Canadian Centurion tanks question

[Dan Martel]

Not wanting to steal Ed's thunder, but I thought that a picture is worth a thousand words. During the summer of 1978, a young 2nd Lieutenant of The RCR was going through Phase III infantry officer training at CFB Gagetown, part of which involved directing tank fire. Each candidate was given one 20-lbr round to give to the crew, after which the round would be fired at a target, selected by the candidate, about a mile and a half away. There was lots of 20-lbr TP-T or training purpose-tracer available to fire. So, in 1978, it was 20-lbr's for Gagetown.

The first photo shows our hero with his very own tank round.

The second shows skid loads of 20-lbr TP-T.

[jdmcm]

Wow, that is awesome Dan, what great memory that must have been, something I can only dream about, thanks so much for sharing that

Regards
John

[Dan Martel]

John,

I forgot to cite the most knowledgeable person I know about Centurions, who is also a member of this forum. Mike Cecil and I carried on a very informative thread about the tank, five years ago this month.

If you have any technical questions about the tank, send Mike a PM and he'd be glad to answer them. He was, and still is, very forthcoming to anyone on the forum with a question.

Cheers,
Dan.

[Richard Whelan]

I served in Germany on Centurions from 1976 until we changed to rented Leopard and yes we love-ling filled those 100 gallon tanks everyday while on exercise. In fact I may still have the last time centurions were on parade. It was taken with a super 8 camera and really bad but I will look for it.

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your comments. Was it really that long ago? Still, to place things in perspective: not so much knowledge on the Canadian Centurion, but there is much that is common across all the Centurion users.

Great images of yourself & live round. Rather than TP/T, I think these are 20 pdr (84 x 617R) HE/T rounds - indicated by the buff colour and thin red stripe. There were several marks of HE/T, along with a few different fuzes. Being late in the Centurion story (1978), the fuze is almost certainly the L17A4 - a point detonating (PD) fuze which evolved from a fuze originally developed for the Royal Navy, and adapted for use on 20-pdr when the Fuze 410 proved so problematic.

I seem to remember that Canadian Cents in Europe were Mk11 with 105mm L7 guns, while those in Canada remained as training vehicles with 20-pdr. The reference was, I think, Don Dingwall's Service Publications book on Canadian Cents, but I can't seem to locate it just now.

Mike

[Dan Martel]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Was it really that long ago?

Yes, it was.

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

...not so much knowledge on the Canadian Centurion, but there is much that is common across all the Centurion users.

Your technical knowledge of the tank crosses country lines. Seeing as how the Canadians bought their Centurion tanks from the British Army, what was standard for the Brits was just as applicable to the Canadians.

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Rather than TP/T, I think these are 20 pdr (84 x 617R) HE/T rounds - indicated by the buff colour and thin red stripe. There were several marks of HE/T, along with a few different fuzes. Being late in the Centurion story (1978), the fuze is almost certainly the L17A4 - a point detonating (PD) fuze which evolved from a fuze originally developed for the Royal Navy, and adapted for use on 20-pdr when the Fuze 410 proved so problematic.

Again, I will defer to the Master. I just remembered the term "TP-T" from the Carl Gustav ranges. There was nothing like watching the tracer round travel a mile and a half in a second or less, than ricochet off the target into oblivion. I was always glad I wasn't on the receiving end.

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

I seem to remember that Canadian Cents in Europe were Mk11 with 105mm L7 guns, while those in Canada remained as training vehicles with 20-pdr. The reference was, I think, Don Dingwall's Service Publications book on Canadian Cents, but I can't seem to locate it just now.

Right again. Mk 11's in Europe (and one in Ottawa), the remaining tanks in Canada with 20-pdrs, although one always hears stories of some L7 equipped tanks in Canada, somewhere. Probably at the RCEME School.

Thanks again, Mike. I could talk Centurions all day.

Cheers,
Dan.

[jdmcm]

Thanks for the replies as usual guys, I understand most of this has been discussed on the forum previously and is available with some research, but I do appreciate the quick answers. Hopefully since Mike isn't that far from me we can get together and talk "tanks" one day when he's in the area.

Regards
John