Centurion Arrives in BC

[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.

[Aide Memoire]

Two images from Harold Skaarup's great reference site came up while I was looking for likely places on this tank to sand in the hopes of finding a CFR. They're from RCDs in Germany in 1964. We kept the British WD/ VRN numbers on them in our service rather than using the 52-XXXXX type? First pic shows

"CDN 03 BA 47"

Second pic shows a trace of the British VRN on the very front of the hull (may well be the same tank as in the previous pic) but all you can really make out is the 'BA' part.

Were these just temp assign/ loaners from the Brits? According to my VRN list they'd be 1949/1950 tanks in the same series as a bunch that went to Australia.