Welcome to Miliblog ! Apologies to those arriving here in error while searching for the blog of David Miliband, the British Member of Parliament for South Shields and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Perhaps I can persuade you to stop and have a look !
So what and why is Miliblog ? Well it’s a sort of on-line museum and database. For more years than I care to think, I’ve had an interest in military items. Whether it be the history, the equipment, the uniforms, but above all my main passion has been military vehicles.
Like so many youngsters, many a weekend was spent making Airfix models of tanks and aircraft. When a friend of the family bought a WW2 Daimler Dingo scout car and took me for a drive, I was hooked. Coming from an engineering background, I was fascinated by the functionality of military vehicle engineering and at the age of 16 bought my first military vehicle, or MV. This was an original Ford GPW Jeep that I found on a farm in the mid 1970′s and had spent part of it’s life as a chicken house !
Over the years, I’ve accumulated many military bits and bobs, including a collection of photographs. Some taken by myself but many others picked up from dealers at MV events, steam rallies or antique fairs. Rather than sit in albums doing nothing, I thought I’d share them with the world ! Many are going back to the 1970′s, 1980′s and 1990′s. You may spot the MV you used to own then and subsequently sold, maybe with your children sitting in the back as young toddlers ! Some of you may spot your current MV as it was many years ago.
Also I want to provide a service to other students of military vehicles. You may have a vehicle of your own that you are renervating or indeed you may be making a plastic or resin model of a particular vehicle. By looking at the database of the many photos of a diverse range of age and nationality , you can see the detail on the vehicles that will help with your project.
Some of you may have served in the forces with fond memories of particular vehicles. Here in time you’ll be able to see a selection of these vehicles. I have many, particularly from the 1980′s onwards, photos of vehicles in service and there may even be one of you sitting behind the wheel while in the forces !
Also I hope to feature many different aspects of the military. This will include unit badges worn both on uniforms and vehicles and hope in time to help with identifying many of the cloth badges/patches issued to various countries over the years. Likewise, you may be researching family military history and would like to see the badges that a certain unit wore.
Over the years I have also collected original photos taken at the time of battle or during the Second World War, or postwar National Service period. These are usually ‘snaps’ taken by troops of all nationalities of their comrades either on leave, in the barracks or at the battlefront. These I’ll be featuring soon, adding them to Miliblog as they’re accumulated for my collection.
Whatever photos are featured on Miliblog, they are purely for research by the military historian or military vehicle enthusiast. It is not the intention to make any political point or express any political opinion. Neither is it the intent of Miliblog to glorify warfare or to make light of anyone who served their country in the armed forces. In fact it is the opposite, as I feel that at least in Britain, we don’t do enough to recognise the achievements of both those that have served and those that are currently serving in the armed forces.
Many of the photos have been taken by myself. Those bought from a number of sources have been purchased in good faith. Wherever possible, I have tried to contact the copywright holders, but some have proved obscure to trace, with no details at all. However, if we have used any photo that you have copywright to, then please contact us. The intention is to share the knowledge with others.
If anyone wants to use any of the photos in the database, whether it be for a school history project or a specialist club magazine or website, then by all means contact me and I can email you a copy.
I hope you enjoy looking through the site, especially as it continues to be built and added to on a regular basis.
Best regards
Simon Sage Member of the MVT since 1974 !
