Centurion Arrives in BC

[Aide Memoire]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

Thank you for posting those two cards although I often wonder if posts get read and understood completely. The quote is from Post 14. Apparently I was not clear enough and you just found out that you require the WD number to trace British vehicles.....

Thanks, Ed, but no - no reading comprehension issues here. I was hoping against hope that Bovington may have had some maint. or production record or other which might match Hull No. to VRN in the case of the Cents even if that was a bit like believing in Santa Claus. I've tried to track Ferrets and Saladins in the past with nothing but hull nos. to go on but as you say...it doesn't work like that.

[Dan Martel]

From another forum I've learned that Centurions were produced (not including early test vehicles and Mk 2's) from 1948 (Mk 3) to 1960 (Mk 10). The overwhelming majority of production vehicles were Mk 3's with 2833 built from 1948 to 1956.

As I recall reading elsewhere there were five different turret styles as well during the production run, and just to make it more confusing the turret styles did not necessarily co-relate to the hull style.

The last WD number assigned to a new build Mk 10 was 03DA03 on March 30, 1962.

Cheers,
Dan.

[David Herbert]

Remember that the army registration number stayed with the hull regardless of how many times it was rebuilt. So it is possible to find photos of very different vehicles with the same registration because it is the same hull rebuilt several times.
David

[Ed Storey]

So we have a Centurion with no identifiable WD number and a questionable CFR, how would anyone come to conclusion that this particular AFV which sat outside at Cornwallis for several decades actually served in Korea?

[Aide Memoire]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

So we have a Centurion with no identifiable WD number and a questionable CFR, how would anyone come to conclusion that this particular AFV which sat outside at Cornwallis for several decades actually served in Korea?

Still waiting for the 'anyone' to get back to me from Borden. Because otherwise I'm at sea myself on that one.

[Aide Memoire]

Is anyone near another gate guardian Canadian Cent or have any Hull number pics of any with known CFRs? I noticed something on the the topic tank and wondered if that's why whomever thought this would be the CFR number - as the CFR and Hull number both end in '190'. If there's another tank out there with a known CFR - I'd be interested to see if the last three of the Hull number also relate to that tank's CFR. Highly doubt for reasons everyone's already mentioned, but worth a try.

[Dan Martel]

Assuming that everyone reading this thread is as big a Centurion geek as I, I won't hold back from posting Centurion trivia as I find it.

Attached is a monograph written by Shane Lovell of Canberra on Centurion tank turrets. It covers the first four types which were fitted to the production Mk 3 and Mk 5 tanks. It can be found online here. The pdf is for those of you who wish to have your own copy.

Cheers,
Dan.