Longest serving mv in cf

[Robin Craig]

Gents,

Allied to a thread I have running on another forum, I challenge nominations with provenance for inclusion to this.

Please dont be glib and haul off and post without dates that can't be proven.

My entry is an M100 trailer, delivery date as per data plate as 3/53 and serial number 1172 out of service / disposed this year and bought yesterday so that makes it 58 years of service in the CF. Admittedly it was a training aide for the last part of its usage but it is still "in use" which is all that counts in my book.

For those interested, the trailer is sold and will be delivered to its new owner tonight.

Pictures to follow tonight hopefully.


R

[rob love]

We still use a WW2 Sorel Industries Limited 25 pdr howitzer as a funeral carriage in Shilo. It has never left DND service. I would have to check the date of the gun, but if the latest is 1945 (may well be a year or three older than that), then it would still be in service after 66 years of Service and still counting with no end in sight.

[Robin Craig]

Rob,

That is great to hear, I suspect that it may match closely the UK DUKWs still in service with the Royal Marines.

Is the gun complete?

Does it have a CFR on display.

I lost track of that gun at Uplands in Ottawa a good numbers of years ago, it just evaporated.


Any chance of pictures please?

R

[Mike K]

One of those was or still is on the Govt. books . Never been in civvy street . It is based on a RAF / Air ministry test airfield somewhere in the UK. It was featued in a MV mag .

Mike

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

The RAF MoD test airfield must surely by Boscombe Down, Wiltshire unless it's the 'field in north Wales.

I keep hearing about the RM DUKWs but a friend who was an RCT officer queries if any are left? I have a photo of an RN Duck in 1958 in Portsmouth.

[Wpns 421]

One of the oldest pieces of gear in service today in the CF are the Boffin 40MM guns that are on the coastal ships. These guns were put into service during WWII and are still serving today. The mounts have been changed but the gun remains the same. I worked on the guns in CFB Gagetown in the Air Defence part of the Artillery school.
A couple years ago I say a video by DND showing the new improverd mounts and the trainers, impressive new mounts beautiful old guns. Gilles

[sapper740]

Canada's LOGBatt Bluebell Garage in the Golan Heights had what I believed to be a WWII (might have been post-war) era WC-14 still putting about the base when I was there in 1999. Any RCEME types out there that had been posted to Camp Zouani remember this truck? I was told it had been re-engined, but I never took the opportunity to check it out. I believe this truck is a good candidate for the oldest, still in military use vehicle anywhere on the planet.

CHEEMO! Derek.

[Phil Waterman]

I've been waiting since this thread began for someone to mention the F15 Welding unit that I believe is still in the Camp Bordon Museum, and back in 1984 the museum had (as the story goes) wrestled it out of the hands of base maintenance who wanted it back because of its usefulness.

Cheers Phil

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

I've been waiting since this thread began for someone to mention the F15 Welding unit that I believe is still in the Camp Bordon Museum, and back in 1984 the museum had (as the story goes) wrestled it out of the hands of base maintenance who wanted it back because of its usefulness.

Cheers Phil

Does time spent in a museum constitute military service or should it be deducted from the total?;>)

CHEEMO! Derek

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by sapper740

Does time spent in a museum constitute military service or should it be deducted from the total?;>)

Well I guess we have to discount the time in retirement, but with 41 to 43 years of active service it has to have been one of the longer serving CMPs in the CF.

Cheers Phil

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Well I guess we have to discount the time in retirement, but with 41 to 43 years of active service it has to have been one of the longer serving CMPs in the CF.

I own a CMP that served longer. My Ingersol Rand Compressor mounted on a cmp trailer was not released from service until 1987. I worked on it up in Flin Flon in the early 80s when I went up there for ATIs. It is a 1943 model which puts it's service life at 44 years.Note that it was never a training aid or a museum piece, but an original in service equipment.

[Marc Montgomery]

Theres a Centurion hanging around an armoury drill hall in Montreal..dont know its condition.

Buit in terms of hardware still in use..there are 9 twin Otters that are still in regular service since 1971

[Marc Montgomery]

I remember when our bus arrived at Camp Zuoani, (this was before it got all sophisticated) and drove through the gate, the pole was raised abut something on the top caught the rope from the raised pole barrier and as it drove through ripped the pole off.... ah and then there are memories of the 5 star Ledra Palace in Cyprus....M38a1s and m113s if I remember...with holders for the puppy pounders...

Meanwhile, I saw a Centurion sitting outside the 2Fd RCA/Hussars armoury on Cote des Neiges stree in Montreal... actually you can see it on google earth street view parked beside the armoury. Type in cote des neiges, montreal.. and look for the large armoury building just where a branch of the road turns off to go up the mountain (the mountian is a fairly large green space on the montreal aerial view) Once you/ve found the armoury click on the street view camera on the road that branches off and rotate the view so you/re looking at the side of the armoury. its sitting tight against the wall

[Scott Bentley]

Originally Posted by Robin Craig

My entry is an M100 trailer, delivery date as per data plate as 3/53 and serial number 1172 out of service / disposed this year and bought yesterday so that makes it 58 years of service in the CF.

Hmm..... Something is not adding up.