New Carrier Owner

RichardT10829 · #1 12-02-12, 19:59

Welcome to the carrier family Manfred, have you any more pictures of inside the hull ? and particularly the lower part of the rear plate (where the diff comes in)

the front armour appears incorrect (the vision slots...please don't take offence it is just an observation...there is lots of oddities on my carrier too) however she is a lovely specimen and you are lucky to have her.

she appears to have a late Mk1 or Mk2 light setup however the clincher for Mk is as i mentioned above about the lower hull rear pannel, if there are two square holes it is a Mk1 hull, if the plate is solid then it is a later Mk....so Mk2 or Mk3... there are other ways to ID it but that is a start.... if you look onto the gearstick housing there may be a part number and a made by number for example if it is a ford carrier it would have FMco then a number ie FMco 42 indicating that component was made in 1942...... it would give an idea of when the carrier was made however should not be taken as a definite source to age the carrier.

Cheers

Richie

Lynn Eades · #2 12-02-12, 21:19

Hi Manfred, Welcome to the forum, Isabell III looks like a fine carrier. It must be great to have her in the gararge.
Richard, My AOP is a MkIII, It has the two "Square holes" Do you have photos of a different arrangement?
I'd say Isabell has to be a MkII*.

eddy8men · #3 12-02-12, 21:50

hi manfred
welcome to the carrier club, that's a nice machine you've got there. i hope you can come to beltring with her this year as we are planning on it being a carrier fest so one more would always be welcome

all the best

rick

RichardT10829 · #4 12-02-12, 22:38

I thought Mk2 from the round bar.... but you never can tell. the AOP carrier Lynn am i right in thinking they never progressed from the Mk1 style lower hull ? photo's of different arrangement ? are you referring to the lights? mine has both lamps fitted to the fenders / track guards rather than one lamp fitted to the gunners armour

Michael R. · #5 12-02-12, 22:48

Welcome Manfred !

Your Carrier is a U.C. No. 2 Mk. II*, built by Ford, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Without a doubt it was manufactured in contract number CD 2609, March or April, 1944. The upper armour is CB 24552, engine number is TL 27149-F . As Nigel mentions, a former mortar carrier stowage model.

If you remove the post war fuel container bracket from the left rear, you may find the lower hull number on the angle bracket that attaches the rear upper vertical armour plate to the lower hull. See red arrow in attached image.

Lynn Eades · #6 13-02-12, 00:11

What do you mean "they never progressed" Do you mean the Brits?

What you maybe dont follow is that the different types evolved at different times. As with the Brens, there was a MkI and then a MkII. This was before the MkI U.C.
The Armoured O.P. evolved rather quickly. The Mk I, followed by MkII (see Nigel Wards) and by 1942 The AOP MkII was obsolete. A directive was issued to withdraw them from service around april that year)
I suspect the change from MkI to MkII in Mortar carriers was also at a different time to the other U.C's.
My Armoured O.P MkIIIW was built in late 1941 at Dagenham, and so we are talking about Mk III AOP's, almost before any MkII U.C's were built.

Yes the Armoured O.P MkIIIw is a similar layout to a MkI U.C. in that the battery is located in the left side rear and the air exit holes in the rear plate of the lower hull are rectangular.

Do you have pictures of a differnet hole arrangement?

RichardT10829 · #7 13-02-12, 12:10

No unfortunately not... i can photo my lower hull with the square vent holes but have not got any images of Mk2's etc etc.