TANKS! is written by William A. Kirk Jr. also known as "Tyrannosaur". A Telecommunications Engineer by trade and a business owner. Born 10/29/1954 (nearly a fossil). He graduated high school in 1973 and went to college - initially as a music major, he switched to electronics and minored in history. While in college, he grew his hair down to past his shoulders but, unlike Sampson, it did not help. He ran out of money before it grew all the way to the floor (graduation) and had to join the service or quit eating. He then served 6 years with the best Air Force (the USAF) in the world from 1976 to 1982 attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant in under 4 years (the "then" average was 7 years). Bill finished his career with two Air Force Commendation Medals. One received for his assignment of "saving" RAF Bentwaters Patch and Test Facility after receiving over 10 deficient marks from the Defense Communications Agency. Yes! He was in charge of the facility when the famous "Bentwaters UFO Incident" occured. No! He will not talk about it. The other medal was for his book written and published by the USAF on Telecommunications at MacDill AFB. He did some other stuff but won't exactly say what.

He is listed in Who's Who for the Southeast United States for his managerial and inventive skills. Yup, he invented some stuff and he was a plant manager once for a long distance telephone company. Bill is a Choir Master, and has played music since the age of 7, and is an active volunteer football and baseball coach. He has even been a radio announcer/engineer (you should hear his baritone voice)! He was even a state treasurer for a minor political party (no! he is not into radical politics). He is a retired Assistant Cubmaster of the Boy Scouts.His interest in tanks comes from an larger active interest in history in general (in which he minored in college).  Today, Bill owns an online store and works for Florida State University at the North West Regional Data Center. Here is where he "nerds" his time for 40 hours a week. His hobbies: TANKS!, rebuilding old PC's to give to charity, riding his motorcycle. His goal is to obtain a degree in history. He still owns his real teeth (mostly - some are gold), but must wear glasses. He is trained and will not soil your carpet. He is guaranteed free of lice and fleas. Bill is available for rent or would like be adopted by a wealthy person (please)!
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Sources (but not all) that have added to the making of... TANKS!

The History Channel
The Discovery Channel
WW2 Magazine
Military History Magazine
Command Magazine
Military History Quarterly
Abanderado Magazine
 

Brassey's Dictionary of Battles - John Laffin
The Military History of World War II - consultant editor: Barrie Pitt
M4 Sherman - George Forty
The Art of Wargaming - Peter P. Perla
The American Heritage Picture History of World War II - C.L. Sulzberger
Great Commanders and their Battles - Anthony Livesey
Great Land Battles - Ian Hogg
Atlas of World War II - Richard Natkiel
Great Battles of World War I - Anthony Livesey
Atlas of American Wars - Richard Natkiel
Hitler - Joachim C. Fest
The Enclyclopedia of Twentieth Century Warfare - general editor: Dr. Noble Frankland
Armoured Wargaming - Bruce Quarrie
Knights - Andrea Hopkins
The Medieval Knight at War - Brooks Robards
Armor - Petr Klucina
The Cross and the Crescent - Malcolm Billings
Panzer - Rodger Edwards
The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History - Colin McEvedy
Pictorial History Of The Second World War - Wm. H. Wise & Co. Inc.
Baa Baa Black Sheep - Gregory Boyington
William Wallace - James Mackay
Genghis Khan - R.P. Lister
The SS - Time Life Books
A Pictorial History of the World War II Years - Edward Jablonski
William Wallace - D.J. Gray
Attila, King of Huns - Patrick Howarth
The Wars of the Roses - Anthony Goodman
Robert the Bruce, King of Scots - Ronald McNair Scott
The Red Baron - Manfred von Richthofen
The Age of the Picts - W.A. Cummins
In Search of the Cid - Stephen Clissold
Eleanor of Aquitaine - Desmond Seward
The Roman Legions - H.M.D. Parker
Fighter Pilots of World War II - Robert Jackson
Saladin, in his time - P.H. Newby
Famous Welsh Battles - Philip Warner
Stalin, the glastnost revelations - Walter Laqueur
The readers companion to Military History - edited by Robert Cowley & Geoffrey Parker
Edward II - Harold F. Hutchison
A History of Arms - William Reid
The World's Great Tanks from 1916 to the present day - Roger Ford
The Second World War - A.J.P. Taylor
World War Two Tanks - George Forty
The Gatefold book of Tanks - text by Rodger Ford
U.S. War Department handbook on Japanese Military Forces
Warfare in the Classical World - John Warry
Egypt Land of the Pharaohs - Time Life Books
The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II - general editor: Chris Bishop
Tanks of World War II - Collins Jane's
The Armed Forces of World War II.  Uniforms, insignia and organization - Andrew Mollo
The Polish Campaign 1939 - Steven Zaloga and Victor Madej
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Tanks and Fighting Vehicles - Christopher F Foss
Tank Facts & Feats - Kenneth Macksey
World War II; a photographic history - David Boyle
U.S. Military Tracked Vehicles - Fred W. Crismon
Blitzkrieg; from the rise of Hitler to the fall of Dunkirk - Len Deighton
Armored Fighting Vehicles - Philip Trewhitt
Tanks of World War Two - Jean Restayn
The Bilbao Armoured Car - Javier De Mazarassa
Captured French Tanks Under The German Flag - Werner Regenberg & Horst Scheibert
TANKS - Eric Morris
Japanese Tanks till 1945 - Author unknown owing to my ignorance of the Japanese language (sorry).
British and American Tanks of World War II -  Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis
Great Battles of the British Army - Editor-in Chief David G Chandler
Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two - Chamberlain and Doyle
German Armored Trains - Wolfgang Sawodny
Patton - Ian V. Hogg
The Waffen SS - Herbert Walther
Second World War Combat Weapons (German) Vol. 1 - E.J. Hoffschmidt and W. H. Tantum IV
World War II - Ivor Matanle
German Tanks of World War II - Dr. S. Hart & Dr. R. Hart
Tanks & Artillery - Konrad F. Schreier Jr.
Panzer - General Editors: Dr. Niall Barr & Dr. Russell Hart
Panzergrenadiers in Action - Ronald L. Redmon & James F. Cuccarese
Russian tanks and armored vehicles 1917 to 1945 - Wolfgang Fleischer
German Tanks of World War Two - George Forty
Czechoslovak Armored Fighting Vehicles 1918-1948 - Charles K. Kliment & Vladimir Francev
American Tanks of World War II - Thomas Berndt
50 Famous TANKS - George Bradford and Len Morgan

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