Phil Loder chats with William Suttie, engineer, author and expert on military vehicle development
For many military vehicle enthusiasts, to have been involved in the development of armoured vehicles at the legendary Chertsey Establishment in Surrey, UK, would have been their dream job. Scientist and engineer William Suttie had exactly that job, working at the cutting edge of military vehicle development for the past 40 years, first at Chertsey and then in other branches of the Ministry of Defence.
In The Tank Factory, published in 2015, William documented the story of the Chertsey Establishment from the birth of the tank and the arrival of the Department of Tank Design at the edge of Chobham Common in 1942, to its final closure in 2002. For 60 years, from the middle of World War Two through the Cold War to the start of the new millennium, the facility was the epicentre for research, innovation and the testing of fighting vehicles for the British Army.
In his latest book, Chobham Armour, William has turned his attention to the Cold War period. He looks in detail at the work of the scientists and engineers of the Fighting Vehicle Research and Development Establishment who designed, created and evaluat…
