The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's NATIONAL military
museum. They have built up a terrific collection of military vehicles under
Jim Whitham who is in charge of the vehicles and artillery. A new Canadian
War Museum is now being planned but I fear that it will be too small to
display all of these vehicles as a political decision was made to locate it
not at the old Rockcliffe airport next to the superb Canada Aviation Museum
(a MUST see! Tons of military aircraft) but in a politically appropriate
spot (which admittedly is closer to downtown) but which is much smaller. The
decision pretty much eliminates the chances of creating a DUXFORD type
event.
A few vehicles are on display in their main galleries at 330 Sussex Drive
(between the US Embassy and the Canadian Prime Minister's residence. About a
15 minute walk from Parliament Hill.
Vehicles in the CWM include:
* An Iltis (1/4 ton 4x4 VW licence built in Canada mid-1980s) that was shot
up by Yugoslavs. It is full of bullet holes. Mannequins represent the two
wounded Canadian soldiers who were in it, and the faces of the mannequins
are actually casts of these two men!
* BSA airborne bicycle (in folded position, representing post-war surplus
sales)
* A small snowmobile.
* A late model Sherman sits out front of the building.
In the summer they display vehicles and artillery in the plaza out front of
the museum, but in the winter these are put away.
The majority of the CWM vehicles are held in the CWM's warehouse facility
about a 15 minute drive away (yes you can get to it by bus). This facility
is called VIMY HOUSE (named after the famous WWI battle that was won by
Canadian troops when no one else could succeed, and helped to define what
being a Canadian is). In the summer, the public can walk through most of the
vehicle/artillery area. This list is FAR from complete.
Vehicles include (listed randomly due to time):
* WWI US FT-17 tank (lower hull only remaining) one of those shipped to
Canada in WWII for training use.
* M3 LEE tank
* Ram II tank (Canadian designed and built) Sherman developed from this)
* Valentine tank (British designed, Canadian built, given by Canada to USSR,
lost in a battle in a bog, salvaged a decade or so ago.)
* M4 Sherman (75 mm gun)
* Sherman (late model) cut-away
* Sherman (late model)
* Sherman (Another late model )
* Chaffee light tank
* Centurion tank
* Sexton (Canadian built 25 Pounder self-propelled gun) Early model.
* T34/85 Soviet tank
* Soviet tracked vehicle with small turret
* Modern Soviet tank (T-72???)
* British APC (07 EA 78) FV?????
* British Abbot self-propelled gun (?)
* Diamond T shop lorry
* Diamond T Wrecker
* Lynx post-WWII Canadian tracked Recce APC
* Motorcycles: Bombardier, Harley, Zundapp with sidecar), Corgi (NOT
Welbike)
* M100CDN 1/4 trailer
* Universal Carriers (LOTS of variants including the 2 Pounder anti-tank gun
model, with a gun on it, and a flame-thrower version)
* Sedans (two as staff cars)
* Military fire trucks (several)
* Truck used apparently to haul "evacuated" Japanese-Canadians
* M151A2CDN MUTT (two)
* WWII German Scwimmwagon
* M29C Water Weasel
* Willys Right hand drive Tracked Jeep Mk. I (armoured, same actual vehicle
as shown in Bart Vanderveen's book JEEP, being used in a movie as a "German"
anti-tank gun tower) made for Canadian Army airborne near end of WWII
* Marmon-Herrington Co. Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Right hand drive
Tracked Jeep Mk. II (soft-skin, amphibious) made for Canadian Army at end of
WWII
* M38A1 (several variants including 106 mm Recoilless Rifle model with gun)
* 1936 Jeep (Ford-Marmon-Herrington ?) Half-track made for the Royal
Canadian Artillery and the soldiers called it a "Jeep" in 1936! We have
proof of this. Same as one I showed in a 1936-37 photo in a back issue of
ARMY MOTORS.
* 1938 Chevrolet (Canada) 15 Cwt 4x2 (sole known survivor of these pilot
trucks. Predecessors of the DND and CMP patterns.
* c.1939 Ford (Canada) 15 Cwt 4x2 truck (1 of 3 known survivors)
* CMPs (MANY I AM DELIGHTED TO SAY! Including my old C15 Cab 13 which I
called "Old Bill". Brian Wood donated 7 CMPs to the CWM. HUPs, C15A, F15A, 3
tonners, artillery tractors, 15 Cwt wireless truck,
* Goliath (German WWII demolition remote controlled tank)
* US Half-track
* WWII Italian tankette
* German Panzer I (soon to be leaving to museum)
* German Panzer II
* Prototype C15AA Canadian built WWII armoured ambulance (which John
Marchant in England saved and rebuilt, traced its use to Berlin!)
* Canadian GM Otter Reconnaissance Car (armoured, with turret and sand
channels for desert use)
* Fox Armoured Car (Canadian made WWII)
* Kettenkraftrad
* WWII German Sturmgeschutz (self propelled guns - several. One shot up from
target ranges)
* Lynx WWII Canadian made recce car (they might also have the British
version, DINGO)
* Ferret Mk. I
* Ferret Mk. II (turret)
* Canadian built Ford C11ADF station wagon converted in North Africa in WWII
to a convertible for Field Marshall Alexander (General Montgomery's boss)
* 4 wheeled office used by my friend who was General Crerar's ADC and he
briefed the General every morning about the war situation. Crerar commanded
First Canadian Army. US 107 Div, 82 AB Div and 101 AB Div were among the
many foreign formations under his command in WWII.
* US WWII M20 armoured car
* DUKW
* Churchill tank bridge-layer (a very rare variant apparently)
* British Chieftain tank (?)
* WWII British made Fordson truck with canteen body. Used in England in WWII
* Early military wagon
* Snowmobiles (various)
* WWII US Dodge ambulance
* WWII US Dodge Command Cars 1/2 Ton and 3/4 Ton
* GE searchlight on 4 wheeled trailer
* M113 APCs (various, and British FV counterparts).
* Large trucks (various M series)
* M152 CDN 3/4 Ton radio van
* M37CDN 3/4 Ton truck cargo
*
* CMP HUP C8-A
Aircraft include:
* Super-rare piloted V-1 Buzz Bomb!
* Fuselage of Major W. G. Barker's Snipe (WWI fighter plane). He won the
Victoria Cross flying alone against several enemy formations of aircraft.
One cane see some of the bullet holes.
* US Army Huey helicopter
Naval vessels include:
*WWII German mini submarine
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Jan 06 2002 - 22:26:52 PST