PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
Kirt's Cogitations™ #328

RF Cafe University"Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37

<Previous                     Next>

 

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, January 1954 - RF Cafe

PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, Christmas 1953 (January 1954, issue 016)

Here is the complete listing of issues.

A few times in the past I have mentioned the U.S. Army's long-running comic-book-style of training material for vehicle maintenance. It began in 1940 under the title of The Army Motors and ran through the end of World War II. In June 1951, at the beginning of the Korean War, the publication was re-introduced as PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, where the "PS" part stands for "Post Script," a la the "p.s." you might put at the end of a written letter. In this case the "p.s." is a post script to the regular Army vehicle maintenance manuals. I recently happened to run across the RadioNerds.com's extensive section on PS Magazine, and it is a treasure trove of downloadable PDF versions of the magazines.

The Army Motors, November 1940 - RF Cafe

The Army Motors, November 15, 1940, Volume 1 Number 8

As you can see from the cover illustrations and the contents, its appeal was primarily to the predominantly male vehicle maintenance force that comprised the Army at the time. Primary characters of the publication included the very moody Master Sergeant Half-Mast McCanick (half-mast, as in a sign of mourning, and McCanick for "Mechanic," get it?), the Sad Sack-like Private Joe Dope maintenance guy, and of course the voluptuous Connie Rod (grease monkey slang for "connecting rod," which is probably an unknown entity to many youngsters). Of course such an approach would be utterly unacceptable today because of exploitation claims, but in some aspect the use Connie Rod is more of an insult to the intelligence of the men who did the maintenance. Ms. Rod was the highly capable, highly knowledgeable, and highly refined star of the series, while the other characters followed her lead. I could theorize on what the equivalent person might look and act like today, but that could get me into trouble (although I'm overly concerned about it).

The fact is that PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly really was a well-done informational publication which filled a vital need at the time. Connie Rod's character began an evolution to a more politically correct figure in the 1980s, including transitioning to a civilian, as evidenced by the decade step in cover art shown below. Many new characters were introduced in the 1990s. The final print edition of PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly was November 2019 - issue number 804. It is now an online publication, "No more hand-drawn cartoon illustrations or technical art" and, "More emphasis on trends." (is that Taps I hear in the background?)

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, June 1951 - RF Cafe

Issue 001, June 1951

(premier issue)

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, May 1955 - RF Cafe

Issue 032, May 1955

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, January 1965 - RF Cafe

Issue 146, January 1965

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, September 1975 - RF Cafe

 Issue 274, September 1975

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, May 1985 - RF Cafe

Issue 390, May 1985

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, July 1995 - RF Cafe

Issue 512, July 1995

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, July 1997 - RF Cafe 

Issue 536, July 1997

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, September 2004 - RF Cafe 

Issue 622, September 2004

 

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, November 2015 - RF Cafe 

Issue 756, November 2015

PS Magazine: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, November 2019 - RF Cafe 

Issue 804, November 2019

(final print issue) 

 

 

 

Posted May 14, 2021