Talk:David Stirling

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Contents 1 "more than an entire platoon" 2 Military Coup 3 Capture 4 Doune in the district of Stirling 5 Sir?

[edit] "more than an entire platoon"

The sentence in the text reads: "After Layforce (and No.8 Commando) were disbanded on 1 August 1941, Stirling remained convinced that due to the mechanised nature of war a small team of highly trained soldiers with the advantage of surprise could exact greater damage to the enemy's ability to fight than an entire platoon." Just a platoon?

[edit] Military Coup

"His name has sometimes been mentioned in connection with the alleged attempts to undermine the Labour government in the mid-1970s, and possibly even topple it by a military coup."

Does anyone have any sources to back this up? It seems a rather serious accusation to me. Cjrother 23:52, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I've removed this paragraph now as no one objected or backed up the statements. Cjrother 17:33, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

This seems to have reappeared again (and again was added by an anonymous user). Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? Cjrother 22:03, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

I've removed it, as it's the kind of thing that definately needs a reference cited for it. That said, Stirling definately was involved with mercenary activities in Africa and the Middle East, and the training (as a private consultant) of the military forces of several middle eastern countries, including Oman. The article certainly should mention that stuff. I have heard rumours of a coup against Wilson, but nothing so concrete I'd put it into Wikipedia myself. If someone can source this rumour (even if it's only a rumour) then (depending on the quality of the source, and what it says) that's something we could mention in the article. But without a reference, we certainly can't allow it into the article. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 17:52, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Capture

The article has been changed to say he was captured by the Germans. I had thought it was the Italians but I can't find my copy of his biography at the moment. Does anyone know who it was? Cjrother 22:03, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Doune in the district of Stirling

"Doune in the district of Stirling" isn't really true. Firsly, in 1915 it was Stirlingshire; that's not nit-picking, as Stirling (district) is a vast modern thing that has very little in common with old Stirlingshire. But worse, I don't believe Doune (or Park of Kier, really) was in Stirlingshire then (they wobbled the boundary around a bit, which doesn't help). I've yet to find a really good map of Stirlingshire, but this would have Doune (which is NW of Bridge of Allan) well inside Perthshire. Saying "Doune near Stirling" would be accurate and avoids the issue of the location of the Stirlingshire-Perthshire border. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 16:58, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

Ah, I found a decent map: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/stirlingshire/Stirlingshire_Map.jpg. Kier (about half way down, near the east margin, sw of Dunblane) is well inside Perthshire. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 17:12, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sir?

He was made OBE and that doesn't allow him the prefix Sir.

GBE-KBE-CBE-OBE-MBE

Only the two highest ranks entail admission into knighthood.

Those being Knight Grand Cross (GBE) or Knight Commander (KBE)

see Precedence and privileges

Maybe he was knighted in some other order and it's not shown in the article?

The article says "He was knighted in 1990, and died later that year", and has said so for at least a year.

I did read "He was knighted" but forgot about "Knight Bachelor" and thought someone mistakenly used Sir for OBE.. my bad =/

Brett Cupitt: Didn't David Stirling pioneer mounting large machine guns (Vickers?) on jeeps which would speed between the aircraft on enemy airfields destroying them all on the ground? I understood this is what he was best known for. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.148.82.155 (talk) 19:49, 5 December 2007 (UTC)