surviving T16s

[horsa]

Yep, the answer is sure to be buried out there somewhere in the archives.

I'd also noticed both of those carriers in service didn't have the wading skirt squares on the hulls. Not sure about the towing assembly though. The latest TD marked hull I've come across was built 3-1944. So far the latest hull with wading squares is Ray's which has an illegible double digit month in 1944. So the last quarter of that year either way and the serial number is 12683 making it almost 7000 units after mine was built.

Canadian wartime records from February 1944 indicated all of their T-16 vehicle allotment would be for 4.2-inch mortars and towing 6-pdr A/T guns. But a shortage for the Normandy invasion had them temporarily change that to all T-16s being assigned as 4.2-inch mortar carriers. Once production caught up again, then they resumed assignments as gun tugs and likely other roles as well. So far no records of British assignments have been located that I know of. It would be nice to find history on your carrier Andrew, since it stayed in the UK. Mine and most now in the USA were part of the British vehicles sold to the Swiss after the war. So it is unknown if they were British or Canadian during the war. The only trends with them are they all have been TD or T marked and all had the wading skirt squares and towing assembly on them, regardless of the number prefix.

[andrew honychurch]

indeed, I would like to find out some history of mine. I was told that it was one of a batch of very low mileage T16s that got sold to Pounds of Portsmouth a well known scrap metal dealer here in the UK. The carriers were standing on an airfield in the midlands as storage and were supposedly driven to the scrapyard. It shows 900 miles on the speedo, so that would tally. I did find that there is some sand coloured paint in places and indeed some realy golden desert sand as well. My guess is it may have been prepared for Suez and been there and then brought back to the UK and put in store. I will one day try to visit the tank museum and discover more.

[tankbarrell]

It would seem upon further checking that the TD number is the WD number though why the D was added is a mystery. The WD number range for T-16 was T92001 to T107000. As the D only seems to appear on the earlier listings, it may well have been a mistake?

My earlier position was based on the fact that in US production, the Ordnance number is not the same as the USA registration number.

You never stop learning!

[andrew honychurch]

Mistake? what the army making a mistake? couldnt be

[tankbarrell]

I should imagine the mistake to be Fords.... The Army clearly did not want the D hence the painted out examples in the pictures.

I wonder if it stood for Dearborn?

[horsa]

Glad to hear confirmation on the TD being a proper part of the census numbers. There is a real lack of good information on the T-16s and we are all still learning about their history during the war. Hopefully someone will come across more of the original British wartime records related to their unit assignments.

Looking through the message thread I noticed I never added a shot of my own carrier. It was sold off to the Swiss after the war and when I got it, everything was striped and the remains were a rusty mess. Serial Number is 5399 with the FS number being 5488. Date stamped by the serial number is 1-44 and the Census/ORD number is TD97377.

[Gunner]

Greetings all: The T16 hulk we have at S&P is pretty rough. I'll try to post a photo sometime. I have found a couple of hulls so if I can acquire one we may be able to put one whole T16 together.

Mark Tonner- I sent you a PM re 1940 C8. Hope you got it!

Ubique! Mike

[Hanno Spoelstra]

For good measure, here's another survivor at the Bangladesh Military Museum - Dhaka (Bangladesh)

Picture source: http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/pakachul/29711478

Regards,
Hanno