Post War Commercial Civil Defense Trucks

[Dave D.]

Here are a few more samples of CD trucks that would have been used in the early days of CD preparedness. One of the most interesting is the Commer firetruck that would be worthy to find and restore.

The early days of CD preparedness included the standardization of fire hose couplings across Canada so hoses could be transported and used anywhere.

If anyone finds more photos of CD specific vehicles, we'd love to see them.
Check out our facebook page and website for more info. So far, all the costs of running the sites have been privately funded by its members and all we ask is if you like what you see, let us know with the like button.

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[Dave D.]

In the early 1960's a decision was made to add the military into the Civil Defence planning. This was in part due to the recognition that target cities may need to deal with a "No Warning" nuclear threat. Rescue crews and equipment were decentralized and trained in rescue operations.
Reception towns were prepared and a bunker system was continued across the Country.
Some of the military vehicles that are documented to be ready for a nuclear strike were the M37, M135 and the 20-ton crane.

[charlie fitton]

When I joined, we used to have training manuals around that focused on 'National Survival"

Rescue stuff, ropework, tunnelling to find victims..

Any of these manuals in your collection?

[Ed Storey]

Here is a manual from 1999.

A-JS-040-000 TS-002 Emergency Preparedness Starts with You - 1999.jpg

[chris vickery]

I have some CD decals at home. I will get some pics on the weekend.
If memory serves, they indicate that the vehicle they are affixed to is registered with CD for use in a time of emergency.
I suppose back in the cold war days that there must have been some type of National program which encouraged citizens to volunteer there services and vehicles when and if required.

[rob love]

The stake truck shown in post 8 would appear to be a DND vehicle as opposed to a Civil Defense vehicle, judging from the CAR number on the door.

[charlie fitton]

More like this...

[Dave D.]

Originally Posted by rob love

The stake truck shown in post 8 would appear to be a DND vehicle as opposed to a Civil Defense vehicle, judging from the CAR number on the door.

Do you have any info Rob about the DND duration of use with the old stake trucks?

The CD trucks look like a mix of Mercury and International so I'm wondering how many Stake Trucks got passed down to CD?

It is known that at some point DND used the Deuce to pull supplies and re-supply the military bunker system. What I'm still curious about are photos and memories of those that helped supply the "Municipal, Provincial and Federal" bunkers we keep finding around the country. Here is the link to 'one' buried hospital in Medicine hat.
http://civildefencemuseum.ca/secrets...round-hospital


We do have some documentation on the Canada Health purchase of "new" trucks but we're still pinning down a more complete CD fleet.

[Dave D.]

Originally Posted by charlie fitton

More like this...

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

Here is a classic from the era.

Attachment 87020

Originally Posted by charlie fitton

When I joined, we used to have training manuals around that focused on 'National Survival"

Rescue stuff, ropework, tunnelling to find victims..

Any of these manuals in your collection?

We have not seen any of those manuals. The closest one we have is the Demonstration of Survival Operations dated March of 1960. The older version Ed posted is even earlier than the Sept. 1959 date when the army initiated the National Survival Attack Warning System.

Very cool stuff Gentlemen! The general population doesn't even know any of the planning existed so we're pushing to get more of the info rendered and available for education.

Tried to post some bunker engine photos last night but got some sort of error code so we'll give it another shot. Thanks much for the input guys.

[derk derin]

I had a collection of Civil Defense Canada items that all went to the Civil Defense Museum Fred Armbruster has been working on. I believe he had a vehicle in the collection. Here is the MLU forum link to the stuff I had as well as Fred's link to his museum.
http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...=civil+defence
Regards,Derk

[Dave D.]

Trying to get pictures of the displays up here Derk but I keep getting a failed message.

Sent a note to admin but does anyone know how I can fix this?

"""""""Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing.

If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error."""""""

Posted a pic on the 2 1/2 ton GMC thread and that worked but can't get my head around what I might be doing wrong here.

You'd be real proud of Fred! He's taken the collection on the road, shared it at two airshows last year, acquired a bus so he can expand the exposure and has stood in front of high school classes shouting the praises of our Cold War heroes.

He still has that Canadian made CLM siren mounted in the back of his truck and hooked up a schkookum PA system to play 50's tunes while on static.

You don't need to be a member of facebook to look at the pictures so click on the link to see a bit of the collection.
https://www.facebook.com/CanadianCiv...umAssociation/

Once we figure out the picture posting challenges we'll bring some more pics over to this amazing website at Maple Leaf Up.

[hrpearce]

Originally Posted by Dave D.

"""""""Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing..

Usually means the pictures are too large and need resizing.