Ferret CFR List

[Ed Storey]

I believe the monies owed by the UK to Canada for WWII expenses had been 'written off' by the time those AFVs were obtained. What would be handy is if someone could actually produce a document of sale or the paper trail leading to the purchase of the Cent and Ferret.

[Robin Craig]

Well, for this forum it seems that the fuel has worked to stoke the fire!

Mr Storey, yes, I agree, I will be getting my sweaty palms on a copy of that document as soon as I can and making it public.

Robin

[45jim]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6215847.stm

There is a document in the LdSH(RC) archives showing UK vehicles transferred from British to Canadian stocks and lists Tanks (Centurion), Scout Cars (Ferret) and Motorcycles (Triumph TRW).

This may mean that the vehicles were not produced specifically for Canada (or Australia) but just run through regular UK production and then allotted to fill these needs. This would explain the hatch variation in Robin's Ferret (as it is appears a genuine Canadian). Vehicles were just batched together and sent.

This is the best kind of aid as it kept UK industry working not just handing out cash.

[Ed Storey]

If you look, the money being paid back is for a 1946 loan and not monies owed from 1939-1945. I am pretty sure that monies owed by the UK to Canada resulting from WWII were cleared in either the late 1940s or early 1950s.

I can see the Cents, Ferrets and MCs being transferred over from UK stocks to Canada, but there still has to be a paper trail outlining the agreement. It is the paper trail that will answer any questions.

[Mike Baker]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

If you look, the money being paid back is for a 1946 loan and not monies owed from 1939-1945. I am pretty sure that monies owed by the UK to Canada resulting from WWII were cleared in either the late 1940s or early 1950s.

I can see the Cents, Ferrets and MCs being transferred over from UK stocks to Canada, but there still has to be a paper trail outlining the agreement. It is the paper trail that will answer any questions.

I don't believe there was ever an expectation that the UK would pay us back - they did, after all, defend our few acres of snow free of charge long after confederation (remained in B.C., at least, as late as 1905). Besides, war production set us up to be as prosperous as we were, post-war, so we really didn't need the money.

I also know that we paid for the aircraft carrier HMCS BONAVENTURE with good Quebec cheese (still shortages in the UK long after the war ended), so maybe a similar deal was reached for the MVs?

Mike

[45jim]

Ed,

if you read carefuly the article states that the loans were an effort to pay for equipment that was sent over during hostilities. During the war, no one held equipment back, it was a push not a pull, system. It would be easy for Britian to reduce its debt by supplying equipment rather than cash.

"Deferred

Under the lend-lease programme, which began in March 1941, the then neutral US could provide countries fighting Adolf Hitler with war material.

The US joined the war soon after - in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbour - and the programme ended in 1945.

Equipment left over in Britain at the end of hostilities and still needed had to be paid for"

Was there not some discussion a few years ago about our new subs being reduced in price by rolling in the costs of leasing the training area in Suffield?

Jim