CFB Borden Ferret Monument

[Robin Craig]

A few words about this Ferret.

If you want your own pictures of it, arrange your visit ahead of time and get an escort to photograph this monument. While the vehicle is significant in its own right it is the Headquarters building behind it that will usually trigger a swift response to persons approaching with a camera. Be forewarned.

Anyway, another Canadian Ferret. The colour scheme is, well, interesting. The vehicle has sheet metal over the side bins and is only a monument now.

I have been discussing this vehicle with another forum member, you know who you are, please keep the cat in the bag for a while.

I will be making some moves to get some data acquired from this vehicle to sort some points of significance out. It may hold the key to unlocking a mystery.

Regards

Robin

[rob love]

It's a little later production ferret than the bulk of the Canadian ones, as evidenced by the 5 sided side windows. The turn signals are, of course, completely wrong, but the holes in the rear plate for the jerry can brackets are some evidence that the vehicle (or at a minimum the rear plate) were in Cdn service. Is there a CFR number by the horn mounting area?

Canada's small number of ferrets were driven into the ground, and things like the fenders and bins were usually in very rough shape. Pretty sure that will explain the covered over areas.

[Robin Craig]

Dear Rob and everyone,

Yes, correct, you picked up on the later production details of this Ferret.

The fact that it has the sloped or 5 sided side hatch is what got me excited about it.

It is only the second such one that thus far I have found with a link to Canada.

The other you might recall, is sitting in my back yard awaiting restoration, it is call sign 31 as far as we can tell.

The "legend" of the CFR being stamped around the horn area has thus far on mine been an exception to the rule. This automatically sets the warblers off into cries of "it isn't a Canadian Ferret". This one has paint on so thick it is impossible to see if there is anything there at all.

Our other Ferret has the square side hatch style and has a CFR in the usual horn area.

I will however be following up and obtaining the hull number and year of production using remote viewing technology in due time.

Considering that the last Ferret example was disposed of 34 years ago in 1981 it isnt surprising that expedient fixes for a monument include sheet steel over the sides of rotted out bins.

I hold the line that not all the Canadian Ferrets were square hatched, most were, the sloped or 5 sided are fewer in number, so far only two that I am aware of.

Regards

Robin

[David Dunlop]

Robin. Would these have been part of a late service purchase by the Canadian Military from overseas, or simply "acquisitions" over time from stocks the British Army had shipped over here for training purposes over the years?

David

[rob love]

I believe the Canadian purchase overlapped the changeover from mk1 to mk1/1. Most visible would be the side windows.

I believe I have also seen a 5 sided window version in Wainwright, but in all honesty it has been quite some time since I have been there.

There used to be a listing of all the ferret serial numbers, their British registration numbers, and the countries they went to over on Ferret Heaven. It showed the Australians getting theirs first, and we were second in line. The list would likely have shown the crossover to 1/1, and how many we received. I wonder if a copy still exists on the web somewhere.

David

There was only the one purchase.

[Robin Craig]

I agree with Rob that Canada had both styles of windows.

The document Rob talks about is one I have asked many people to produce but no one has been willing to share, as if it has been some super secret document.

To me that document definitively closes all arguments.

The British style data plate that bolts in is valueless as an item of evidence as they have no correlation to the hull number, that has always been a massive bone of contention for me.

No one has ever produced a Canadian federal document with any of the hull numbers linked to the then CAR numbers which became the CFR numbers.

If that document existed then the blanks in Colin Stevens listings would be easily traceable.

See what I mean?

Robin

[Ed Storey]

Here is an image of the Wainwright Ferret that I took in 1989.

[Ed Storey]

According to the records I have, DND related the CFR number to the British vehicle number which was located on the data plate. As has been noted, Colin Steven's list of CFRs to serial numbers is unfortunately incomplete.

As an example:

82505 was 35BA63 from my list and SN 289.B.2.4 from Colin's.

[rob love]

On looking at the Wainwright ferret, I think I would have to look at it in person again to be sure it is ex-Cdn. There is an item or two that looks suspect on this one. It would not be the first time that a British one is redone to represent a Cdn one.

The one in MooseJaw falls into that category. It was a British mk2 which was re-done to represent a Cdn example.

[Robin Craig]

It is only through threads like this that we spread the information that people have and save it in perpetuity.

The news about the Moose jaw vehicle proves that we shoukd be very careful and it is why I am developing a line of internal investigation to find out more on the CFB Borden monument.

Robin

[rob love]

One of the common things I will look for is the modification to go from the Brit fire extinguisher to the ansul extinguisher. It required the welding of new blocks in the area of the front and the side extinguisher. Neither the Borden nor the Wainwright Ferrets show this modification. So while the rear plate of the Borden ferret shows the likelihood of being Cdn with the (easily drilled) holes drilled for Jerry can Brackets, it does not show the mods for the extinguishers.

There are other mods to look for, but neither photo shows the required areas clearly.

[cletrac (RIP)]

Here's a couple more of the Wainwright Ferret.

[strat1]

Wainwright Ferret

Anthony