LarryH57

A few days ago my sister was crossing the road via a large cap between parked cars when the driver of a large 4x4 decided to reverse at speed out of his parking space without looking and ran my sister over, breaking her leg in two places. This has brought home to me how easy it is to forget to look properly, especially in my MV. I hope this warning will avoid any of you from injuring anyone while you are out and about in your MV and especially when arriving & departing from MV shows. I don't think Army vehicles were ever designed with a good rear view in mind so the risk for us is far greater!

Actually I was stopped in May 2008 on the Tube, on my way to the office wearing a suit and tie and told the Police were doing a random search under Prevention of Terrorism Act. I didn't mind at the time as I had nothing to hide but it was a bit silly when the Police acknowledged that as a white anglo saxon I was only being searched so that their figures wouldn't show a bias towards other members of the community who dress like Osama. I can understand why the youth of today feel a bit miffed when they get pulled even though they may not doing anything.

Phil, It's often the case that the men who saw real front line action in the war are least likely to talk about it. I know this was the case with my grandfather he never spoke to my grandmother or my mother about what he did and yet when I was ten I used to take him tea in the morning and ask him about his war service. Whereas my mother, like most adults would not want to impose, as a child I could get away with questions like 'did you kill any Germans' and although he would avoid answering directly he might then describe a situation where many were killed and I would put 'two and two together' (especially as he won cups at Bisley for shooting 600 yards with a Lee Enfield). However most of the time he would steer the conversation to more humourous situations and keep the worst to himself. I also know that he dreamt about being in action most nights for years and years after the war.

After reading this bit of news I'm going to make sure I don't wear a combat jacket while drive to MV events, even if I'm wearing jeans and trainers as well because it won't be long before I get acused of doing something thats contrary to the Anti-Terrorism Act.

From Orange News Children's TV presenters Anna Williamson and Jamie Rickers have revealed they were held by police under anti-terrorism powers while filming in London. The pair, who front ITV1's hit show Toonattik, were filming a sketch for the programme on London's South Bank wearing combat gear and armed with children's walkie-talkies and glitter-covered hairdryers. Their fake fatigues aroused the suspicions of patrolling police, who stopped and questioned them. Williamson, 28, said: "We were filming a strand called Dork Hunters, which is to do with one of the animations we have on the show. "We were out and about doing 'dork hunting' ourselves on the streets of London. "Jamie and I were kitted out in fake utility belts. We've got hairdryers in our belt, a kids' walkie-talkie, hairbrushes and all that kind of stuff, and we were being followed by a camera crew and a boom mike and we get literally pulled over by four policemen and we were issued with a warning 'under the act of terrorism'." Rickers, 32, added: "We were stopped, not arrested, but they had to say 'we are holding you under the Anti-Terrorism Act because you're running around in flak jackets and a utility belt', and I said 'and please put spangly blue hairdryer' and he was, like, 'all right'." The presenting duo also hit the headlines in 2008 when Rickers, re-enacting a scene from The Emperor's New Clothes, appeared to strut around the studio naked, although it was later revealed he was wearing a flesh suit from the waist down. The morning programme, which provides light-hearted links in between cartoons such as Ben 10: Alien Force and Dork Hunters From Outer Space, attracts around 616,000 viewers each weekend morning, making it the most popular terrestrial programme of its kind. So the moral of this is you better watch out, as driving a green truck may already be an offence!!!!!!!!

Some of you may remember see a program on TV a few years ago in which students from Chernobyl came to stay in the UK and it was stated that a stay of a few weeks in the UK had the effect of extending their life expectancy by several YEARS - just from being away from the area. Grave yard hunters be warned!

How about this for a land train from WW2!

Pigdog, If you own a Ferret then you may want a beret to go with the era of the vehicle rather than a current issue beret. The beret I was issued with by the Royal Engineers in 1970-80s was proper Army issue but did not have a strip sown in to the front, and so as mentioned above I had to cut a small hole in the front for the clasp/hook. To keep it in place the hook was squashed and bent to reduce the gap and help keep it in place. I never lost a cap badge though I did 'acquire' a few extra berets which allowed me to hand in the spare and keep my old favourite beret which I still have!

