and don't mind me measuring and photographing it, please do get in touch