Leopard 1 Driver Training Cabs in Canada

[Ed Storey]

I like the 114 gun tank number as it is supported by the 1980 C-30-731-000/MA-000 Data Summary which gives the same number. I take it DND must have regularly shuffled the vehicle numbers as my 1992 report has CFE holding 44 Leopard C1s and Canada 33. The remaining 37 (all in Canada) are listed as modified to accept driver's training cab which could possibly be a broad-brush number for vehicles which at one time may have had the cab fitted. Again, if this is the case then why not report them as C1 MBTs?

So how many of the driver training cabs did we buy/rent and what was their NATO stock number?

Interesting numbers game on a 40 year-old vehicle type.

[Dan Martel]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

I take it DND must have regularly shuffled the vehicle numbers as my 1992 report has CFE holding 44 Leopard C1s and Canada 33.

I don't think it has to do with shuffling the numbers so much as by October 1992 the brigade group in Germany had less than a year to go before it shut down completely. I don't know how many Leopard AFV's Canada shipped from Germany after peace broke out, but the Canadian Army surely wouldn't have needed 114 C1's domestically. Maybe it disposed of / sold the 44 left behind.

Cheers,
Dan.

[Ed Storey]

The 114 Leopard C1s were upgraded in 1996 to C2 status, but only 66 were so modified. Some C2s were sold or used as targets in 2003 when at that time there was a move to replace them with the M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS). The MGS plan was cancelled in 2006 and that same year a Squadron of MEXAS armoured C2s (15 + 2 spares) were sent to Afghanistan; and in 2007 the CF invested in Leopard 2A4 and 2A6 tanks. The Leopard C2s were parked for good this spring are now up for disposal.

Here is a photo of a Canadian Leopard C2 I took while in Kandahar in 2011.

IMG_9938 Leopard C2 85159 ECC 116104.jpg

[rob love]

Interesting story I got on the turrets purchased to upgrade the tanks in the 90s. This came from an acquaintance who left Shilo to take on the LCMM position in Ottawa. They bought the turrets for $15K each, and paid a 10K deposit on the hulls on which the turrets sat. Once the tanks reached Canada, the turrets were stripped to upgrade our tanks. But once they looked at the costs to send the hulls back to Germany, it was decided to forfeit the deposit and just keep the chassis here for cannibalization. It was around then that the old turrets started showing up for targets, as did stripped out hulls. Here in Shilo, the ones that showed up were used as range markers as opposed to hard targets.

[Colin Alford]

Gents,

I can't answer the initial question but here is some info which may help resolve some of the additional discussion.

NSN for Driver Training Cabin: 2350-12-174-6597

Applicable Publications:

NDID CD ENGLISH TITLE Date
C-11-206-000/ME-000 DRIVER TRAINING CABIN LEOPARD C1 MBT INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS 08/08/1980
C-11-206-000/MF-000 SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE 08/08/1978
C-11-206-000/MF-001 EQUIPEMENT D'INSTRUCTION (French Only) 08/08/1978
C-11-206-000/MY-001 LEOPARD C1 - ILLUSTRATED PARTS LIST FOR DRIVER TRAINING CABIN 06/10/1997
L-11-206-000/LS-001 TANK, TRAINING AID, INSTRUCTIONAL CABIN TANK SK 221-000000-000-0 (LEOPARD C1)

I looked through the installation instructions and I must admit that I am having trouble following them as the text is in English but the drawings have poor resolution and are in German. It appears that there were modifications required to the existing accelerator and brake pedal assemblies to allow the linkages from the cabin controls to connect to them. There may also have been some work done on the floor of the hull to provide mounting points for elements of the installation kit.

Colin

[Ed Storey]

That is great information, thank you. If there were any modifications done to the donor hull to accept the cabin then that would explain why those vehicles would be accounted for separately and given a new ECC and NSN.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi



Wonder if this could have been one of the turrets removed, picture taken 1984 at Camp Bordon Link to high res version on photo http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/R...0CMP%20185.jpg


84 CMP 185.jpg


Cheers Phil