Hamilton's own Armoured Car

[Hans Mulder]

Only the writer of the article...He's probably the type they wanted locked up, and with good reason!

[Jordan Baker]

Well some more information has come to light on this project. I got in touch with the Hamilton Police Sgt who was quoted in the Hamilton Spectator article from 2007. Luckily we work out of the same station so I was able to meet up with him today and he handed me a shopping bag full of original paperwork. The paperwork includes minutes from the Hamilton Civil Guard meetings and Hamilton Officers clubs. But the best find so far has been what can best be described as the original bill of sale for the armoured car. Interestingly enough even in wartime it was business as usual. Nothing free/donated for the cause. It seems there were a few company's involved in making this car. International Harvester sold the chassis and drive systems. Dominion Foundries and Steel supplied the armour plate. Hamilton Bridge Company is the one who actually designed and built it. However the one that has somewhat stumped me is the involvement of Turnbull Elevator Company Limited of Toronto. They supplied what is called a "Rypa" for the sum of $877. Originally it was an order for 3 "rypa's" but this was changed to only one. I had heard reference to an outside of Hamilton company being contracted to supply one of the turrets. Would this be it?

What I did find really interesting was the actual price of the truck. A grand total of $6527.32 Considering that Universal Carriers cost approximately $3000 to build this was one expensive truck. That probably explains why the other two were cancelled. I guess with that much research and development the initial cost were very high.

Enjoy the documents. As I get more scanned over the next few days as time allows they will be posted.

[Mike Cecil]

RYPA = Rolling Yawing Pitching Assembly. In simple terms, a 'turret trainer' for vehicle turret crews that simulates the movement of the vehicle cross country while they shoot at targets. Not part of the vehicle is represents. Can be either static (usual method) or on a short track. Target can be either static or mobile on a short track.

Mike C

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

RYPA = Rolling Yawing Pitching Assembly. In simple terms, a 'turret trainer' for vehicle turret crews that simulates the movement of the vehicle cross country while they shoot at targets. Not part of the vehicle is represents. Can be either static (usual method) or on a short track. Target can be either static or mobile on a short track.

Mike C

Correct. In early WWII when the need to identify and train large numbers of aircrew became apparent, a number of training devices emerged. One was the Link Trainer that had a little compartment that rolled, pitched, yawed and azimuthed (?) to the enclosed pilot's commands.

My father once wanted to build one using plans from a late 1940's Popular Science magazine. ("Hey kids! Want to have fun and learn a new career? ...) The idea was two frames connected by an automobile transmission universal fitting of some sort and controlled by a joystick and pedals. It never got built, and I think some of the parts are still in his garage.

During wartime any industry with precision machine tools was given contracts to the limit of their complexity. Turnbull Elevators would therefore have been able to make high tolerance but small production run parts.

@Jordan - this looks like a pamphlet or publication to capture those primary documents. Never mind if the story is thin, sometimes that is all you will get.

[Jordan Baker]

I started scanning the minutes of the Hamilton Auxiliary Defense force last night. I'll post up the relevant ones once I get them done. Briefly it does mention the truck was sent to Camp Borden for testing in August of 1940. The other interesting item in the minutes was that a scale model had been made and was sent to Ottawa along with some documents on it. I wonder what ever happened to them? Would it be stored away in he archives or war museum?

Interesting about what the Rypa was. Makes perfect sense that an elevator company would be contracted for making something like that. The elevator control boxes they where making then wouldn't have been all the different.

[charlie fitton]

I agree....Jordan does have the makings of a booklet/ book here...

[servicepub (RIP)]

Originally Posted by charlie fitton

I agree....Jordan does have the makings of a booklet/ book here...

Hmmm... I took a loss in publishing the 1935 Armoured Car in Cdn Svce and there were TWO of those. I wonder if I would double my loss by publishing a book on a single vehicle?

C