C15TA wireless install

[Tim Bell]

Apologies if this has been posted already.

From online Canadian Archive - Reel C-5819, Page 2912 onwards

[Tim Bell]

[Barry Churcher]

Tim, thanks very much for this information on the No 7 table. I had planned to use this 19 set installation in my truck but lacking info on the table I was going to use the design that is in Jim Gosling’s C15TA and Jordan Baker’s Otter. They both use slotted 1 ¼ X 1 ¼ angle iron for a top. Jordan kindly provided me with dimensions and I have bought the steel but I will have to re think this now. This flat top table will be a lot easier to fabricate also.
Cheers
Barry

[Tim Bell]

Barry

Glad it is of use... though sorry to have caused you extra work! (or maybe not if easier to fabricate).

Tim

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Found a new photo of a WS19 in a C15TA operated by the Netherlands Military Police in 1949.

For some reason, this wireless is installed on the right of the vehicle.


Source: http://hdl.handle.net/10648/a8c4574c...8-003048976d84

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Attached are photos of article titled "P stands for Phantom" sent to me by Daniel Lindeboom (which he found somewhere on the internet):




I did not realise this unit used the C15TA, but found this snippet by Bob Ascah which he posted in 2020 (my bold):

Originally Posted by Bob Ascah

Coming late to the conversation.
- 1 ASSU was the only Canadian unit to have White M3 Scout Cars fitted with a WS No.9. Phantom which had patrols with the Canadians, was a British unit. The ASSUs (1 Canadian and 2 British) were Army level Signals units responsible for handling air requests/taskings between brigade, division, corps, army and to the rear wings and groups.
- The War Establishment was 30 Trucks 15cwt Wireless and 8 Trucks 15cwt Armoured. Each had a WS No.9 set with a crew of four and was referred to as a tentacle. 1 ASSU received their M3s in mid April. The War Diary indicates that the unit did a mock-up for the No.9 installation after which the vehicles went to 4 Armoured Brigade Workshop for modifications. There is no mention of the installation design. The one photo I've seen of a 1 ASSU M3 showed a Base Aerial Assembly on a short post fitted to rear bow on the outside of the canvas. This would suggest that the set was installed across the back wall as seen in some Phantom photos. As communications on the move wasn't a requirement for a tentacle, I surmise that the antennae were mounted on masts at the HQ location.
- When the M3s were replaced by C15TAs in the winter, the vehicles went to an RAF MSSU (most likely 84 Group's No. 308) for fitting of the WS No.9, two 1143 air sets and a WS No.22. Again, no diagrams have come to light.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

"The C15TA was used by (...) some British Units in the Far East, such as the 5th Parachute Brigade. Within the British Airborne Forces some were converted to provide a ‘Command Vehicle’ at Battalion and Brigade level, and were fitted with extra radios’."

This photo was reportedly was made on 23 July 1945. To me it seems that if the C15TA was indeed used by British Airborne Forces, it was in the early postwar years?

Who knows the details?


Source: https://paradata.org.uk/content/4663...armoured-truck

[Hanno Spoelstra]

From http://www.rcsigs.ca/index.php/C15TA_Armoured_Truck:

"While the C15TA Armoured Truck was used by units of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, it doesn't appear that these were converted to be a principle radio vehicle. The War Diary of "L" Section, 2nd Canadian Divisional Signals records receiving "new 15 Cwt Armoured Cars" in November 1944 and that the one for HQ was to be used as the Brigade Rover."


C15TA Armoured Truck belonging to "K" Section, 2nd Canadian Divisional Signals.
"K" Section supported the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade. The soldier standing in front is Peter Conroy.
No date or location given, this photo was most likely made during the liberation of The Netherlands.


Source: http://www.rcsigs.ca/index.php/Peter_Conroy_Photos
Credit: Military Communications and Electronics Museum Archives


An undated photo of three members of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals with a C15TA Armoured Truck.


Source: http://www.rcsigs.ca/index.php/File:...th_a_C15TA.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Tony Barron sent me a picture which is in Wireless for the Warrior, volume 2, page 59.

Note the transverse radio setup with two sets side by side: