Looking for WW2 picture showing canadian CDP tracks in use

[the_shadock]

Hello,

I would like to get few identified and unarguable photos showing the use of CDP tracks on tanks or AFVs during WW2, please.

kind regards

Pierre-Olivier

[Roger Lucy]

If you mean pictures of CDP use at the front, its use there was mainly confined to British Sextons. The Canadian Army Overseas did not like it much, as it wore out the tires and idler bearings, and tended to shed, if not kept properly tensioned. As a result, Canadian Sextons and Ram Kangaroos that served in NW Europe did not use it. I devote about four pages in my forthcoming book on the Ram to the CDP saga (it should be out in May "Canada's Pride - the Ram Tank and its Variants" www.servicepub.com).

DND's Director of Armaments summed it nicely - CDP was an excellent track, but unsuitable for use with M4-type suspensions or running gear.

Here is a Ram with CDP being tested in the UK in early 1945

[the_shadock]

Hello Roger,

thanks a lot for your answer, it is very helpful and useful !!

kind regards

Pierre-Olivier

[the_shadock]

Roger,

do you know when the CDP tracks became available for production, when they were first installed on Sextons or any other AFV?

Pierre-Olivier

[Roger Lucy]

Pierre-Olivier
CDP tracks were first installed on a Ram on the production line on 1 January 1943. By late October 1943 it was in general use with Canadian armoured units in the UK. It became standard with the Sexton from vehicle 425, which would have been delivered in early 1944. It was standard equipment with the Grizzly although occasionally these appear with other track-types. I am not aware of it being used on any non-Canadian-made M-4 type vehicles. US Ordnance was initially willing to accept it as "limited standard" but in the end did not, because it ran hot, contributing to bogie wear.

Here is a CDP-fitted Sexton on MLW assembly line in August 1944, and another being tested in November that year.
Roger