Shilo's new T-16

[rob love]

Got an email from the curator a few weeks ago that there was a likely donation coming of a Bren gun carrier, but looking at the photo she figured it woudl only be good for parts. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I was excited to realize that not only was it a T-16, but a complete unmolested hull along with many of the brackets from it's Canadian service. I went today to pick it up, and after over an hour of hand-winching had it on the trailer for the trip back to Shilo. Sad part is I have a warn 8000lb winch sitting in the shop floor waiting for installation onto the trailer, but my time has been to tight to perform the task.

Anyway, here are some photos of the recovery:

[rob love]

There turned out to be one casualty in the whole affair with a baby garter snake which was hiding in the tracks. They are good for pest control, unlike the snakes elsewhere in the world.

Anyway, here are some more photos of some of the markings and interior brackets. The carrier is in the shop now waiting for unloading which I'll do in the morning. Lots of interesting brackets inside.

At this point I think the markings may be artillery along with either central or prairie command shield. More to follow on this.

[rob love]

The brackets up top of the division plate is what really caught my eye. I think they may be for 3" mortar as they appear to be too far apart to hold a PIAT, but I'll confirm this in th enext few days. Stowage in the back suggest PIAT, but in all honesty the T-16s are a new version of carrier to me.

Engine has a TL serial number with a short tube joining the input and output for the oil cooler. The owner states it came that way from the army. However the truck radiator was a replacement for one stolen from the carrier when it threw a track and was left on some other property over a winter or so.

As one photo shows, it almost appears like this carrier had two slightly different DND numbers painted on it over time.

As I mentioned, T-16s are new to me. If anyone has comments on the carrier or it's likely stowage configuration, I'm all ears.

[Wayne Hingley]

Interesting machine, looks great. Will there be any way to find service records based on the markings Rob? Would be nice to see the history of this one.

[rob love]

Most ikely the only way to determine the unit will be the markings under the paint, and you only get one shot at it....then they are gone. From there, a check of the unit's museum (if one exists) might yield a shot of the vehicle, but it is always a longshot.

Looks like the artillery marking may be over another unit's marking.

[RichardT10829]

Great stuff Rob, look forward to seeing this one restored !

[jeff davis]

I would have loved to get a parts vehicle like that .

[James P]

Great find and recovery I always love reading your posts of your work. To to honest you could teach those buffoons at the CWM a thing or three at how things get done in the real world.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Rob,

Exiting find! Well done on the recovery to put it in a safe place.

As far as I can tell, this is a 4.2-in mortar carrier. Apart from the stowage, the angle iron steps at the sides are a sign of this variant - read more in this thread.

In December 1944 a total of 266 T16s were held by Canadian Units in First Cdn Army 21 Army Group - see the page THE T-16 CARRIER in use with the Canadian Army in my T16 Universal Carrier webpage.

HTH,
Hanno

[rob love]

Originally Posted by James P

Great find and recovery I always love reading your posts of your work. To to honest you could teach those buffoons at the CWM a thing or three at how things get done in the real world.

Thanks for the compliment, although I can't comment on the statement about the CWM. Bit if they share my shortcomings, the limitations are time, personal and money, along with time, lack of time, and not enough time. Often time is limited as well. Shifitng focus often leads to disruptions too,.

Hanno: Thanks for the link. Some great information there. One of the decisions that will have to be made is whether to leave the mortar tube and baseplate brackets where the army moved them to, or move them back to where the designers put them. Tough call. If they are left where they are, the scale modellers and video gamers will claim that it is a poor restoration.

[David Dunlop]

Be interesting to find out why the tube location was changed, Rob.

If I read the thread info correctly, the wartime 4.2 inch Mortar Team needed a 5 Carrier transport. Perhaps in postwar Canada there were just not enough T16's available to maintain that standard, so the equipment was redistributed into a smaller number of T16's.

Perhaps there is official documentation on file somewhere covering such changes.

David

Great find, by the way. Reminds me of my carrier when discovered sleeping in a farm yard.

[rob love]

Neil Yeo dropped by for a few minutes today, and we determined from the data plate that the WD number was T102032 S . The number is now quite apparent on both sides, now that we know what we are looking for. It was just a coincidence that the DND number ended in 022, which helped make some confusion earlier.

I had seen the S after the WD number on the side, but wasn't sure if it was part of it. What was the significance of the 'S' ....suppressed?

I hooked up an A-frame and pulled the T-16 off my trailer today and put it back into the building. After some photos tomorrow it will be off to the washbay to clear out some of the mud, moss, and debris. Perhaps there are some more surprises on the bottom of the hull.