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Originally Posted by Stefan Leegwater
You could be right, that looks like an M5A1.
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Agree.
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Would you or anybody else know what the inside looks like for stowage of boxes, radio etc. in a Canadian version?
I am about to weld on this hull, it is nice to prepare everything before blasting/painting.
I also asked on FB Stuart M5A1, there are M3A3 pictures, would the interior be basically the same?
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As these were field modified, anything to make it work for the troops who used them. I would look indeed at pics of the modified M3A3's (see the one pictured from above), or descriptions on how Priests were converted to Kangaroos on my web page here:
http://www.mapleleafup.nl/g104/apckang2.htm.
Basically the interior was stripped of all 37-mm ammunition storage and parts when used as a tank, reposition the radio into one of the sponsons, to make as much as room as possible.
From the history of the
Lincoln and Welland Regiment's Stuart VI, PRESS ON, CT271427, you'll find that over time the same Stuart was used for a variety of roles:
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This turretless Stuart VI now stands in front of the armoury in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is a late production M5A1, with periscope guards on the driver's and co-driver's hatches, the storage box on the rear, and a mixture of open spoked and solid road wheels.
It was found abandoned in France shortly after the Lincoln and Welland Regiment (10th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Armoured Division) landed in July of 1944. It was abandoned by the South Alberta Regiment as the turret had been damaged. Everything else apparently worked, and one of the Lincs' mechanics got the engines running. The turret was removed and the CO pressed it into service for his own personal vehicle.
For the balance of the war, it was also used as an recce vehicle, ambulance, ammo carrier and many other tasks. When it was first used to take ammo up to some troops it looked so strange that both sides fired at it. At the end of the war the Regiment decided to bring it home as its "war trophy". Reportedly, when the Stuart came to Canada, it bore the signatures of all of the regimental members.
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HTH,
Hanno