Why are you 'into' tanks?

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by von Poop, Sep 17, 2022.

  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    A mate recently saw my tankish bookshelves and laughed. "Surely you just need the bumper book of tanks, and maybe volume 2 'Some more tanks we forgot about'".
    Since telling him to get f-ed and return to droning on about football it has led to wondering why they intrigue me so.

    Got a few more similarly afflicted here. Some authors, some that served, etc. etc. so...
    Why are you obsessed with Tanks and other military vehicles?
    Can you explain the roots of it, or does it just keep returning to 'because they're fascinating/awesome/slightly mad'?

    I mean... Look at that!
    Conqueror_FV214_tank.jpg
    Doesn't quite explain why the obsession continues in any meaningful way.

    Think the start for me might have been the big Army displays as a small kid. Something crazy about all that noise and destructive power moving about.
    And you could climb on them... Nobody ever let you climb on the aeroplanes...
    I was also cack at painting model planes, whereas tanks could be muddy and more authentically blown up in the back garden. Maybe that played a part.

    Not sure.
    Why do you like tanks?
     
    Don Juan, Chris C, CL1 and 2 others like this.
  2. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    My interest in tanks stems from the fact my maternal GF drove them when serving with The Queen's Bays in the North Africa and Italy Campaigns. So, my bookshelves are focused a little.
     
    von Poop and Chris C like this.
  3. bofors

    bofors Senior Member

    Not "into them" but like them.
    All that portable firepower!
    Would never serve in one, seen too many movies/docos with them brewing up!!!
    Not my scene.
    I would enjoy trying the guns on something!!

    regards

    Robert
     
    von Poop and CL1 like this.
  4. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    vP I did wonder when you would break cover re you interest.Best to be upfront and honest about it
    Thats better isnt it

    I know nothing about tanks but like pictures of tanks which then lead onto looking at the said model of tank
    Fixations on a few

    upload_2022-9-17_10-52-2.jpeg
    upload_2022-9-17_10-52-29.jpeg
    upload_2022-9-17_10-53-11.jpeg

    Plus this, never did ask him what it was like to drive

    upload_2022-9-17_10-54-43.jpeg
     
    Don Juan, bofors and BFBSM like this.
  5. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Part of my interest are the engines. WWII was the peak of gasoline engines for everything except passenger vehicles before diesels and jets took over.
     
    von Poop likes this.
  6. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I read Brazen Chariots.

    I'm sure I'd played some board wargames before that, Squad Leader and something to do with the Middle East, but those didn't generate interest in tanks per se. But Brazen Chariots was the first memoir of any sort from WW2 that I read. That said, my whole interest in WW2 went dormant for about 30 years after my middle teens. There was a Sherman next to the armoury next to my high school here in Canada but I don't remember even thinking about climbing up on it. I wasn't a rebellious teen. So sadly I haven't had that experience yet. Roll on October and I'll be on and in a Chieftain, though!

    Now though - they're a multi-faceted topic. There are all the tradeoffs that have to be made - firepower vs armour vs mobility. The circumstances under which they were designed and put into production, like the early Churchills being thrown into production due to invasion scare. There's definitely something about driving something with all that armour and firepower. Then there's also the markings on them, which are sort of like a last vestige of chivalric arms. I personally had only one Osprey book when I was growing up, and it was on medieval heraldry.
     
    von Poop, Don Juan and BFBSM like this.
  7. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    I'm not, in fact I don't really like them and would far rather that there had only been softskins. Despite that my past includes making all the Airfix, lots of the Tamiyas and climbing on them at Bovington. I recall though being more interested in the Great War Bully Beef tin that they found inside one of them than the tank itself. I don't really care about them. Not in the same way as pre-war 'B' Vehicles and of course Nazi Fan-Boys like them a lot. Which means that I don't.

    Churchill.jpg
     
    SDP, Don Juan, CL1 and 4 others like this.
  8. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Is that a young Rich Payne on the Churchill w Ardeer Aggie mortar?
     
  9. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Yes, me on the turret with younger brother standing. 1970, I think.
     
    TTH and Chris C like this.
  10. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    Well I must admit, the internet has largely snuffed out my admittedly modest interest in tanks. I have wondered why tanks have come to occupy so much of the discussion in various forums (disclaimer - not so much here I know, which I think has far more of a focus on people and places than 'things'), in a way not comparable to the other arms.

    I have wondered whether it's the mechanical nature of tanks, the way that practically everything about them (aside from the men in them) is measurable that gives them such appeal. I suppose that's technically applicable to artillery say, but that's another major topic that doesn't seem to generate anywhere near the amount on interest as tanks.

    Gary
     
  11. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    Why did I get into tanks? Because as a teenager I found them easier to understand and deal with than girls, that's why.
     
    Red Jim, CL1 and BFBSM like this.
  12. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Good answer, but the question wasn't "Why did I get into wanks" :rolleyes:
     
    TTH likes this.
  13. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    I collect cameras, am obsessed with tools, find guns fascinating, can stare at an excavator working for ages, & am completely transfixed by factories/production machinery and how absolutely nothing that's made happens by accident or without effort.
    Maybe I just like mechanisms, and AFVs represent quite complex arrangements of assorted mechanisms into one device.

     
    ceolredmonger, Don Juan and Dave55 like this.
  14. Don Juan

    Don Juan Well-Known Member

    I'm a professional automotive engineer who got dragged into the subject because the narratives established on certain tanks (usually by ex-RAC tankies who are total engineering ignoramuses) just did not make any sense.

    I've since learnt that the subject of tanks is a giant BS generator, and so I assume the same is true for all military equipment, and possibly military history generally. I am now a firm believer in what Michael Crichton called the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect:

     
    von Poop, TTH, tankbarrell and 3 others like this.
  15. ceolredmonger

    ceolredmonger Member

    This book. As a typical young male teen memorising lists and facts was a thing, mine largely based on Airfix catalogues. Playing with model soldiers and tanks was leading to wargaming however ships, aircraft and spacecraft were in there too... then...
    This book was bought for me. I learnt about the Protection - Firepower - Mobility triangle, about the crew roles and pragmatic reasons for changes in tank design. I was hooked.
     

    Attached Files:

  16. Don Juan

    Don Juan Well-Known Member

    In fairness, I think there is a certain Freudian component to tank fandom.

    I can tell you from experience that books about tanks with long guns sell a lot more briskly than books about tanks with short ones.
     
    TTH likes this.
  17. Don Juan

    Don Juan Well-Known Member

    Tiger Tank = Hitler's willy.

     
  18. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Adam,
    I kinda think it similar to little boys loving steam engines - big, with lots of the working parts visible.
    They're interesting.
    Fire engines fall in the same category.
     
    Dave55, von Poop, TTH and 1 other person like this.
  19. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    You the Girl and Her Family.jpg
     
  20. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    Yes indeed. My grandfather was a plumber who worked on a lot of construction projects, some of which I joined him on as a kid. I loved backhoes, earthmovers, bulldozers, all that stuff. Tanks were a natural progression.
     
    Chris C likes this.

Share This Page