[Robert Bergeron]

Hanno my friend,

I have no specific knowledge about the dataplates but : REL is a wartime Canadian Crown Corporation involved in technical research , development and fabrication of advanced optics, radio and radar gear.

It's main office was in a suburb of Toronto Canada.It was involved in very advanced radar ( for the time ) projects to aid the war effort.

We owe the engeneers and technicians at REL most of our modern target acquisition equipment either on land, sea or air. In the interwar years Canada had lagged behind in these fields and particularly in the 30's .

REL changed everything in the 40's and even in the post war period a lot of the research was continued by the Research Council of Canada and allowed us to be at par with the East block in modern target acquisition during the Cold War.

I am a REL land target acquisition equipment collector. Sniper rifle scopes, field artillery Range Finders, binoculars, field and observation telescopes were all developped and made by REL. I know less about REL research and development in the Naval and Air arms but they were quite involved and successfull. That kind of equipment is less easy to collect because it is the size of a house but nonetheless , REL produced it en masse.

I know we equiped Norway and Denmark with those kind of equipment »( radar vans ) in the early post war years because they were specificly part of our NATO task for over 30 years . Even Canada used the specialised CMP trucks well into the late 50's, early 60's . My Wire 5 truck is an example so are the machinery and engeneering lorries. My father was a REME officer and as late as 1969 they were still in use in the Reserves. Incidentaly, in the early 50's my father worked as an officer cadet in such a radar van in Sherbrooke Québec Canada . It was part of the early warning system around cities and towns during the early post war period.
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REL was a success story for the Canadian war effort overseas and i am realy proud as should every Canadian should be of that contribution.

Good luck with your quest to identify these artefacts.