Why Gun Tractor Shape

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by rob love

Reading that link, I would say it is a mis-interpretation by the author. Here I have copied the relevant part:

Now if you take away the author's interpretation of that, here is the actual line from the Mechanization board report:

"To permit decontamination, an all metal body to the Chief Superintendent of Design's was fitted, involving an increase of weight of 17cwts"

My un-learned view of that line was that they previously had wood in the Chief Superintendent's design of the body, or that the Chief Superintendent of Design has changed the design to get rid of the wood. Note that in the photo of an early Guy Ant on the previous page, the body was made of wood. Wood, being porous, does not lend itself well to decontamination, so they instead changed the design to all metal, which made the bodies heavier.

The author of that book, I believe, has made a mistake in his interpretation, and that interpretation has been blindly repeated and accepted for fact. Using the word "thus" in his leap does not make it fact.

Rob, I fully agree with your line of reasoning!

H.

[rob love]

Further to my last, note the excerpt mentions an increase of weight of 17cwt (roughly 1904 pounds in today's measurement). Sloping the back of a box would reduce weight, not increase it. Changing a wooden box to steel , however, could well increase the weight. Thus , ( ) this supports my reading of the sentence as to mean it was referring to the conversion of the previous wood design over to an all-metal design.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by rob love

Further to my last, note the excerpt mentions an increase of weight of 17cwt (roughly 1904 pounds in today's measurement). Sloping the back of a box would reduce weight, not increase it. Changing a wooden box to steel , however, could well increase the weight. Thus , ( ) this supports my reading of the sentence as to mean it was referring to the conversion of the previous wood design over to an all-metal design.

Rob, I think you've just added forensic linguist to you resume.

[Mike Cecil]

Well done Rob, I think your interpretation is spot on: a mis-reading of the original intent of the quote.

I cannot say every fact in my books is 100% correct, either (or any technical history book, for that matter): blunders like that by authors are bound to occur, but we all do our best to bring other enthusiasts the fruits of our original research. I did a book review for SMH recently about the Aust WW1 Centennial History, and felt I had to point out a significant error by a well-respected historian, so it can happen to the best researchers/authors as well.

Thanks Hanno - my ability with cross linking etc is non-existent!

Mike

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All


Personally, I think the sloped rear of the Gun Tractor was one of the following reason:

• The original designer was the father of the designer who thought tail fins would look good on cars.

• The original designer was look for a design which would have an Iconic shape to form the desires of a generation of young boys, so they would love CMPs

• The reason is now lost in the mists of time, we should have thought to ask this at the CMP Conference back in 1984.

Cheers Phil

[Mike Cecil]

Phil,

You didn't add: the designer just wanted to keep generations of vehicle enthusiasts puzzling over/debating the matter!!

Mike

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Phil,

You didn't add: the designer just wanted to keep generations of vehicle enthusiasts puzzling over/debating the matter!!

Mike

You're all missing the obvious answer. "Shortest on the left, tallest on the right...size". After that the tallest gun crew members sit up front and shortest sit in the back.

It's funny how you read things. The description for Chev HUW's is that they had steel panels in the rear windows. For years I thought this meant steel panels in the rear door windows which puzzled me as I'd only ever seen glass. Then I figured out what they were talking about. It refers to having steel panels replace the upper rear body plastic windows on HUPs which is 100% correct.