Restoration of Canadian Scout Car Ford Lynx I, Mk.III No.1726

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Rick,

Noticed your thread on the Lynx and the following some time back:

"and the unit sign of the 1st ARMOURED REGIMENT (I think) who went to Japan with BECOF in January 1946 as the 1st Australian Armoured Car Squadron – the vehicles were initially 18 Staghound Armoured Cars and 8 Canadian Scout Cars (Lynx). ( I am open to correction here as I am not up on Heraldry)."

The sign is the Formation Sign of 1st Infantry Brigade, ARA, in the 1950s, rather than 1st Armoured Regiment. 1st Armoured were formed in Australia from the returning 1st Armoured Car Squadron personnel who served in Japan with BCOF, so 1st Armoured Regiment didn't actually serve as part of BCOF. The unit (1st Armoured Regiment) were part of the 1st Infantry Brigade throughout the 1950s. The Unit sign in the 1950s was a diagonally divided square, red upper left, yellow lower right, with the number '50' superimposed, later changing to '41' superimposed. Interestingly, the Unit Sign used, for a time, black numerals, ('50') and later, the more commonly seen white ('41'). Your Lynx would look pretty good with the early 1950s unit/formation signage of 1st Armoured. Was there anything left of the Unit Sign on the hull that we might use to identify the actual unit it served with?

Hope that helps.

Regards

Mike