Universal carrier

[alleramilitaria]

the 101 had a 6lb/57mm gun mounted on a jeep with the rear of the jeep removed. that was cool looking!!!!
dave

[G166UC]

Fred,
I would say, considering the amount of room in the front of a T-16, that this was never tried. They did mount 37mm guns on top of the engine covers of a few carriers, but they never did it with the T-16. Personally, I don't believe the Marines ever used T-16s in combat. They weren't made until late 1943, and they were delivered to the Canadian and British forces. And from what I have seen, almost all of them went to the ETO. Has anyone found a wartime photo of a T-16 in the Pacific or in Burma, Australia, etc.?? Rod

[alleramilitaria]

i think rod is corect.
dave

[Fred]

Originally posted by Hanno Spoelstra
Well, on a Jeep it was. Some pretty hairy ideas were tested as, you know, there was a war going on.

H.

a 37mm on a Jeep???? Now that would be scary! I am restoring an M2A1 half track and a friend of mine attempted, (half jokenly) to mount his repo 37mm on mine to see if we could simulate the US Army's "anti-tank" unit in North Africa. The Germans must have felt very safe in their tanks. Even in a 10 1/2 ton M2, that reproduction gun was a handful to simulate a fireing sequence so I guess an M16 isn't totally out of the question, but like others said, the real issue is, WAS IT DONE Fred

[Gunner]

although Canada did manufacture quit a number of these units under licience from Ford

Hi Fred:

Your quote above reminded me of the relationship between Ford and Ford Canada during the war:

Ford Canada was a completely independent company and when the war broke out in 1939 was already working on many Canadian/UK designs. One of these was the Universal Carrier. There was no "licence" from Ford as the carriers were unheard of in the US at the time. When Ford (in the US) started building the T16s it was at the request of the British government. I imagine Canadian engineers and a Canadian example were shipped across the river from Windsor to Dearborn for study and would love to learn more about that part of the process... hopefully the new books by Nigel Watson will shed some light on the topic.

In typical US fashion, the T16 had a lot of product improvement including a differential that allowed for tiller bar steering.

The inter-relationship between the US and Canadian governments and manufacturers (quietly at first due to the isolationist attitudes in many quarters in the US and eventually full blast as we partnered in lend-lease for the rest of the allies as the US became more openly involved in the war) could be the subject of several fat books.

All the best in your research, and, should it prove that the USMC didn't use T16s, then you can always paint it up as a Canadian one

Mike