Shilo's new T-16

[James P]

Great find and recovery I always love reading your posts of your work. To to honest you could teach those buffoons at the CWM a thing or three at how things get done in the real world.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Rob,

Exiting find! Well done on the recovery to put it in a safe place.

As far as I can tell, this is a 4.2-in mortar carrier. Apart from the stowage, the angle iron steps at the sides are a sign of this variant - read more in this thread.

In December 1944 a total of 266 T16s were held by Canadian Units in First Cdn Army 21 Army Group - see the page THE T-16 CARRIER in use with the Canadian Army in my T16 Universal Carrier webpage.

HTH,
Hanno

[rob love]

Originally Posted by James P

Great find and recovery I always love reading your posts of your work. To to honest you could teach those buffoons at the CWM a thing or three at how things get done in the real world.

Thanks for the compliment, although I can't comment on the statement about the CWM. Bit if they share my shortcomings, the limitations are time, personal and money, along with time, lack of time, and not enough time. Often time is limited as well. Shifitng focus often leads to disruptions too,.

Hanno: Thanks for the link. Some great information there. One of the decisions that will have to be made is whether to leave the mortar tube and baseplate brackets where the army moved them to, or move them back to where the designers put them. Tough call. If they are left where they are, the scale modellers and video gamers will claim that it is a poor restoration.

[David Dunlop]

Be interesting to find out why the tube location was changed, Rob.

If I read the thread info correctly, the wartime 4.2 inch Mortar Team needed a 5 Carrier transport. Perhaps in postwar Canada there were just not enough T16's available to maintain that standard, so the equipment was redistributed into a smaller number of T16's.

Perhaps there is official documentation on file somewhere covering such changes.

David

Great find, by the way. Reminds me of my carrier when discovered sleeping in a farm yard.

[rob love]

Neil Yeo dropped by for a few minutes today, and we determined from the data plate that the WD number was T102032 S . The number is now quite apparent on both sides, now that we know what we are looking for. It was just a coincidence that the DND number ended in 022, which helped make some confusion earlier.

I had seen the S after the WD number on the side, but wasn't sure if it was part of it. What was the significance of the 'S' ....suppressed?

I hooked up an A-frame and pulled the T-16 off my trailer today and put it back into the building. After some photos tomorrow it will be off to the washbay to clear out some of the mud, moss, and debris. Perhaps there are some more surprises on the bottom of the hull.

[rob love]

More photos. We removed the loose stuff from the carrier, and I started on removal of the herb garden inside the hull. Photos include the UCmk1 engine, and the stowage box from the rear with the central command and infantry school markings.

[rob love]

A couple interesting points. The WD number, after washing, was visible on the back right of the hull. However, it reveals that the hitch brackets were welded on after the painting of the WD number, as evidenced by the overlap.

Here is also a shot of the white thick padding on the bottom of the stowage bins. I suspect they were asbestos, and other than keeping a few baggies for samples, the rest were bagged and into the dumpster.

Next is a shot of the artillery marking on the side. Blue square with a red corner denoting A battery. The lettering looks like A2, but some sanding will perhaps reveal it better.

Last is a shot of the carrier now that the hull has been washed out, and the outside pressure washed to remove the moss growth. The parts will be put back into the hull and it will be put out into the compound and covered, waiting for it's eventual restoration.

[rob love]

And here is some data for the bean counters. The data plate inside the front right stowage bin, the number from the top left edge of the armour, and the number on the left towing eye along with a couple of flaming bombs.

As well, a little fine sanding with steel wool brought up the letters DND kind of cockeyed on the front right side. Factory markings denoting destination perhaps? As well, a little better shot of the artillery marking. Looks like it is just the latter A in the little square.

I count the repainting of the 82-032 at least 9 times on the right armour indicating likely long service. It would also appear the artillery markings on rear left fender are over top of the central command markings.