Alex,
I agree that my Body Parts List for CMP vehicles states it is for the W35. Normally I would give greater weight to a period document than an "after the fact" one. On the other hand, there are instances of CMP material being published in anticipation of changes or products that didn't end up in production or civilian (pre-war) images being used to illustrate CMP manuals although they aren't strictly accurate. An example of a manual being printed before production is the operator's manual for the Wapiti snow machine that I have read only reached prototype stage.
Another period publication, the AEDB Design Record - Volume VI mentions the following breakdown cranes as being used:
1. Gar Wood CA5 hand operated on GM and Ford 4x4 158" chassis
2. Gar Wood CA5P and Holmes W-45CE power operated on GM and Ford 4x4 134" chassis
3. Holmes W-45 power operated on Diamond T 6x6 172" chassis
4. Gar Wood CA8P power operated on Mack 6x4 169" chassis
5. Holmes W-45CD power operated on Leyland Terrier 6x4 156" chassis
The single boom capacities for the W-45 variants listed above are 2.5 tons for #1 & #3, 8 tons for #5.
The following is quoted from the Wheels and Tracks article on CMP wreckers (issue 34), also normally a good source. (No references are cited in the article.)
"There were five main types of wartime Canadian-built twin-boom wreckers supplied to the Commonwwealth forces and Allies, with many detail variations. For convenience, we shall refer to them here as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Type, as follows:
1st Type: manual or hand-operated crane (Holmes W590) on long-wheelbase MCP 4x2 and CMP 4x4 (C60L, F60L) chassis, 1940-42.
2nd Type: hand-operated crane (Gar Wood CA5) on long-wheelbase MCP 4x2 and CMP 4x4 (C60L, F60L) chassis, 1942-43.
3rd Type: power-operated crane (Gar Wood CA5, Holmes W45CE or CBE) on short-wheelbase CMP 4x4 (C60S), 1942-44.
4th Type: power-operated crane (Holmes W45), India specification, on long-wheelbase CMP 4x4 (F60L) chassis, 1942-45.
5th Type: power-operated crane (Holmes W45) on six-wheel CMP 6x4 (F60H) chassis, 1941-43."
I don't know how many parts were common to the W35 and the W45 and how much they differed. One source described one of the differences as being W35 without brace legs and W45 with brace legs. All CMP wreckers I've seen had brace legs but I don't consider this as conclusive.
I don't know if there was an SBMA manual for the CMP wrecker, I certainly don't have one. (but would love to see one if someone has one and is willing to share)
In short, I don't know with any certainty what model of the Holmes wrecker was actually used on CMPs. It would be nice if someone with access to a known original could check if a makers model plate can be found. I can try to look at the one at the War Museum that was returned from Europe (Norway?).
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