LarryH57

It was a good job that Eisenhower moved his SHAEF HQ out of the town by then- as this could have caused even more panic than it did!

Perhaps it was Nigel Duncan who met him (again) at the Tank Museum as he served under Hobart and wrote about the 79th Armd Div for Profile Publications in 1972. Nigel Duncan has nothing but praise for Percy Hobart in his book and says he was utterley fearless with a great sense of urgency, and loved by his men but loathed by others, no doubt in high places. So I can imagine he was a bit bloody minded like Monty when people in the War Office got in his way. Still he got the job done and the DDs and other Funnies of the 79th made a great contribution to D-Day which sadly the Americans scoffed at when offered the same.

A bit of trivia - Percy Hobart was Monty's brother in law, and had been prematurely retired from the Army in 1940. Monty later assisted in him being recalled. Although he did not personally invent many of the ideas used by his 79th Armoured Division, he did ensure that ideas came from all ranks and that these had to be given proper consideration. No sensible idea was ignored. As with Monty his style was to consult his troops, discuss problems and keep them informed of what was required. In turn this made all ranks part of the team and paid off greatly in terms of the inventions that became the 'Funnies' used from D-Day onwards. Involving your men, leading from the front and being able to do the things they do, rather than just ordering them about has now become an accepted way of leading men in the British Army. Prior to Monty and WW2 it was rare to act in this way. Sadly it's a lesson in man management that most civilian bosses have yet to learn!

I’d just like to say to the old man who was wearing camouflage gear and using crutches, who stole my wallet earlier: ‘you can hide, but you can’t run.' Keep safe everyone for W & P Revival

There is a school of thought that insurance should be on the person and not the vehicle, so that the more proficient the driver the lower the premium.

Having now found the Tankco site https://sites.google.com/site/wwwtankcobiz/ I think they could have at least gone that extra bit further to get the tracks and wheels correct Still I am sure that someone in Hollan, Germany or Eastern Europe has done better than theirs!

On a similar subject I was told once by a Sd Kfz 2 Kettenkrad owner that there were people making parts for these vehicles and it was now possible to make a complete one without it containing very much or even anything of an original WW2 vehicle, as the engine was built postwar. Some I'm told were made postwar for forrestry use. When you can buy a complete replica Kubelwagens at W&P that have not been built off an everyday VW Beetle, I'm surprised no one has thought to start a small run of these Kettenkrads. After all you wouldn't be driving them on the road so they could just be for fun / re-enacting. Keep up the good work

And why are they still brown?

Thanks Richard Incidentally I wonder why brown is still the colour for ammo boxes and why they aren't painted NATO green like everything else these days? Incidently I forgot to ask if anyone can suggest a date for these ammo boxes in the photo (1966?). I would imagine they are for a Chieftan 120 mm gun as it says 120TK HESH but are there any other possibilities?

Guys, I know that people have posted similar requests, with not so helpful replies - but what is the colour code for the brown paint used on British Army Ammo boxes, which in my humble opinion look to be the same colour whether they have bullets or shells in them. Any suggestions for a paint colour off the shelf if I cannot get the paint made up and mixed? In my case I want to repaint some boxes for 120 mm shells to match others I have in their original brown colour (as they have been overpainted in grey. Ammo cases often look to be gloss while others appear as satin but never matt?

Perhaps Pat has gone off Military Vehicles:cool2:

Director of the flight deck I think As for the Jeep there has been a history of keeping small vehicles on board to transport senior officers around the port or local area to where they may need to attend meetings etc. I think the RN did similar in the post war period with small cars like the Mini Moke

IMBS - But while discussing the hobby with er in doors - she wondered if there is anything collectable that is dangerous that perhaps we should keep away from. We may have heard about the 'danger' of owning instruments / watches that were made with radio active paint but is there anything else to be avoided that is more deadly that the slight risk from radio active paint. Many years ago I was told that asbestos was used in early gas masks from WW1 or WW2 - is this true? Also if depleated Uranium is used in shells - is there a hazard in owning the shell cases or the boxes they came in? I'd be interesting to know what else is out there.

Regarding the compressor truck - whats in front of it then - yet another foreign one maybe? I thought I could see tracks as per a Maultier!!!

I was wondering if the original post was asking for someone who specialised in doing the spray painting, rather that the colours to use!

I was thinking of a similar idea for my Lwt and I am still looking for a solution. I did see in a gardening advert details of a nissen hut shaped frame that is used by gardeners to make a greenhouse - covered with clear plastic. I was wondered whether a similar thing could be adapted to make a lightweight garage of sorts - with coloured or clear plastic - depending if the contents is to be hidden. Time for an MV temp garage product to be developed I think!

In the last 5 years it only rained once at this event. Last year was a bit foggy and the only time I have ever driven my NATO Green Lwt in the dark and thick fog on the way home! But most times its like those days you get (hopefully) on Rememberance Sunday when the sun shines on all those oldtimers marching up Whitehall. Smaller vehicles get to go on the Merc offroad course. Its free to get in with an MV and up to four persons and if possible they would like to know in advance if you are coming (though dare I say it not a problem if you don't) If you have not been make the effort as there is plenty to see apart from the MVs. I even saw the Vickers Vimy land there a few years back.

