Research regarding Cookers, Portable, No. 2

[Colin Alford]

The tray in the Sexton

Your tray was very likely manufactured to house the Canadian Cookers, Portable, No. 2.* Montreal Locomotive Works likely had one on hand as they obviously used a Canadian model when they were designing the stowage in the Ram tanks.* Does this mean you need to find one of the Canadian models?* If you are looking to portray a vehicle that is stowed as originally intended at the factory then yes, but if you are looking to portray the stowage as used in operations then no.* The crews likely either had to stow the British cooker in a different location, modify the existing tray or make up some sort of adaptor. If it were my vehicle I would be tempted to make up an adaptor plate (potentially out of plywood with a metal lip) which sat into the recess of the existing tray then had a larger tray mounted on top to accommodate the dimensions of the British Cooker.* If the strap proves to be too short I would simply insert a normal utility (blanket) strap to increase the functional length.

Other Canadian manufactured armoured vehicles

Having had a look through various stowage diagrams I note that for the Lynx and Fox, the Cookers were stowed in bins that also housed other items.* I don't know if the bins had any dividers or brackets in them to specifically locate the Cooker or if the other items packed within the bins helped prevent movement.

The stowage diagram for the Otter does illustrate the Cooker and I think that we are seeing a drawing of the Canadian Cookers, Portable, No. 2 as there is no British style stove illustrated and the pot appears to be tall. (Otter images below)

The stowage diagram for the Windsor Carrier indicates the stove is stowed beside the pot thereby indicating use of the British Cooker.* This does make sense given the later date of design compared to other Canadian produced armoured vehicles.