> Your comment regards the White Scout Car not being named in
> Commonwealth
> service begs further questions... what about the Halftrack, Daimler
> Armoured Car, and Humber Scout Car, amongst others? Why no names
> there,
> when the T17E was 'Staghound' and the Daimler Scout car 'Dingo'?
A very relavent point, I can only guess.
As far as the English products go, their armoured cars never did seem
to have names, rather they were identified by makers name and military
purpose, the way you have done above, very curious.
Then there is the halftracks, perhaps because they were so unique, the
English didn't think it necessary to call them anything other than
"halftracks"? But I am told that because of the different manufacturers
and the use of different engines, that many parts are not interchangable
between the White's and Inter's: so if ever there was a requirement to
use names or numbers for clarity, this would be it?
Does anyone know?
> Why didn't anyone name the Canadian C15TA Armoured Truck? Did the DD
> Sherman and other specialty variants get their own names (as opposed
> to
> some borrowed from the Churchill Funnies)?
Don't know.
Whilst on the subject of names, there is still the oft repeated joke
about
when the English are going to finally have to choose another letter of
the
alphabet to name their tanks, they have pretty well worn out the letter
"C". In the case of their latest MBT = Challenger, they have reused the
name of an early unsuccessful vehicle. I wonder if they intend to follow
the American idea and start at the beginning again (such as M1 Abrams,
M2/M3 Bradley - there's that M3 again!). If this is the case, we will
see another Crusader, Churchill and maybe even Centurion, it being quite
possible for an "original" but updated, Centurion to end up on a
battlefield with its "Centurion" great grandson.
Their light AFV's whether wheeled or tracked tend to follow the letter
"S" eg., Scorpion, Saracen, Saladin, Scimitar, Striker, Samaritan
(someone was on the ball when they chose that name for the ambulance
APC),
but changed to "W" when naming the current English APC "Warrior",
perhaps this is because Infantry Fighting vehicles are regarded as a
seperate and new class and thus "worthy" of a new letter?
Before anyone else says it, no, I don't know how the Ferret is supposed
to fit in with the above naming conventions.
Chuck
I find it more user friendly to use the English names, it just sounds
nicer than M60 etc. People tend to remember names easier than numbers,
look at the products of the worlds car makers. Only Volvo and Mazda
seem to persevere with model numbers instead of names.
You do get funny looks when you say your little Scout Car is called a
"Ferret", but they will remember that a lot easier than FV 701.
Ultimatley, if you ask the average person in the street to name a tank
you will get either "Tiger Tank" or "Sherman Tank" but you won't get
PzKpfw VI or M4. Everyone knows what a Jeep is, but outside MV
enthusiasts, how many know that an MA, MB, GPW, M151 etc are even a
vehicle?
We have been told that publicising our hobby is the best tactic in
the face of all this Form 6 hoohah, it may be a good move to use the
names of vehicles that have them, that way the public may retain more
interest rather than hear a lot of "M" numbers which they will instantly
forget. Such quirky names as "Gama Goat" and "Mighty Mite" if nothing
else will make people curious to see what sort of device has such a
weird name! Cuiosity is a good drawcard for future enthusiasts.
Regards
Doug
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Armoured Vehicles Collector
_______
_/_(_o_)_\_ ____
_/|___|_|___|\_ /____\
/ [___] [___] \ Douglas Greville _/[o]___\_
/\_ [o] [o] _/\ Broken Hill __/=_|____|_=\__
|w||___________||w| N.S.W. /__\__________/__\
|w|\u u/|w| Australia |w| \ / |w|
|w| \_________/ |w| |w|$ \______/ $|w|
[w] [w] [w] [w]
M8 Ferret
dgrev@ruralnet.net.au
Web Armour site at: http://Fast.to/DG
(http://members.xoom.com/dgrev/index.html)
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