Tank Restoration 101 Class

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

From Todays Toronto Globe and Mail:

History comes alive in shop class
RACHEL DE LAZZER
Globe and Mail Update
As a boy, Sean Carney would climb on Second World War tanks he saw in parks or in front of Legion halls. Yesterday, the 43-year-old shop teacher brought one to school.
Automotive technology students at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute will be refurbishing the tank as part of their course. Mr. Carney, a military history buff, thought it would be a great way to teach them the principles of diesel engines and metal fabrication, and give them an appreciation for a piece of history.
"We talked about it every class," said student Aaron McKee, 17. Asked whether he has ever had a teacher do anything like bring an army tank to class, he said, "Not even close."
"I was thrilled and ecstatic to touch a piece of history -- to have it after it's been through all its turmoil," Tanya Cagna, 17, said.
"This is about exposing my kids to a piece of history," Mr. Carney said. He teaches about 85 students from Grades 9 through 12, including about 15 girls.
He expects the refurbishing to take from two to five years. The tank will then be returned to Base Borden Military Museum in Borden, Ont., which is lending the tank to the school.
It's not the first time Mr. Carney has rolled a massive piece of machinery into the shop. Four or five years ago, he brought in a dump truck. Principal Ron Ellis said they had trouble getting it through the doors. In September, 2006, Mr. Carney asked the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces for a historic tank. In each case, he was told it was a great idea, but it would never happen because of the red tape involved.
In October, however, he took his students on a field trip to the Base Borden Military Museum, where he met retired Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Beaton. Then he made his pitch.
"Anybody that [pursues] Canadian history of any kind, especially military history, I listen to," Mr. Beaton said. "We need all the help we can get because our government tends to forget about our history."
Within 1½ months, Mr. Beaton had cleared up the legal details and paperwork needed to lend the M4 Sherman to the school.
"From a historical point of view, these things are just sitting there rotting," said Mr. Carney, who told the agencies when he made his requests that it wouldn't cost them anything -- and he would give them back a restored tank.
He believes only about 500 of the M4 Sherman model tanks, dubbed the Firefly, were ever made.
Bob Smale, history teacher at ECI, said the M4 Sherman was a British variation on the Sherman tank designed exclusively to take out German Tiger tanks. The barrel was about twice as long as the barrel on a regular Sherman tank.
The Germans knew the M4 Shermans were a threat, so they would try to take them out before other tanks, Mr. Carney said, making the soldiers operating them a target.
The school is looking for financial support from the community for the purchase of parts and metal to remake the historic tank.
*****
The M4 Sherman
1944: M4 Sherman was created, an upgraded model from regular Sherman tank
450: approximate number of M4 Shermans produced
30,000 -- kilograms, total weight
7.7: Kilograms, weight of gun (compared with 2.7 kilograms on regular Sherman tank)
7.7: kilograms, weight of shells fired (compared with 2.7 kilograms on regular Sherman tank)
Firefly: nickname
Built: by Chrysler, Ford, GM, Canadian Pacific Railway, among others
1946: M4 Sherman model borrowed this week by Etobicoke Collegiate Institute arrives at Base Borden
Yesterday: M4 Sherman arrives at ECI for refurbishing by students.
Source: Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Beaton (retired)