According to Roger Lucy's "The Staghound in Canadian Service", a title in the
Weapons of War which will appear later this year;
"The first prototype Staghound III was initially demonstrated at the AFV School at Lulworth, in December 1943. Unfortunately, subsequent trials at the Fighting Vehicle Proving Establishment in Farnborough found it suffered from a number of weaknesses, mainly of an ergometric nature. The 75mm Crusader had been rushed into service without a proper evaluation. It had a two instead of three man turret, forcing the commander to act as loader. The Directorate of Tank design found the layout of his position to be very unsatisfactory, and it was almost impossible to spot the fall of shot. DTD was dismayed when the vehicle came back for further tests in May 1944, with most of its major concerns left addressed. Further delays occurred when the project was given to another contractor, and the Staghound III did not complete its firing trials until 19 January 1945. Due to waning RAC interest in the vehicle, the planned run of 100 vehicles was cut back to 50. The Staghound III was, in the end, issued only to the two Canadian regiments, XII Manitoba Dragoons and the Royal Canadian Dragoons, which finally received them on 20 April 1945."
