LarryH57

This is an interesting thread and might give rise to another 'How to contact Ex-Comrade Associations- complete with contact details for as many old boy networks as we can find. My Lwt (49 HG 92) was used by 7th (Para) RHA for 6 years up to 1990 and I'd love to meet any previous drivers and find out what it was used for in a 105mm gun Battery. It is a 12v GS that was 'locally' fitted with a Clansman which makes me suspect it was used not by a FOO or any RA Officer as these types had a proper long wheel based 24v FFR. As for 105mm Ammo resupply, Fitters, Cooks, Medics or the Blowpipe Air Defence guys, they also used something bigger, which leaves me to think of other types who needed to keep in touch occasionally but who did not need a FFR; padre possibly but often they just rode in the back of anything going to where they we going. This leaves Battery S/Major who might do some roving around to see each Troop or gun position to offer moral support or even an urn of tea if they were nice!

With 'TrackNGO (above) I wonder how the movement of the track unit is limited otherwise if you go up a steep bank, one end of the unit might bash in to something on the underside of the vehicle!

Looking at the video again I'm wondering what is being fitted to the wheel hub and why as I thought the drive was via the wheels?

The first is an interesting concept!

Without being too political, why is it that nearly all Western Governments the world over want to remove anything remotely dangerous or useful as a weapon, and don't want to 'remove' the culprites from this world, when they use these items for illegal purposes. Instead they protect their human rights and keep them safe in prison, until such time as everyone has forgotten their crimes and they are released after half their sentence. Currently it's circa 12 years in jail for a Murder in the UK - but 200 years jail with no parole in Texas!

A google Translate gives a list of prohibited items as follows: IV. Combat vehicles 24. Tanks 25. Other armored combat vehicles including the armored combat-supporting vehicles 26. Special vehicles of all kinds designed exclusively for the use of weapons of numbers 1 to 6 27. Chassis for the weapons of numbers 24 and 25 (presumably those above) 28. Towers for main battle tanks (Not a clue what towers are; perhaps towers are things that tow tanks) V. Pipe weapons 29.a) Machine guns, other than those with water cooling, (b) Submachine guns, other than those introduced as a model before 2 September 1945 by a military force, (c) Fully automatic rifles, except those introduced as a model before 2 September 1945 by a military force, (d) Semi-automatic rifles, except those introduced as a model before 2 September 1945 by a military force, and hunting and sporting rifles 30. Grenade machine guns, grenade rifles, grenade pistols 31. Cannons, howitzers, mortars of any kind 32. Maschinen kanonen (automatic canons perhaps like chain guns) 33. Plated self-propelled guns for the weapons of Nos. 31 and 32 34. Pipes for the weapons of numbers 29, 31 and 32 35. Enclosures for the weapons of numbers 29, 31 and 32 36. Drums for machine guns VI. Light antitank weapons, flame throwers, mine-laying and mine-throwing systems 37. Low-recoil, unguided, portable antitank weapons 38. Flame thrower 39. Mining and mining systems for landmines VII. Torpedoes, mines, bombs, stand-alone ammunition 40. Torpedos 41. Torpedos without warhead (explosive part) 42. Hull torpedoes (torpedoes without warhead - explosive part - and without homing head) 43. Mines of all kinds 44. Bombs of all kinds including the depth charges 45. Handflammpatronen (petrol bombs perhaps) 46. Hand grenades 47. Pioneer explosive devices, hollow and adhesive charges as well as explosive demining equipment 48. Sprengladungen for the weapons of number 43 (help needed)

We have to have a certain amount of faith in the public, as otherwise you end up in a country that apart from banning all knives used in the kitchen, will have to ban all cars and delevery trucks as used in various incidents in Nice, Barcellona, Germany and London. Otherwise governments will ban pavements, Christmas Fairs, sports events, walking outside your home. Then Ban drones and model aircraft or ban real aircraft over New York or other cities. Then Ban Cricket and Baseball bats and ban people with arms as thick as tree trucks! Etc

No you get me wrong - I only want the enemy to be cannon fodder! My motto is that which is occasionally quoted along the lines of "To keep the peace you have to prepare for war" Okay that sounds a bit too much like North Korea, and as we have to spend within our means, the MOD can only go so far. Cooperation with ou allies will hopefully find the answers but such is the advances in technology, if you can dream it you can probably build it. Every threat has a counter threat and sometimes old ideas get re-invented. So we need to keep one step ahead and not be a nation that could only fire canon balls at T-72s (unless of course the canon ball was the same weight as a T-72 which would make their crews eyes water!)

