I recall talking to my father, and his war colleagues from WW2 in the
Pacific, saying that "the Yanks" simply threw away, pushed over the edge,
dumped, etc many unservicable/damaged vehicles etc. as it was not a problem
in the main of having replacements available. Some have also said that WW2
vehicles has a war life of 10,000 miles, or a set of tyres. Myth or not, I
do not know. Perhaps the production/planning boffins had some sort of
"shelf life" concept factored into vehicle production schedules.
These days, all military equipment have become more sophisticated, with
legal action possible if troops are injured. Would that have happened
during WW2, Korea, Vietnam, etc. ?
(As a by-the-way, the Australian Army can no longer carry troops in the
back of trucks and other vehicles on the civvy roads; they must carry
troops in buses or other 'safety' related vehicles, transferring troops to
the military vehicles once they hit the bush. This is for occupational
health and safety reasons. Imagine the furore if an army vehicle rolled in
civvy street injuring its passengers; class actions before the courts would
quickly occur. Not to mention the all-important bad press and public opinion.)
Lets face it, the face of war and war preparations has changed. Governments
must take into account the various civilian regulations that govern vehicle
safety generally, particularly in the disposal of vehicles. This themes was
covered in recent demil emails a month or so ago in this forum about
older-style US (151) jeeps.
Governments must also watch the dollar bottom line in that they are
accountable to the public in their expenditure, and must make their
equipment last longer in what are, almost without exception, (and thank
heavens), non-conflict lifetimes for vehicles, equipment, etc.
The irony of the whole things is that during peace, we must be safety
conscious, but during war, well ....... .
Just my thoughts on a complicated issue.
Regards
Bruce G.
One last comment for our Commonwealth Maple Leaf colleagues. When on
holidays last week on the NSW south coast, during a trip into a local
forest, I spied several Ford/Chev blitzes rusting way in saw-milling yards,
proably after many years as timber jinkers in the local logging areas.
*******
At 17:14 19/04/99 -0500, Steven P. Allen wrote:
>Very true, both of you. To forget these vehicles and their contribution is
>a grave injustice. The original point remains, indeed, is reinforced: the
>war was won primarily with vehicles little if any modified from their
>civilian progenitors.
>
>Steve Allen
>
>At 05:30 PM 4/19/99 -0400, Geoff Winnington-Ball wrote:
>>CMP Vehicle Production:
>>
>>8 cwt 4 x 2 - 9,837
>>Heavy Utility 4 x 4 - 12,967
>>15 cwt 4 x 2 - 34,195
>>15 cwt 4 x 4 - 69,227
>>30 cwt 4 x 4 - 19,319
>>60 cwt 4 x 2 - 6,000
>>60 cwt 4 x 4 - 209,004
>>F.A.T. 4 x 4 - 22,891
>>60 cwt 6 x 4 - 4,123
>>60 cwt 6 x 6 - 2,710
>>
>>This doesn't include 306,357 vehicles in the class "Modified Conventional",
>>nor 50,241 armoured vehicles and 91,436 miscellaneous wartime military
>>production. Total 857,970.
>>
>>We did our bit too!
>>
>>FYI.
>>
>>--
>>Regards,
>>
>>Geoff Winnington-Ball
>>MAPLE LEAF UP! ==>
>>Zephyr, Ontario, Canada
>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>Maple Leaf Up - The Canadian Army Overseas in WW2
>>http://jump.to/mapleleafup
>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>>
>>Richard Notton wrote:
>>
>>> In deference to the good Doctor, there is a trifling little problem with
>>> "won".
>>>
>>> Perhaps we should remember the contribution of 800,000 odd CMP vehicles,
>>> Australian built trucks and many hundreds of thousand British trucks
>>> too, substantial numbers of which fought and were lost before CCKW
>>> production started.
>>>
>>> For example in the 15cwt class of which the Bedford MWD, Morris
>>> Commercial C8/CS8 and WOT2's are typical - some 230,000
>>>
>>> 30cwt and 2 ton, Austin K30, Bedford OXD, MSC, Commer Q2, MC CS11/CDF
>>> etc., some 20,000.
>>>
>>> 3 ton 4x2 and 4x4, like Commer Q4, Bedford OYC, Leyland Lynx WDZ1,
>>> Albion FN11, Austin K5/ZD ZK ZT, Bedford QLD etc., some 450,000
>>> vehicles.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>===
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>
>
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