Jack made the point much earlier that if you don't like W&P you do not have to go - which is exactly what I have decided. It's not the £25 that I complained about - but the total lack of consideration some people have for others and the complete lack of control the organisers have over these types. Last year I had the all night party banging on till 5am Sunday. I did phone the duty person at W&P to complain about the party, the gunfire after midnight and drunk drivers wizzing past my tent but nothing was done about it! Sadly some people think W&P should be all about getting blind drunk and doing what they dam well want and F*** anyone else who gets in their way or spoils their fun. The trouble is they are spoiling my fun too. Having no sleep is very dangerous for people who have to drive a long way home, like me who was dropping off a friend on the way. I am not a killjoy but ALL NIGHT music is a bit much and as for those drunk drivers, one day you will drive in to someones tent and kill the occupants. This kind of thing is not tolerated at MVT shows, so why let it happen at W & P. Until the W&P management sort this out I won't be going any longer.

The trouble with magazines is that they start well with good articles and a lot of interest from the readers and so number of magazines sold is good, then interest drops off a little as it's no longer new, and with a drop in sales the amount of space given over to advertising starts to increase. Then the articles suffer and the sales go down and the price goes up. This is what I think has happened to Flypast magazine. It used to be interesting to read but now its like a collection of adverts inter-dispersed with a few short articles with little depth. For the price I'd rather go to a discount book shop I know that sells end of line military & aviation books for about the same price. The shop even had a good sized book on the German Army on Eastern Front Summer 1944 (Operation Bagration?) for about £7.99 full of Bundesarchiv photos! As for CMV it needs to stick with CLASSIC MVs and avoid quasi article / adverts such as that I saw for a Rangler Jeep pretending to be a serious MV - that also appeared in MMI magazine too. I like to see restoration articles with before and after photos, stories about the use of vehicles in conflict such as those that CMV did on the LRDG and coverage of MV shows. However they could do more features on a particular type of vehicle either in service from a historical point of view or as a feature on a preserved type and tell readers what its like to run, the costs and the availabilty of spares etc. We don't always know about the problems or sucesses owners face if they drive something different from ourselves. What bores me the most in military magazines are articles on some obscure prototype vehicle that never went in to service or articles where the writer drones on as if they like the sound of their own voice and never gets to the point - or articles that are too short; a bit like having Soviet Armour of WW2 covering just two pages! For the moment Britain at War Magazine is my choice.

If they could figure out a way of lowering the suspension when parked - so that no wheels show, then this would be a very useful vehicle. It could be used to stake out all types of criminals, though on second thoughts they may think things have gone to far if the skip gave chase!:-D

I think this message you got is from the Nigerian branch of the HMVF!

Niels, I am very jealous of the vehicles in your club and some that you have like the Staghound Mk III I thought did not exist anywhere! I am also surprised that your club is alloed to fire live 105mm ammo. In the UK the authorities are so scared of any one hurting them selves that the public would never ever get to touch a live shell never mind fire one! Keep up the good work and keep the photos coming - AND -please at some time in the future, arrange to bring some of the completed fully restored vehicles to the War & Peace show held every July at Beltring in Kent

Perhaps I'm showing my age but at one time the MOD used to store old rifles for future issue like .303 Lee Enfields and 7.62mm SLRs and since victorian times the Royal Navy used to remove the guns from all their old ships and store them somewhere (in underground caves?) which came in handy during the Falklands when 20mm Oerlikon LAA guns were fitted to modern ships - that the designers thought could do without such things - but you can old guess what has happened to them all now!

Just a though - is there an official date when you should stop wearing your poppy in the UK? Is it when the Rememberance Day has come and gone as it has today, 8th November, or is it the 11th November whether or not it is a working day after Rememberance Day? What do you all do? BTW - I know it's a little way to go but 11th November 2018 is a Sunday which is a blessing as we can all attend Rememberance parades on the actual day. However in a way it is also a disappointment as I would have liked just for once for it to be a public bank holiday with all banks, shops - in fact every non essential establishment closed and traffic band from city centres- just for once on this 100th anniversary, so that we may remember in a special way all those who have died for their county in that time.

I agree - Its not common for a Military Land Rover to have a rear mounted Spare wheel - I think they mean a Land Rover Discovery or Range Rover As you can image vehicle types would not have been high on the victims thoughts and anyway the public call Land Rovers 'Jeeps' and Cherokee Jeeps are mistaken for Land Rovers. Rest assured its not an MV enthusiast!

