Canadian T72 tanks
 

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum...ian-T72M1-Tank

For those guys registered on Canadian Gun Nutz (and everyone here should), there is a supremely interesting thread by a Canadian tanker whose job included running one of Canada's post 1989 East German T72 tanks.

Calling Clive - there is a booklet in this man's story ...

Hi

I am not a member so can I extrapolate that it's the Gagetown Armour School's OpFor in the mid-90s?

If so, better hurry on the booklet because the T-72 (which was one of the OpFor vehs) in Gagetown may be going away.... :whinge

regards
Darrell

T-72
 

Canada acquired some east German T-72's as mentioned earlier. Some were shot at and we were able to get one or two up as runners for Op For purposes. The 12e RBC has a crew of guys who maintained the 1 in Valcartier that was on loan. It was used in the French Canadian series Op Tango a story about our time in Bosnia - a 3 part series. We also used it for car crushes and as a static display at the regiment before it was returned to CFB Gagetown. We had a few guys who knew all the ins and outs of this machine. I was pretty cool on my Pre 6A (Sgts Course) to go up against it when practicing fire and movement.

Dave Chaloux
302 Trooper

Strathcona T 72
 

We had one in Calgary that we got running and added to our Historical Vehicle Troop that we used for dog and pony's and the odd car crush. It originally came from Suffield where they had another pair for fuel/air explosive testing which we stripped for spares. It was a crude but robust vehicle that certainly could have been a significant threat in Europe to our Leopard C1's.

Here are some Korea vets taking her for a spin at our 1995 Regimental reunion. That's me smiling in the drivers seat, MLU'er Darryl Zinck is there in the grey coveralls. When the Regiment moved to Edmonton in '96 it became a static monument and I believe it was shipped back to Calgary to the Museum of the Regiments as an outdoor display piece.

Hi Jim

Thanks for that. Good times. I see your Sherman in the background too. I also see Kevin Thody and his Dad Dick in that 1st pic. Dick was a Korea Tanker and had some great stories about shooting Commies off his Tp Ldrs tank with canister. Apparently the worst part was having to replace all the AMUs and episcopes!!

Dick has passed on but a great fellow to be sure. Kevin and I met in basic and served VIII CH, RCD and LdSH together before he released in 1995. Of course, you know that, Jim!! :)

Re the Gagetown T-72s, isn't Gord Pringle a member here? I believe him and "Dauber" we crews of that OpFor troop. Gord? anything to add?

regards
Darrell

Borden T72
 

Can anyone tell us whether the T72 ? at Camp Borden is one of this lot of vehicles - or if not where it came from and under what circumstances. It looks fairly complete but neglected surely it could be a runner with some help?? B.P.

@ Bob, why don't you ask the original poster over on Canadian Gun Nutz? There is chatter there, which I have not followed closely, and the suggestion that there were a few batches of WP vehicles imported.

BTW, if anyone maintains a website of Canadian vehicles and modern military history, these conversations represent a good foundation for a webpage. There are photos and captions with first person narratives of using T72 vehicles as trainers and OPFOR against Canadian Leopards. Snag things while they are available. Never know when the host sites will go down ... :cool:

Hi Bob

This link may help answer your question although some of the info appears dated.

http://preservedtanks.com/Locations....ategoryId=8000

regards
Darrell

Hi John

Did you check the fuel tanks for gold bars? :yappy:

I can't help with T-72 bits, sorry. Everything in the basement at the Gagetown Museum went into a landfill two summers ago. :whinge

regards
Darrell

Answering Post 6 above.

Can anyone tell us whether the T72 ? at Camp Borden is one of this lot of vehicles - or if not where it came from and under what circumstances. It looks fairly complete but neglected surely it could be a runner with some help?? B.P.

Nope, after the reunification the German government had a huge problem disposing of unwanted armour, vehicles, weapons, aircraft of all sorts and in various conditions. One expediant was to gift equipment to various nations so Canada received a number of tanks that where all Ex-East German. The Borden Museum received a T34, T54-55 and T72 then did something rather bizarre they painted a big red Soviet star on the T34 that caused the staff from the German Embassy to have kittens when they went to visit the gifted vehicles. Like really what a outright stupid thing to do.......but there is more. In 1998 I was in Borden for training and noted the museum had painted some HUGE markings on the tanks like T-54 and T72 that just looked so painfully wrong. Today the former East German T72 is wearing some odd cam paint scheme which makes me ask (again) why do CF museums go out of their way to paint things wrong ?? or apply bizzare and fictitious markings ??

