Canadair CL70 CFR 58-91588

[Ed Storey]

Engine removed because it was too heavy to move, nothing surprises me when it comes to the CWM vehicle collection. Note as well that the one fuel cap is missing.

[Wayne Henderson]

Nice Rat. Is the hull aluminium?
Brian, I also have a Canadair product and am also looking for a manual, a CL13B, no luck finding a copy here in Australia yet.

[BCA]

Wayne, sorry I have not seen any other Canadair manuals. The Rat manual was a lucky find years ago. ... Brian

[Robin Craig]

So, yesterday evening I made initial contact with Mr Chisholm by phone and we had a good discussion.

He was RCEME attached to the RCR in London ON in the early 1960s and had a lot of time spent supporting the CL70 Rat. He went with them all over the artic and remembers them well.

I asked him what the biggest faults were with the machine. He said that the lack of any braking system was an issue. There was talk of an incident on an airstrip where one ploughed into the side of a Hercules and caused damage.

Another flaw was the cleats in the tracks on ice which allowed the machine to slide sideways as if on skates. Add to this the inability of the springs on the cable steering system to be able to full control the slack that develops when crossing major ruts and causing the cable to birds nest on the steering shaft.

All great first hand information.

We have agreed that he will come out and visit mine over the winter in a dry shop at work.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Robin Craig

had a lot of time spent supporting the CL70 Rat. He went with them all over the artic and remembers them well.

I spent a couple weeks in the Arctic supporting a later bombardier snowmachine: the alpine. I thought we had cold in Manitoba, and don't get me wrong, our climate in the winter is absolutely life threatening. But up there was a whole nuther storey.

Mr Chisholm has my respect.

[Ed Storey]

I have never served in the Canada's north.

[Robin Craig]

So,

it has been a while and we have not been standing still. I say we, as my very good friend Gerry Foster and I have slowly been working away but neglecting to post our progress.

First of all, we had the most enjoyable evening with Don Chisholm. We met him at a restaurant locally and spent supper talking over his association with the RAT and his later career in the RCEME.

Don was stationed in London On attached to the RCR and recalls the vehicle with a tremendous amount of clarity, not bad as he is now 82.

Over supper he recounted the incident of the RAT at Bagotville and how an impression was made in the side of a very new Hercules C130. The operator of the vehicle had realised that he had too much speed and because there is no foot brake was not going to be able to stop before a collision. So he turned the machine sideways, at this point inertia took over and the cleats on the tracks were now in line with the former path and took over and became skates and allowed the RAT to glide into the C130, thud.

Don and I had spoken by phone and I was impressed how the same incidents were repeated without variation at supper. We found out that Don was obviously well regarded within his trade as he ended up in the UK during the development of the CVR(T) family of vehicles as the representative from Canada as it was thought that Canada would go down the light armour route.

After supper we moved our meet to the workshop where we had moved the units inside for the evening. Bear in mind my own garage / workshop is a work in progress so I use the shop at work by gracious permission of my employer. The only stipulation is all material has to be out by the end of the night. It makes for a bit of a circus but allows progress.

After many years here is Don re united with a RAT with his unit's marking on the front.