Landships II

Thanks for that TCT - the Bailey Bridge was developed 1941/42 by a RE project team in Dorsett from Donald Bailey's hobby model, the standard flat truss bridge design which evolved was first deployed 1942. Not sure Occ Health and Safety today would let Sappers manhandle the panels like we used to - but I digress. The value of speculative scratch modelling is amply demonstrated in the example of the Bailey Bridge. Prior to that the bridges themselves were fairly-much "scratch built" using the (essentially) WW1-era military engineering manuals (as progressively developed) for guidance as to design, materials and (ever-increasing) loading. Nothing makes an old Sapper's eyes shine more than a good bridge. Younger ones have other distractions, if I recall correctly. But I digress again.