Vehicle Data Book: pre-March 1944 edition??

[Paul Singleton]

My book also says that it is a reprint of the vehicle data book from March 1944. Your book has “second edition “ on the cover so mine must be the first edition. The Blueprint for Victory book is about the research and British influence in design and manufacturing of vehicles in preparation for war.

[rob love]

I have an original copy which has the stamp of PJ Montague on the inside cover. The book is dated Dec of 44 on the inside cover. The book makes no mention of superseding previous or earlier editions.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Paul Singleton

My book also says that it is a reprint of the vehicle data book from March 1944. Your book has “second edition “ on the cover so mine must be the first edition. The Blueprint for Victory book is about the research and British influence in design and manufacturing of vehicles in preparation for war.

The first edition has the same cropped and sanitized photos as the original publication. Bill Gregg found the original unedited photos in the archives that were used for the original book, so he printed a second edition with those photos instead, believing that those photos were far more interesting to collectors.

[Ed Storey]

I did not know that there was a bound version of the Vehicle Data Book - Canadian Army Overseas - December 1944 as I have one of the heavy card cover editions.

Vehicle Data Book - Canadian Army Overseas - December 1944 copy.jpg

Judging by publication dates, The Data Book series of manuals appears to predate the Overseas edition by two years. This is just one of the titles from the series.

Data Book - Canadian Military Pattern Vehicles copy.jpg

[rob love]

Nothing as fancy as a bound copy Ed....just a different, more dignified cover. The cover is embossed "Chief Of Staff" on the bottom right corner.

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by rob love

Nothing as fancy as a bound copy Ed....just a different, more dignified cover. The cover is embosses "Chief Of Staff on the bottom right corner.

None-the-less, it is an edition I have not seen before.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

Judging by publication dates, The Data Book series of manuals appears to predate the Overseas edition by two years. This is just one of the titles from the series.

Data Book Canadian Military Pattern Vehicles is one of this series (see the link for an original which went to Grant Hopkins);

Data Book Tank type vehicles of Canadian manufacture is another (I have a laserprinted copy for sale if anyone is interested);

Are there any other manuals in this series?

data book 1 (2).jpg 16623342101.jpg

[Alex van de Wetering]

I will have a look with the link Hanno posted to see if there are differences between the december 1944 issue and Bill Greggs book based on the March 44 edition.

So far I haven't noticed any differences; even the page numbers and index pages match. The only differences are the pictures from what I see, but as Rob mentioned this is mainly a difference between the original publication and Bill Greggs publication. What is interesting though is that some pictures were not just replaced by the non-edited pictures, but sometimes completely different ( and incorrect in some cases) pictures.
So, it seems the March 44 and December 44 editions are identical. Or maybe Bills mentioned of "March" is just incorrect and it was actually december 44(?)

Alex

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Or maybe Bills mentioned of "March" is just incorrect and it was actually december 44(?)

I hope Mike Cecil chimes in re.:

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Bill Gregg was quite open about the source being that data book. This from his introduction: 'The first part is essentially a photo facsimile of the original Vehicle Data Book issued in March 1943...'

[Alex van de Wetering]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

I hope Mike Cecil chimes in re.:

Hanno, this is what it says in the second edition of "Canada's Fighting Vehicles", March 1944. Can anyone check in the first volume if it says 1943 or 1944?

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Data Book Canadian Military Pattern Vehicles is one of this series (see the link for an original which went to Grant Hopkins);

Data Book Tank type vehicles of Canadian manufacture is another (I have a laserprinted copy for sale if anyone is interested);

Are there any other manuals in this series?

I am not sure if there was a March 1944 edition of the Vehicle Data Book, but I know Bill borrowed the original book from what was back in the 1980s, the Department of National Defence Land Technical Library. This library was a fascinating collection but is long defunct with some of the holdings having been sent to the CWM.

Here are two more titles from the Data Book series as well as a sample page from the Canadian Armoured Vehicles book.

Data Book - Canadian Armoured Vehicles - 1943 copy.jpg 20. Universal Carrier MkI+.jpg Data Book - Canadian Manufactured Modified Convential Vehicles and Trailers copy.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

I am not sure if there was a March 1944 edition of the Vehicle Data Book, but I know Bill borrowed the original book from what was back in the 1980s, the Department of National Defence Land Technical Library. This library was a fascinating collection but is long defunct with some of the holdings having been sent to the CWM.

Here are two more titles from the Data Book series as well as a sample page from the Canadian Armoured Vehicles book.

Fascinating stuff, Thanks Ed!

The Data Book Tank type vehicles of Canadian manufacture which I copied is owned by David Herbert. The ID No of this publication is M&S 1877 and it is dated 1-44. It has a revisions and additions sheet issued February 15th 1945, and the revised pages on the Ram, Sexton, Skink, R975-C4 engine, Polsten gun and Mk.9 Sight added, replacing the pages issued January 1944. Each vehicle has a section of its own, comprising of several pages with detailed technical information.

The Vehicle Data Book is more generic, describing the vehicles used for the invasion of mainland Europe on only one page each. Much more like a recognition manual than an extensive technical publication.

Now, who is going to reproduce these Data Books, please?

I would buy the whole set.