Military Model Scene

Title: Chobham Armour
Author: William Suttie
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-4728-5526-8

Cold War British Armoured Vehicle Development, a super new book from Osprey which will please lots of AFV enthusiasts, the many private owners of so many of these Cold War vehicles and modellers alike. A 320-page hardcover book telling use the detail of the work carried out at the Armoured Vehicle Research and Development Establishment based on Chobham Common, often simply referred to as Chertsey. The author has previously written a book about the history of the site, 'Tank Factory' whereas this one focuses on the wide variety of vehicles which were developed there over the years.
First of all, if you are expecting to find the detail on the make-up of Chobham Armour you won't find it here. It is mentioned in passing but this is very much about all the different vehicle types developed/designed through the Chertsey site over the years. The book is split across 4 main parts, each of which is sub-divided into more specific subjects. The 4 parts cover Main Battle Tank Development: Medium and Light Tracked AFV Development: Wheeled AFV Concepts and Development: and finally Other British Armoured Vehicles of the Cold War Era. That's not quite the end because there are 11 Appendices, of which more in a moment. There are many vehicles that are covered that I think most of us would expect, such as Centurion, Conqueror, Chieftain and Challenger MBTs but there are also many trials/design variants of these which make for interesting reading, and in many cases which I had not been aware of before. As well as the detailed and informative text, there are lots of photos, many of which haven't been published before, along with plenty of diagrams/plans for others which never made it into production. Just as an example, there was a Chieftain with a wading trunk over the driver's position, with a seat for the driver perched precariously on top, and referred to as the 'Monkey up a Stick'. A number of these concept AFVs never went beyond the prototype stage, and a number of these can be found in the collection of the Tank Museum at Bovington. There is so much more, too much to even try and tell you all the things you will find. There are both the Oxford and Cambridge Carriers, the MBT80 project, the FV432 and CVR(T) families, projects for air portable anti-tank guns, the TRACER reconnaissance project. Then, if all this isn't enough, there are the appendices. The first of these is a very useful list of all the FV vehicle designations that were considered during the operation of the Chertsey site, and the others give the essential statistics of all sorts of individual vehicles, such as the Saladin, Saracen, Ferret, Fox etc.
I happily admit I am something of a military vehicle nerd and this one I have really enjoyed. I learnt a lot and it also provides what is instantly a key reference on the bookshelf. The author has spent around 45 years working in the field of military vehicle/equipment research and development and that experience shines through in this book.
Thanks to Osprey for our review copy.

Robin