Mark you lucky b***er - I was there at exactly the same time as you as I took the family during half term and spent ages looking up and down the beach for any signs of what went on. I last went there in 1979 and then you could put your hand in the sand and pull out loads of relics. I remember lads finding 20mm shells, spades, face camo tins, toothpaste, etc but after 30 years of metal detectors its all gone (well nearly). BTW - I went down to the beach via the steps behind the memorial with the family and it looks like my wife in her pink coat in the distance! Shame I did not have an HMVF t-shirt on as I would have said Hi!

In the days when things were a little less complicated many NATO armies held stocks of WW2 era GMCs, Dodges & Jeep type vehicles in case of mobilization but with the end of the cold war and their Armies being run like a business with everything put out to tender, it was no longer cost effective- so these vehicles had to go just like the Green Goddesses. The only stocks we have now are vehicles that have either just been built or those returned to service after a major rebuild - like the Defenders being turned in to Wolfs or FV432's being rebuilt for Middle East / Afgan Ops. Apart from the above the cupboard is bare - but rest assured that the Government knows best and knows for certain that there will never be a national emergency or climatic disaster that might require mobilization of TA & Reserves and Civil Defences (whatever is left of them).

My father served in the RAF for 42 years and as a pilot was issued with a watch that had radio active paint around the dials - he is still with us aged 83 and still has the watch! I know where he would tell the inspector to go!

One story that a British WW2 veteran told of an incident in North Africa certainly made me think. To set the scene: During the fighting in North Africa (before Monty and El Alamein that is) the British Army often had to pull back and withdraw to new defensive positions behind their own minefields. Often there were stragglers left in no mans land who would attempt to reach the Allied lines either on foot or in a vehicle if they were lucky. So there was our veteran manning a position overlooking a minefield when in the far distance he and his comrades see an ambulance (no doubt an Austin K2) heading straight for them and the minefield! But rather than seeing the vehicle blow up, the veteran and his mates saw the ambulance zig sag this way and that, through the sand until it reached them - which the men thought was amazing so the veteran went over to the driver and said "how did you navigate through all those mines?" And the driver said "an officer beckoned me to follow him to safety through the mines by walking in front of the ambulance". "But we didn't see anyone in front of your vehicle they retorted" where upon the ambulance driver was really insistant "It was an ANZAC officer tall with blond hair and he walked in front of us all the way". "Hold on that's him, that's the officer over there" said the driver pointing to a man lying down in the shade beside a vehicle. "But he died about two hours ago when we were shelled" said the men "and we have not had time to bury him". Strange or what!

I think a shop called Past Times may sell what you want. Trouble is that you only see these shops in tourist areas of the UK or in some large shopping centres.

We all agree that WW2 German vehicles are nice to see but I don't think anyone has answered the question - where have they all gone?

I used my Lightweight Land Rover to drive to a job interview wearing a suit - but didn't park it in their office car park as I didn't want them thinking I have strange interests!

A few observations: As a photographer of MV's, the spacing of vehicles close together like Sainsbury's car park or the placing of civi vehicles and portaloos often stops me from taking a good shot. I'm an owner and turn up for free (mostly) but I know many modellers who come in as 'paying public' and if they can't examine or photograph vehicles either they may not come again! So organisers need to think about this aspect. Secondly owners have said to me very recently that they do enjoy their 30 seconds of fame with a turn round the arena where the comentator introduces the vehicle and says a little about its history. This was the norm at the MV shows held in Duxford in 1980s and these owners have said they will not go to certain shows ' just to be ignored'. Incidentally they were not talking about W & P where they appreciate that there is no time for everyone to get a turn round the arena. Another thing I have noticed is that MV owners bring along the MV's set them up in a realistic setting under yards of camo netting and then they themselves retreat to the centre of their display so that they are un-approachable to the public - much the same as someone is who is unapproachable in their tent lying on their camp bed. No wonder many of these owners look bored as none of the public have said hello! Compare this with those who put out a display of kit near their MV for the public to touch and ask questions. Incidentally those in to re-enactment / living history could learn from this by letting the public actually walk THROUGH their trenches and interact with them. I've not seem many people chatting to people dressed as German soldiers when they are hidden in a trench behind mounds of earth and sand bags. Once again its no surprise they look bored and even less approachable. So whether its an MV display or living history its a shame that exhibitors get ignored especially as they have put so much effort in to their uniforms and kit.

It's the survivors that I'm talking about. They all seem to have gone in to hiding! Here's to next year then in the hope that they 'come out to play'!