Amount of tanks by year
- Thread starter Stoker
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Lance Wiebe
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Not 1950, but in the early 50's we bought 330 Centurions that we kept in service until 1977.
I think it also depends on what you mean by "in service." I believe in 1970 we had a two squadron regiment (with some more in war stocks) with about 32 tanks in CFE plus another squadron in Gagetown and a number at the Combat Arms School. The rest were in stores or being converted to monuments and, I think, some were even destined to be targets. In 1960 the Canadian army had four armoured regiments of about 56 tanks each, plus a bunch at the RCAC School and more as reserves/replacements.
Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
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The reserves were also running M4A2's. Found this post elsewhere:
The offical nomeclature for the postwar Canadian Sherman was exactly the same as the US one, Tank,Gun,M4A276mm Wet. The "wet" refers to the improved ammunition racks with double walled sides with the void filled with a water/glycol solution. The suspension designation(HVSS)is not mentioned except during trials and evaluation documentation and is not official. The drivers manual I have (printed in Canada uses this designation).
The Canadian M4A2's were to replace the tanks left in Europe. They were in US stocks having been produced for Russia as they wanted Diesel tanks, and these M4A2's were specially made for winter use with a crew/engine heater located on the hull floor under the turret which was not on American tanks.
All Shermans went to the reserves after the Centurion was issued. The first Canadian based post war Shermans to be retired were the Grizzly's (sent to Portugal with the Stuarts)then the A2's were retired starting in about 1960. Monuments were stripped of the engines to keep the reserve tanks running (same thing happend to the M113 Lynx) and the hulls became monuments or targets. The last reserve tanks were retired in about 1968 (I don't know the exact date) and put into storage. The running in Shermans in Edmonton were recovered from Cold Lake Ab where they were sent as targets. 5 or 6 complete running tanks were sent there from the militia pool in Wainwright and all the coolant tanks were marked "-40F, checked 3/5/69" so I guess they were last serviced in '69 before going to the range. Each tank had "militia pool vehicle" painted on the side and atleast one had the bucking horse (SALH?) painted on the transmission cover.
As far as I could find out no Canadian tanks or engines went to Israel. This seems to fit as the Canadian tanks were never upgraded during their life while the Israelis had the M51 conversions by then and was recieving the new M-60 to add to the Centurions already in serivce. However, I did hear that Levy auto in Ontario bought all the remaining spares and they did go to Israel. By the way, the twin GMC 6-71 engine pack used in the Sherman is very commonly used as mud pump engines in the oil fields out west. I recovered a spare pack (1944 manufacture, so definately from a tank) from a Calgary dealer a couple of years ago.
While I never counted them myself, I was told there were 90+ Shermans on outdoor display in Canada. Wainwright must have had over 30 Shermans as targets and Cold Lake had 25+, if you add Borden, Gagetown, Shilo, Petawawa, Chilliwack and all the other ranges up I think that's where the remaining 200 are.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/169232/thread/1155353452/Looking+for+Postwar+Sherman+Info+and+List+of+Preserved+Specimens
The offical nomeclature for the postwar Canadian Sherman was exactly the same as the US one, Tank,Gun,M4A276mm Wet. The "wet" refers to the improved ammunition racks with double walled sides with the void filled with a water/glycol solution. The suspension designation(HVSS)is not mentioned except during trials and evaluation documentation and is not official. The drivers manual I have (printed in Canada uses this designation).
The Canadian M4A2's were to replace the tanks left in Europe. They were in US stocks having been produced for Russia as they wanted Diesel tanks, and these M4A2's were specially made for winter use with a crew/engine heater located on the hull floor under the turret which was not on American tanks.
All Shermans went to the reserves after the Centurion was issued. The first Canadian based post war Shermans to be retired were the Grizzly's (sent to Portugal with the Stuarts)then the A2's were retired starting in about 1960. Monuments were stripped of the engines to keep the reserve tanks running (same thing happend to the M113 Lynx) and the hulls became monuments or targets. The last reserve tanks were retired in about 1968 (I don't know the exact date) and put into storage. The running in Shermans in Edmonton were recovered from Cold Lake Ab where they were sent as targets. 5 or 6 complete running tanks were sent there from the militia pool in Wainwright and all the coolant tanks were marked "-40F, checked 3/5/69" so I guess they were last serviced in '69 before going to the range. Each tank had "militia pool vehicle" painted on the side and atleast one had the bucking horse (SALH?) painted on the transmission cover.
As far as I could find out no Canadian tanks or engines went to Israel. This seems to fit as the Canadian tanks were never upgraded during their life while the Israelis had the M51 conversions by then and was recieving the new M-60 to add to the Centurions already in serivce. However, I did hear that Levy auto in Ontario bought all the remaining spares and they did go to Israel. By the way, the twin GMC 6-71 engine pack used in the Sherman is very commonly used as mud pump engines in the oil fields out west. I recovered a spare pack (1944 manufacture, so definately from a tank) from a Calgary dealer a couple of years ago.
While I never counted them myself, I was told there were 90+ Shermans on outdoor display in Canada. Wainwright must have had over 30 Shermans as targets and Cold Lake had 25+, if you add Borden, Gagetown, Shilo, Petawawa, Chilliwack and all the other ranges up I think that's where the remaining 200 are.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/169232/thread/1155353452/Looking+for+Postwar+Sherman+Info+and+List+of+Preserved+Specimens