So just to clarify, there where two batches of Ex-East German vehicles sent to Canada. Batch One is the gift of tanks, vehicles and aircraft (MIG21 at Trenton, BTR 152 and BRDM2 to Gagetown and Borden the tanks) that went to museums and where never part of the CF in the early 1990s. Then later (mid 1990s) the Canadian Forces received a second batch of T72 and a few BMP2 for Trials and Evaluations, dynamic testing of ammunition, use as EnFor and umpteen dog and ponies and familiarization training .

John, you will also need the small (about ten inch long) "key" that has a oval on one end for cranking the drivers hatch open and closing and locking the turret hatches. Honestly the wrench you show in the post, the "key" wrench and the 1M long dip stick is about all this anvil tough tank needs to keep running in the field.

^ I just get a mental picture of you thumb typing like there is no tomorrow instructions trying to talk it through on how to get the hatches open. Besides the handful of tools for the hull panniers source a canvass cover for the NSVT, the rubber track skirts and the front fenders. Find a nice open piece of land you can get it up into seventh gear and you will feel like you are the lead tank in a Operational Maneuver Group (OMG) rolling up NATO and racing for the English Channel .

Oh by the way, Vladimir and Kirill say hi and Merry Christmas to you.

T55
 

As James mentioned here is what the Borden T55 looked like as it was painted in the late 1990s - unfortunately I did not photograph the T72.

Attachment 110875

John,

congratulations on getting it started and home. Must be a great feeling

Oh John, dear John, though we have never actually met, we have been involved with each other for a few years, all good times and hence the friend status.

MLU is known for slight divergences and this is one such example.

You had me rolling on the floor laughing with your comment "any guy with enough money can sit in his office an delegate to staff to "take care of it"...but where is the fun in that?"

I am that staff member. I have been very privileged to have had an absolute ball doing what I do for my "any guy" and have learned so much because of it and met so many wonderful people along he way. Friendships have developed and blossomed and I have taken them on in my own time outside of work.

You talk about boarding the ship and driving your tank off, I well understand that. I drove two tracked armoured vehicles off a ship in Halifax a few years ago with only some printed email notes from a UK chum in hand. Thankfully no one had trodden on the kill pedal in the FV436 during loading and no one had left the master battery on for the crossing.

I am sure I had a great big grin on my smug face when I drove them off that night, shame no one recorded it all but as you say it all happens so fast.

I have also had a great time driving Bedfords from Halfax back to Ontario and driving an FMTV from Philly to home, some memorable trips and people met for sure.

Thanks for the opportunity to digress.

Attached is a photo of the Borden T72 taken about 20 years ago.

t 55 in Borden 2011 parked near the paint shop

T-72 starter question
 

Hi, we have two T-72’s at the Ontario Regiment Museum now, one a good runner, one a gate guard.
The runner is a Polish tank, from a private owner’s collection, and I believe it came from Poland via the UK.
The second is a Czech tank (I believe) and came across to a Canadian base for testing, before we got it.
Anyway, we have lots of manuals,Polish, Russian, and Bosnian (according to Google translate), and a couple of abbreviated ones in English, but Google struggles to do a comprehensible translation (or the manuals are very poorly written) so technical info is a problem.
My present question is more from curiosity than a need to repair:
- the tank is 24 volt as expected. However, the electric starter is 48 volt, supplied by temporarily connecting the four 12 volt batteries in series using a large relay activated by the start push button.
- slaving is done by another T-72 supplying 48 volts somehow.
- does anybody know how the slaving tank supplies 48 volts while it is running in 24 volt mode? We occasionally need to slave it.
The manuals we have shed no light on this.

Malcolm

Hi Malcolm,
On the Tank Museum's Youtube channel yesterday was a new video on the T72 and one of the museum's workshop volunteers is a chap who was a T72 commander in the East German army. He is very knowledgable on the workings of it, so maybe you could make contact with him through the museum?
Here is a link to the video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XjFKVyXzls

It' not just Google that has problems translating technical material. My parent's first VCR came with both English and French manuals. Trying to do the setup of the programming for channels and recording was virtually impossible using the English manual but rather easier using the French one even though everyone involved was very much "French is our second language". I'm convinced the English manual had been translated from Japanese, probably by by someone who was a very competent translator but had no expertise with using the machine in question. On the other hand, I believe the French manual had been done by someone who had been trained to program and operate the VCR and who had then followed the outline of the original manual (English? Japanese? doesn't matter) to write a French version.


To offer a tiny bit of help on your 12/24 volt question - trucks used to employ a device known as a series-parallel switch to configure batteries to be able to provide 12 volts for most of the truck but 24 volts for the starting system. Higher voltage permits the same power to flow with lower current resulting in less heating of cables and letting smaller cables do the job. The power transmission grid uses the same voltage/current relationship to economically move electricity around the country - huge voltage, lower current.

The practice was to do air starts, or a combination of air/electric. Have you do a tow start and do you double suction the transmission for ease of start , and that said don,t stand in front of the tank on start up.