Came across the attached and wondered if anyone knows what exactly a Tank Buster is. If 233654 is the census number then it falls within a batch of Sextons S233626 - S233925, there are 5 other Tank Busters listed but no census numbers given. Cheers Kevin .
Your eyesight is much better than mine Kevin - it would be really helpful if you included the URLs in future please. https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5678/116?r=0&s=3 52,540 lbs seems about right for an unladen Sexton but I wonder if it could be the Ram 3.7” prototype which was shipped to the UK around this time? Canadian Military Headquarters, London : T-17889 - Héritage 43050 lbs is about 19 tons – early M18 Hellcat shipments perhaps?
Well yes and no because it isn't the same image, but that's very interesting... I was thinking that the Ram 3.7" was actually 17 pounder but Richelieu has it right. There was an attempt to mount that gun as an SP AA gun on a Ram.
Looking at Roger Lucy's book on the Ram though, the equipment is listed as totally 62,000 lbs, and moreover the timing doesn't match. The vehicle was shipped to the UK on SS Idefjord on 13 November 1942. edit: he mentions that the idea of a Ram 3.7" SP anti-tank gun was discussed in October 1943 but the British showed no interest - and that is much too close to November to be related.
I like Richelieu's suggestion of Sexton. Seems a dead match for shipping weight. EDIT: Opps, 1942 was too early for a Sexton
Sorry for the stream of consciousness posts. Roger Lucy's book again does talk about discussion of potentially mounting the 17 pr in the Sexton, but long story short, none were built [at least, according to him]. Similarly with the idea of a 3.7" gun on the Grizzly (Canadian M4A1). Bottom line is, I have failed to find any info about what these were.
There actually was a Ram 17-pdr prototype using the M10 turret apparently [Oh no there wasn’t! - see below] and it was sent to the UK in 1943 (too early for this shipment though) but was superseded by the M10 17-pdr developments. Added: The Ram 3.7” prototype was evidently broken-up in the summer of 1943 with the gun returned to the War Office. Canadian Military Headquarters, London : T-17889 - Héritage
Yes, of course it was the U.S. M7 3” gun Chris – sorry about that but my brain has been in neutral all day! To compound my shame, I knew that the Canadian 17-pdr M10 project was stalled by the unavailability of the 17-pdr!
Not to worry! In any case, we're left with a mystery about exactly what this "tank buster" was, which fascinates me. As everyone has said, they were obviously fairly heavy. There IS a file at Library and Archives Canada under "tank buster": RG24-C-2, Volume number: 10075, File number: 13/TANK BUSTERS/1. Date listed is 1943/11-1943/12. If someone else can take a look, fantastic. Maybe I can get someone to copy it, actually, since I can't get to the archives these days.
More Lend Lease stuff from Canadian Heritage - Directorate of Movements C5669/162 https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5669/162 Can anyone identify this vehicle. I am guessing perhaps an LVT ? Cheers Kevin
An amphibious truck? I don't think that is what anyone would call an LVT a truck. Also per wikipedia, that's about half the weight of an LVT-4.
According to TMs 9-775 and 9-776, the shipping weights and volumes for LVT2 and LVT4 were 24,400 lb and 23,550 lb, and 2,308 and 2,367 cubic feet, respectively. DUKW can probably also be ruled out as the given weight is near its gross weight including payload.
Universal Carrier query. The attached is a screen shot from Canadian Heritage Directorate of Movements file C5666 page 1934 https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5666/1934 It shows a number of Universal Carriers that have VC within the U/C serial. This is the the first time I have seen VC listed in over a thousand serials I have seen within these files. Does anyone know or can confirm what the VC stands for. Cheers Kevin