1944 CMP F60 LAAT + Bofors Gun

[Mark Towers]

Hello all,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to fellow MLU forum members and express how happy I am now that I have been able to register. I have waited patiently for a year

I am a proud custodian of a 1944 F60 LAAT and a 1942 Canadian 40mm Bofors Gun (Otis Elivator Company) I have owned them for the last 2 years and have had great help from my close friends getting the F60 back on the road😃

The power plant (Flathead Ford v8, has had a total rebuild) and I now attend many shows around the south west of England.

Can any one kindly tell me if the British Army used the F60 LAAT during WW2 or was it only used by the respected Canadians forces. All of the British Bofors gun crew veterans I have ever spoken too can only remember having Bedford gun tractors in their units?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated 👍

Kind regards,

Mark Towers

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Mark

Glad you were patient, and now I hope you will find MLU and its participants well worth the wait . Now to your question were CMP LAAT 60s used by the British Army, I suspect that the answer will be yes. Now to the question of how to prove it, photographic proof will probably be most interesting. A quick look through histories of British Units such as the Desert Rats show that they used a lot of CMPs all the way from North Africa, Italy into Germany.

Looking forward to seeing more photos of your equipment.

Though not of LAATs in British Army, you might find some of these photos of interest LAATs in British Columbia http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/C...20Columbia.htm

http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/R...20-06%2014.jpg

Cheers Phil

PS- Yes, I really need to move copies of these photos inside MLU archive instead of showing them as a link

[Harry Moon]

Those were pretty cool pictures of B.C.
I recognize the road, it follows much the same route today. given the low speeds involved it is surprising to see the trucks with out chains on. Most of that route in winter even today is "Chains on"
oh and welcome to the Forum!

[Frantisek Nachlinger]

Originally Posted by Mark Towers

Hello all,
Can any one kindly tell me if the British Army used the F60 LAAT during WW2 or was it only used by the respected Canadians forces. All of the British Bofors gun crew veterans I have ever spoken too can only remember having Bedford gun tractors in their units?

Hi Mark,
welcome aboard!

I was told yesterday, that the 200th Anti Aircraft from the Czech Independent Armoured Briade Group - that was serving under brits - was using cab 13 LAATs too, but only told. I can ask if anyone has some pictures, if you were interested.

Enjoy this great forum,
Frankie

[Neil Ashley]

The most likely area of use would probably have been in Italy during 44-45.

Its been commented on before how strange it is how many Canadian Ford LAAT have survived in the UK against hardly any of the British version. One use of the Fords seems to have been with Bus Companies for recovery use. There were two for many years at a garage out-side of Wootton Basett in Wiltshire.

[Mark Towers]

Please see below more equipment pics as kindly requested.

Langport show 3 weeks ago

[Mark Towers]

The old girl parked in front of my garage

[Mark Towers]

The ford hitched up to the gun