Pre-war vehicle numbering in the Canadian Army

[servicepub (RIP)]

This article, posted on MilArt, may be of interest.
http://servicepub.wordpress.com/2014...canadian-army/

[rob love]

Clive
I have a couple of observations which may be slightly contrary to the article. One of my first CMPs was a Cab 11 1940 F15A serial F10616 (or around that....it's been a few years) and a DND number of 41-1-1063. It belonged to A4 Artillery Training Center which was just over in Brandon MB. I went to the Shilo museum back in the day trying to find any reference to the truck in the unit's records. I spent hours reading through the unit's routine orders, where the only vehicle numbers I could find were with investigations re collisions of DND vehicles. It was interesting to note that while I did not find my specific DND number, I did see several numbers that were in close proximity, being out just a few digits. The other vehicles were not all C15As, and some were even commercial vehicles like a sedan. It made me think that perhaps the DND numbers had been assigned more regionally rather than as the vehicles had been produced or acquired. Also, I had to wonder why the DND number reflected 1941 rather than the build date of 1940.

[servicepub (RIP)]

Hi Rob,
Interesting points. I suspect that, once a contract is let then DND would set aside blocks of numbers in advance of actual receipt. I know for a fact that this occurred with the 1938 and 1939 purchases of 15cwt trucks from GM and Ford, respectively, even though the Fords were mostly delivered in 1940 they are all numbered in the '39' prefix. Still unknown is whether DND stuck with calendar year (Jan-Dec) or fiscal year (Apr-Mar).
As to finding vehicles interspersed as you described, contracts in the early days were flying fast and furious and many were amended over the course of their term to increase numbers. I can see where a contract for xx vehicles would have DND set aside a block of numbers, then another contract let for a different vehicle (with their numbers reserved) and then the first contract amended to increase quantities with a resulting block of numbers. At the end of the day you had this small group stuck in the middle of a larger block.
At no time were numbers allocated to regions (or Military Districts) for allocation and these were all controlled out of Ottawa.
I know that in my SP work I have a block of 100 ISBN numbers and I will set aside an ISBN number when I decide to take on a project. However, later numbers may be published first and the numbers cannot be used to identify the publications sequentially. I suspect that something similar may have occurred with vehicle production.
In any event, the article is based on original documents which show intent if not practice.

[rob love]

Clive
I hope to find time one day to go have another perusal of the war diaries from A4, at which time I will write down the numbers and descriptions of the various vehicles.

The reserved block system is still used today with the purchases of the SMP fleets, albeit a different numbering format. As well, quite often the vehicles delivered to the various bases will be done in batches, resulting in blocks of sequential numbers of CFRs.

Anyway, great article as always.

[Mike Cecil]

Nice article, Clive: I enjoyed it greatly.

(and learnt something more about CDN systems)

Mike C