Assuming the axle is from the front of the vehicle I would say it has to be something 4x4

Simon, You might wish to explain a bit more - are you trying to interpret a code for a type of vehicle or a data plate marking etc etc?

My advice is to get a 'down yer trousers' type wallet with a chain and divide up your cash and cards so that it doesn't all go in one go! Incidentally I also heard that a few tents had been slashed to see what was 'available'. Who ever is responsible and where they come from I don't know - but its not a good advert for the UK for our MV friends who come to W&P from all over Europe - so let them know in advance!

The only result from all this will be that it puts up the 'average' price of a Jeep in Classic Military Vehicles magazine thus helping all the other owners to believe theirs must now be worth £20K minimum and in turn pricing all newbies to the hobby out of the market! A jeep used to be an entry level vehicle for goodness sake! Goodwood is awash with people who pay hundreds of thousands for sports cars and historic grand prix racing cars, some quite plain ones go for over £500,000, so I suppose a cheap little run about for a snip at only £33,000, is quite OK!

I recently met up with a mate who was at W&P who told me that pickpockets had been at work this year at the 2012 show. This was the first I had heard about the problem as I was there too - but I wanted to warn others in case it becomes a regular thing at W&P or other MV shows. They worked in amoung the crowds, in the stalls area or near the arena and used a stanley type knife to quietly slash pockets and extract wallets without the owners knowing. They targeted not only wallets in back pockets but also those on the legs as found in many combat and lightweight trousers. It seems they worked in pairs with one as the slasher and the other with a black rucksack to quickly take the wallet away and have the appearance of being nothing to do with the wallet lifter. Usually the victims feel nothing, while others though that they had been knocked or lightly pushed as you might innocently be in a crowd. Some victims found they were cut but did not feel the act or theft at the time! It could well be they came over to the UK for the Olympics and started out at W&P before going on to other opportunities and I don't want to suggest it is a W&P problem only as anyone who knows Oxford Street in London will appreciate. It seems that those who reported thefts at W&P lost in total about £12,000 and as we all know there will be others who did not report the matter to the Police. What makes shows like this such a good opportunity is that many of us from home and abroad, come with a wad of cash for the week and carry much more that we would normally take to do Saturday shopping. Sadly there is not much of a description of the thieves except they wore combat clothing but not like a re-enactor just in a casual way, darkish appearance, dark hair and with black rucksack or bag. I hope this helps prevent more losses. God help the thieves if they are ever caught in the act!

Out of interest If you dress up as a German or SS trooper - complete Officer rank with Iron Cross 1st class and usual chest badges - is that disrespectful too or is it OK as they were the enemy, so no offence can be taken?

In the Army, there are three ways of doing things; as per the manufacturers recommendation / manual, as per the MOD mechanics way of interpreting the rules using a bit of common sense to keep the vehicles going and then there are the 'Squaddy mods' some of which beggers belief!!!!!!!

Too much kit is cast - I suspect to give those in MOD Precurement a job! My mate who works for the MOD as a vehicle mechanic has cast hundreds of Land Rover Defenders etc because the chassis had rotted away. Strangely the MOD never specified a galvanised chassis on any of them and yet still paid a higher unit price than normal). Of recent, perfectly good Bedfords AWD and Fodens have all been cast as there is now a rush to equip units with MAN trucks. Don't believe that they are better as they are not! They have so much techno stuff in the cab I cannot ever see them doing a beach landing or lasting long in a sand storm. They must now be connected to a PC to fault find them and it won't be long before that in turn has to be a PC connected to a call centre. "Thank you, your call which is very important to us - how are you today?" "I'm being RPG'd by the Taliban, right now, the radios taken a direct hit and the truck won't start!" "Firstly caller may I have the number from the bar code found on the side of the chassis" ... Arrgh! Bring back the simple vehicles I say like the WW2 Jeeps my Dad recovered off the beaches in SW Pacific and worked on by tipping them on their side! My mate was even told to cast a complete four wheeled comms trailer as the plastic bottle on the brake master cylinder was broken. I won't mention the Austin K9 they towed away to the scrappy either in case it upsets anyone - the unit couldn't understand that anyone would ever want it. As for the spares any that are of no use go in the skip as was the case when Series LRs got cast. Everything got binned at the unit. When Wolf wheels were fitted to Defenders they chucked 250 Defender wheels and good tyres as 'they were no good to anyone'. (Strangely when a Wolf wheel is used on a Defender the wheel nuts don't screw fully on the stud but this is OK and has been passed by the MOD!) But now, I here the Wolf is on its way out so that the MOD can get those mini Hummer look alike thingies - you know the ones with a compartment for four squadies but no rear tub to carry anything. The strange thing though with MOD precurement is that lots of this kit being replaced is for the TA and yet numbers are right down as I think many blokes think they will be sent to to Afganistan if they join up. Remember in WW2 how all the old guns from the scrapped Dreadnought ships were brought out of their underground stores and re-used as coastal batteries? What will we have next time I wonder!