Shilo RCA Museum on Parade

rob love · #1 17-06-12, 03:49

I thought I would post some photos of a bunch of the museum's vehicles which attended a parade in the local city of Brandon last weekend. Some of these vehicles will be recognised as once belonging to the Gregg collection, while others have come from other sources.

Here are some shots of the vehicles at form-up.

rob love · #2 17-06-12, 04:37

Here is a short play by play on each of the 8 vehicles which started (and happily all finished) the parade.

Leading our packet was the Shilo Base Commander Lt-Col Goodyear and his RSM in a 1970 M38A1Cdn3 Ceremonial Jeep. This truck's history was entirely in Ottawa, and found it's way to Shilo after the Jeep fleets were disposed of. The truck is occasionally still used for parades on the base such as change of commands etc.

Second in the lineup is yours truly in a Lynx mkII (Hull serial 4542 dated 1-45). Vehicle is one of many transferred from the Gregg collection. Considerable time and effort was spent getting this one going for the parade. It runs great, and is a hoot to drive.

Third vehicle is a 1943 Chev 15cwt. I was involved in the restoration of this vehicle back in 1996 when I was posted to Moose Jaw. The vehicle has since found it's way to Shilo, on loan from the Saskatchewan military museum. It needed a quick brake job (all cylinders shot after only 16 years: imagine that) along with a tuneup and she drives quite nicely. She will get a fresh paintjob and a fuel system overhaul when time permits.

Here is a white Scout car, also ex-Gregg collection. Vehicle is nice to drive if you don't bang your head on the skate rail on the way in. It currently suffers from a leaking water pump, which will be replaced as soon as I can source a new one.

Derk Derin badly wanted to (and got to) drive this one, a C15TA. It only needed a couple of wheel cylinders and some minor repairs to be ready for the parade. Vehicle is also ex-Gregg, and has affectionally been nicknamed "Warthog", in celebration of it's good looks. We are hoping to replace the radial tires with a set of those 10.50X16 chevron tires available from STA in the near future.

A Grizzly armoured car. A history check on this one shows it had been just about everywhere.

M133 Deuce with winch towing a C1 howitzer. Base maintenance put a fair number of hours into this truck getting it ready for the parade. It's still not running quite right, but I suspect that the gunshot noise from the exhaust pipe first thing in the morning is an indication of a bad carburetor.

The last vehicle is a M38A1Cdn2, which was done up as a MP vehicle post service. A recent check of the CFR history showed it as spending most of it's service with the 8CH in Pet and Gagetown, before being sent to Shilo as part of a Jeep overhaul program performed here in the early 80s.

I thought I would add this photo of a M-777 gun which was following us and being towed by an HLVW. These are a wicked looking piece, and has been adopted by the CF as the standard howitzer for the regular force.

Photo credit for all these goes to Clive Prothero-Brooks at the Shilo Museum.

Phil Waterman · #3 17-06-12, 15:39

Great to see the photos, the review jeep modifications are interesting.

Cheers Phil

Bill Alexander · #4 17-06-12, 17:11

A question about the M 777 gun, shouldn't it have a muzzle cover? Especially as it is towed barrel forward?

rob love · #5 18-06-12, 02:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Great to see the photos, the review jeep modifications are interesting.

Cheers Phil

This one is interesting in that it seems to have started it's service career as a parade jeep, rather than having been converted later in life. Some of the parade jeeps were made up in 202 workshop out of condemned vehicles. here would have been plenty of bondo on those ones I suspect.

Frank v R · #6 18-06-12, 15:04

Hi Rob , can you get me the numbers on the 2 M-38A1's ,
regards Frank

WayneR · #7 18-06-12, 15:52

The tripple 7's do come with muzzle covers, I suspect it was removed for the parade.

Wayne

rob love · #8 19-06-12, 02:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank v R

Hi Rob , can you get me the numbers on the 2 M-38A1's ,
regards Frank

Frank
I dropped in to work this evening and grabbed the serial numbers of the two Jeeps, which I translated into their CFR numbers off Clive's ramtank.ca site.

The parade jeep, serial 100182 is CFR 71-08939.

There is a problem with the other one however. Serial number on the tub behind the driver's seat is 96994 while the dash data plate has 96991. One (96991) works out to be 07944 while the other one (96944) works out to be 07947. The history on one of those CFRs showed it to have been one of the many that went through Shilo on a mix and match rebuild project. I think I saw the CFR plate for it hiding in a crate of inner tubes, so I'll check in the morning and see which CFR the military had attached to this vehicle.