FV603 Saracen

[Ed Storey]

No photo of the Ferret at Cohen's, although I do have a couple of images of the Saracen at SAIL. It has the radar mounted on it and my images do not have the registration plate, so I was not sure if it was the same vehicle as the one I photographed in 1984.

[Jason Ginn]

If you can please post a pic of the Sail Saracen. I recall that both vehicles were missing the centre wheel stations. I think that they just placed a naval dish on the roof while at Sail. Something like a AN/SPS-502 dish but i can't really recall. They also had M5 High Speed Tractor and a M135 with a naval rocket system in the bed but they are both gone as well.

[Ed Storey]

Here is a 2004 image from SAIL in Montreal.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...Radar2copy.jpg

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Jason

In the late 70s the Museum of S&T had two Saracen...... one was very complete including the inside.... the second one had both centre wheels removed and was mostly stripped on the inside...... they also had the Badeck speed boat sitting there also........ the one with the outside water wings.... whatever they are called..... although they were removed for shipping they were stacked up next to the boat...... security was not serious in those days and you could easily crawl in on early Sunday mornings..... never managed to crawl up the boat as it was rather high in wooden supports and no ladder to climb....but did crawl into the Saracen....... we were hoping to get the RR 6 cyl. engine for the Dodge M37.....

Story had it that they sat idle in the back section of the NRC Montreal Campus for years......

Bob

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Bob,
putting a straight 8 B80 into an M37 would have been quite a project!
Rich.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Richard

...... in those days you could buy a running M37 for $500 to 800..... I that was expensive for us........ acquiring the RR engine was a pipe dream....

Nonetheless, in those years there was till a lot of good stuff in junk yards around Ottawa...... like the 2 Churchill "Birdgelayers" ...... one of which we managed to get the CWM to purchase..... the second one was cut up for scrap before we could arrange to save it.....

Bunches of Mosquitoes..... all of which had the backbone fuselage crushed by dropping a 1/2 steel plate from a derrick..... nonetheless some exhaust manifolds were salvaged and if memory serves me right shipped out to Autralia for some collector...... cases of 12 cyl complete engines with little clear plastic look a like sparkplugs filled with pink silica gel crystals still inserted in cylinder heads.....

Ah the good old days.....

Bob

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Hi Jason

In the late 70s the Museum of S&T had two Saracen...... one was very complete including the inside.... the second one had both centre wheels removed and was mostly stripped on the inside...... they also had the Badeck speed boat sitting there also........ the one with the outside water wings.... whatever they are called..... although they were removed for shipping they were stacked up next to the boat...... security was not serious in those days and you could easily crawl in on early Sunday mornings..... never managed to crawl up the boat as it was rather high in wooden supports and no ladder to climb....but did crawl into the Saracen....... we were hoping to get the RR 6 cyl. engine for the Dodge M37.....

Story had it that they sat idle in the back section of the NRC Montreal Campus for years......

Bob

Boobee..
Are you talking thos speed boat..or Hydrofoil..

Alexander Graham Bell's HD-4 Hydrofoil that he invented in the early 1900's. On September 19th, 1919, the HD-4 set the water speed record with a top speed of 70.8 mph (114 km/h). This record was considerably faster than other vessels of that time which could only manage roughly 30 mph and the record would stand for 10 years. Bell designed the Hydrofoil with the Navy in mind but as the war had ended when Bell achieved his accomplishment, the project died from lack of interest. The original HD-4 was found abandoned on a beach on the shore of the Bras d'Or Lake and is now part of the exhibit of the AGB Museum in Baddeck, Nova Scotia.


Or the new one..??

HMCS Bras d'Or (FHE 400) was a hydrofoil that served in the Canadian Forces from 1968 to 1971. During sea trials in 1969, the vessel exceeded 63 knots (117 km/h; 72 mph), making her possibly the fastest warship in the world.

The vessel was originally built from 1960 to 1967 for the Royal Canadian Navy, as a project for the testing of anti-submarine warfare technology on an ocean-going hydrofoil. The RCN was replaced on 1 February 1968 by the unified Canadian Armed Forces, and HMCS Bras d'Or was commissioned into that service several months later. Changes in priorities and cost overruns later led to the project's cancellation.

HMCS Bras d'Or was named in honour of Bras d'Or Lake on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island, where inventor Alexander Graham Bell performed hydrofoil experiments in the early 20th century near his estate and new laboratory at Beinn Bhreagh, setting the world watercraft speed record in the process. In 1909 the lake was also the historic site of the first flight of an aircraft in Canada and the British Commonwealth; the airplane, named the Silver Dart, was built by the Aerial Experiment Association under Dr. Bell's tutelage. The lake's name was thus fitting for a hydrofoil vessel which could 'fly' above an ocean's surface.

Then again as usual,because it was Canadian..the fastest in the world..Like the Canadian Avro Arrow..also the best and fastest jet fighter in the world,was scrapped..because our lickspittle ,mangy running dog,sniveling,grovelling,no balls politicians..were bought out by the US money men because the US had nothing at the time or on the books that could hold a candle to our technical teams..After they scrapped the Avro Arrow all the engineers were hired by the US and that is why the US had the man on the moon first..They woke up when the Russians put Sputnik into space in '57 leaving the US with nothing that could touch it so the CIA did a job on AVRO ..and blackmailed and bought out our Canadian running dog lackie leaders ,and our rotten to the core government scrapped the Arrow in '58...and stole all our talent to form NASA..

Bob ..you had to get me started..didn't you...I was trying to be pleasant this Christmas..but hate has a long memory..
Anyway that is how it is..when you have politicians and lawyers running your country..I would rather have murderers..child molesters and drug dealers running the country....
..Jeez....What am I saying...we already have....
Merry Christmas

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

...


Then again as usual,because it was Canadian..the fastest in the world..Like the Canadian Avro Arrow..also the best and fastest jet fighter in the world, was scrapped ... because our lickspittle, mangy running dog, sniveling, grovelling, no balls politicians ... were bought out

... and blackmailed and bought out our Canadian running dog lackie leaders, and our rotten to the core government scrapped the Arrow in '58 ... and stole all our talent to form NASA..

Bob ... you had to get me started..didn't you...I was trying to be pleasant this Christmas..but hate has a long memory.
Anyway that is how it is ... when you have politicians and lawyers running your country ... I would rather have murderers ... child molesters and drug dealers running the country...

Alex, do you have an opinion you wish to share with the class? Go ahead, don't keep it inside.

[Lynn Eades]

That other A.B. (Alexander Graham Bell) isn't he the guy who stole all those good ideas from Tessler?