More Lend - Lease

Could be!! The only other thing I can imagine is the experimental 3" turret on Ram chassis but I don't see how that could possibly have been assembled by January 1943. I can check Roger Lucy's Ram book when I get home. Is it possible that the Americans supplied the turret separately first?

 

Interesting. The M10 entered production in September 1942; according to TM 9-752 its shipping weight was 57,000 lb and shipping volume was 1,660 cubic feet. It may indeed be the Ram. Lucy says Canada was unable to obtain any production examples of the M10, and after the T54E1 turret sent to Canada for experiment was found to be faulty, the Ram 3-inch SP was subsequently fitted with a production M10 turret in December 1942. When it was decided that enough M10s would be available, trials on the Ram SP were ended in June 1943 and "The pilot Ram 3-inch SP gun was sent to the Canadian Artillery School in the UK to train drivers and gunners." A date for this shipment is not given, however.

 

As you say, a production turret was fitted. Then: "On 7 January 1943, the vehicle was returned to MLW for a checkup and preparation for shipment to the UK. The 3-inch SP gun was ready for shipment on 22 January 1943, and departed Halifax on the SS Empire Planet on 6 February, arriving at 1 BOW on 5 April."

So, apparently technically "Artillery, 3-inch, Self-propelled, Ram Mk I", if Roger's title for that section is correct (That's from his book, Canada's Pride)

 

Well there you go. That's what I get for skimming since dinner was ready!

 

More questions with Lend Lease material.

This is from Directorate of Movements file C5662 images 542 / 547. The census numbers for 8 Universal Carriers are listed as TL174841 to 174848.
Does anyone know what census TL stands for?

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5662/547

Cheers

Kevin

 

More queries from Directorate of Movements.
Is this the Ram 3.7" AA / SP prototype loaded on SS Idefjord? From C5661 pages 3034 and 3042 are the same vehicle but not sure about page 3085 but could not find anything else that related to that page.

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5661/3034

Cheers

Kevin

 

Attached is the first confirming reference I have found to the quad 20mm AA SKINK.

From Canadian Heritage - Directorate of Movements C5690/3231
https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5690/3231

Cheers

Kevin

 

I have a copy of a report about the trial Skink being used in an anti-personnel role in NWE, if you are interested.

 

Hi Chris,

I must admit I wasn't aware they were ever used operationally.let alone in a AP role.

Cheers

Kevin