All of which would be broken by any adversary

Equally I could also start a thread called Navy Robot Wars, as its already in progress to have unmanned subs to carry out various tasks from reconnaisance, mining someone elses harbour mouth, firing cruise missiles apart from the usual torpedo attacks. The most worrying is the potential for a robot / drone nuclear sub to closely follow a Polaris sub, closer than an ex-partner or stalker, just waiting and watching for the right moment to explode. Thats why the Government needs to get some serious advice before spending £50 Billion on a Polaris replacement, as such a replacement might be as effective as a Zeppellin in the 1940 Battle of Britain

MatchFuzee , Thanks for contacting Airfix. It will be interesting to see what they say. Regards Larry

That begs the question what did Airfix do in WW2 after it was started in the UK in 1939. Would MoS allow a factory to stay idle? Its known Airfix were seriously affected by the lack of rubber supplies when Malaya fell to the Japanese, so they were making something well before the firms first model kit of a Ferguson Tractor circa 1948

What I was thinking regarding my 'chain gun armed darlek sentries' is to allow real soldiers to be used more effectively. No gadget is a complete sucess in war, but at least it could block an approach or warn of intruders. Robot sentries could be used to watch our coast line for 'boat people' or drug runners landing at night and alert the authorities, rather than shoot first. Properly equipped, such robots could 'see' at night or in fog 24/7 and be better than those volunteer cliff top watchers used by HMCG, who have to go home sometime. So they would be CCTV Plus - the plus being the ability to kill, fire flares, illuminate anything with white light, provide warnings and target acquisition to others. The more you build the cheaper they get! Something the East Germans or Albanian Government of old would have spent their entire wealth on if they had only known!

But equally I have seen MVs with white edging

In any future conflict it would be technically possible to have a line of robot sentries, darlek like, placed in line and in depth to shoot at anything with the correct heat, shape or movement profile until the ammo ran out

Regarding Allied Inflatable Tanks and Trucks in WW2, there is a myth that some of these were made by Airfix, that had been making inflateble toys and beds and other goods in 1939, so had the relevant experience. Does anyone know if this is true as I cannot find and references on the web. Has their role been 'inflated'?

In a mad rush to protect MVs in 1939-40 many were camouflaged and then in a mad rush to make them visible in the dark many had white edging applied. Apparently 1941 was the worst year for road deaths in the UK, namely due to the blackout.

Another RAF vehicle to identify, presuming it is RAF rather than Army? I don't think the Army cleaned up after the RAF shot a Ju88 down. Is it an impressed type?

Its only a matter of time before robots start fighting! See link below https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6456851/adsasd.html

Did you find the cause, for us Landy owners?

I seem to remember that Jack on this forum had an experience to remember when his GMC was hitched up and towed home backwards, which caused one of the front wheels to come off?

Incidentally, the more modern the vehicle, the more specialist support is needed to maintain it, so will all those Land Rover Snatch replacements used in Iraq and Afganistan be preserved in 75 years time like a WW2 Jeep?

Perhaps it is just me but I see the hobby of collecting MVs, associated kit and re-enacting rather static at the moment and not one that is actually gaining in popularity. I wonder what the average age of MVT members is? Most MVT meetings have a very high proportion of grey haired individuals (me included) so could it be we the current generation of owners have obtained our interest as a consequence of our parents exploits and experiences in WW2, that our children or grandchildren won't share. How many of us can honestly say that everything we own (MV or Military related) will be gladly taken over and used as we did when the time comes for us to end our active involvement. I know of several individuals who share not a bit of interest in their father's collections. Therefore I cannot see people clamouring for a Vietnam, Cold War, Falklands or Gulf War vehicle or kit in the same way we have over some WW2 German vehicles or armour found in France!

In another page there is this CMP. It looks to be an early version as the rear tub is of a type fitted to 12 cab CMPs and the wood railings look of a type that were locally built in Egypt. http://saafww2photographs.yolasite.com/hinton-brown-italy-1944-album-3.php

As you recommended Phil, the other pages show a few German vehicles in SAAF service, which I did not expect as most photos of the Campaign in North Africa seem to focus on the German use of British, Commonwealth and US vehicles.