Loyd Carrier

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

[Ford, Windsor's] Stan Ellis states that he met Loyd , the inventor of the Carden-Loyd at Farnborough. Hampshire in November 1939 and that he [Loyd] had developed a front-line load carrier, which was of considerable interest from the Canadian viewpoint. There was at that time no tracklaying load carrier ‘in the schedule’ and Loyd had developed on which would provide transportation in areas where wheeled vehicles would have been stopped. Loyd had a vehicle under test at Farnborough at the time that consisted of a Ford truck chassis with Bren Gun Carrier suspension attached. Ellis saw it when it had completed 75% of the test and it was ‘still going strong’: the report of the test was expected shortly. Ellis spent two hours or so with Loyd, and the latter was impressed with the ability of Canada to assist, though Ellis adds that:

‘Whether or not we will be asked is a long story. I can’t go into detail here but my impression is we will be asked if there is a serious shortage. I have met some very fine people and others who probably do not know the Canadians do not wear feathers and carry a hatchet….the balance, well possibly they have heard about the long rifles the Hudson Bay Company made and insisted on a pile of skins as high as the rifle, and think we are still doing it.

The 1-ton Loyd Carrier debuted in 1939, the prototype using a 2-ton Ford commercial chassis with the rear axle inverted to create a rear-engined design and the axle then became the front axle! Liyd used light tank and carrier suspension.