Light Armoured Regt 1970‘s

[Gordon Angus Mackinlay]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Have just been chatting with a friend, one of the subjects we talked about was the Light Armoured Regiment of the 1970‘s.

He spent a few days attached to the 8th Hussars in the 1970‘s, it then a Regular LAR equipped with compot of Lynx recce vehs, Ferret scout cars and a variety of M113 variants.

He remembers that it had three sabre squadrons, but has absolutely no idea how they were organised with this variety of vehs, any ideas please.

Yours,

Jock in Sydney

 

[Gordon Angus Mackinlay]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Since posting the above, I have looked into my copies of the LsH and 8th H Regimental histories, neither of which give any details of unit organisation, apart from the details of the the vehicles as already posted.

Yours,
Jock in Sydney

 

[Recce41]

As a Ex Hussar in Petawawa,I may have a copy of the old SOPs from the early 80s. They didn‘t change much after getting the Cougar.
Sgt J CD,CDS com

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Jock,
That was my Regt from 71-72 and 75-79. If memory serves, the sabre sqns consisted of A & B in Petawawa with C Sqn in Gagetown. A Sqn consisted of three, seven car troops of ferret, while B Sqn had four troops of track. These troops consisted of five lynx and two m113 carriers each. I‘ll try to kick start my brain and see if there‘s anything else, unless you want something specific.

 

[Gordon Angus Mackinlay]

Thanks for this Gent‘s,
what got us talking was the fact that in the 1960‘s both I and my mate had dealings with the Canadian Army, and at that period of time everything was very much logically and comprehisively organised. As I said initially, the organisation of Ferrets, Lynx, M113 seemed very odd.

The mark 1 Ferret was a great little run about, intercommunication type of vehicle, yet as a recce vehicle by itself in this odd organisation, it seem‘s very much out of place.

Basically though, it would appear that the org of the tracked sqns remained similar up to that that existed up to the mid 1990‘s, 12th Armd, in The FYR had three recce tps of 7 Cougars each, while the very strong assault tp had 8 M113.

Yours,
Jock in SYdney

 

[Recce41]

Recce guy
I think C Sqn was also in Petawawa, In Gagetown was C Sqn RCD. Because the 8CH took over for the FGH in 64. I‘m going to look at some of my Fathers old kit.
Sgt J CD,CDS com

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Recce 41,
You may be right, that was a long time ago for me. I just can‘t think of what their org and vehs were. Also don‘t recall having C sqn in Montreal at the Olympics with us. Also, in the 70‘s C Sqn RCD was Brigade Recce Sqn in Germany.

Jock,
The fifty mounted lynx gave us a modicum of armour and fighting capability. The 113‘s were meant to represent tanks. So you had five lynx doing recce and two tanks (all of which were Centurion, placed in Gagetown and Lahr at the time) to bail them out should they get to nosey. The ferrets were a great little piece of kit. Fast, small, mobile, quiet. We ran two man crews, I think the Brits used three? We developed the mud recce role from those days in ferret. All sneak and peak. If you had to use the GPMG, you were probably a goner anyway. This doctrine has been carried over into the reserve armoured recce role with the iltis.

 

[Coniar]

OK what the heck is a ferret???
I can find no mention of it on any goverment sites (big suprise).

Thnx

Coniar

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Just about the best piece of recce equipment the Can government ever got rid of for no good reason
Ferret Scout Car
Good description.

 

[Gordon Angus Mackinlay]

Gents,

As you have said a superb vehicle was the Ferret.

The British Army got rid of them after the Gulf War, not that they wanted to, but, because of financial cutbacks. In Yugoslavia the lack of the vehicle was a severe problem in the armoured inf bns (after having Dingo/Ferrets for fifty years, the loss was dramatic), replaced by Land Rover Defender. A very good GS veh but, not able to duplicate the nippy performance of the Ferret - plus no armour.

It was (and is) a vehicle the more that you use it - the better it gets! It is suprising just how many countries still use it, mostly upgrade with a diesel.

The Ferret I and II were both 2 man vehs, while the Ferret I/2 was the intercommunication veh - this has a builtup superstructure around the Ferret I hull. This had a 3 man capacity, although it gave new meaning to the term living in each others armpits!

The first Ferrets I ever saw where those which had been flown from Kenya to Northern Rhodesia, by RAF Beverley transport, to reequip the Irish Army UN contingent in the Congo. The last, in Holdsworthy Barracks yesterday, owned by a chap in Range Control who has renevovated it and uses it as a runabout on the range!

Yours,
Jock in SYdney

 

[Sharpey]

I think the story of the Ferret is similar to the story of the CUCV. Take away a perfectly good vehicle and replace it with a plastic piece of crap, named LSVW.

 

[Mountie]

Note the similarities between the old Ferret and the new German/Dutch Fennek.  The Fennek may be the Ferret of the 21st Century. 

 

[George Wallace]

Mountie

You are really stretching it there.  There is no comparison between the Ferret and Fennek.  Both are completely different animals.  The Ferret is smaller, has same speeds in transmission forward and reverse, crew are in an "open" vehicle, weight is much less, bridge class is different, width, height...........other than having four wheels, there are no similarities.


GW

 

[Lance Wiebe]

As I recall (and it has been a long time, right, Recceguy?)

A sqn had three troops of ferrets.

B Sqn had, depending on the year and the fashion of the time, one of the following:

Four troops of 5 lynx and two M113.  The M113, again depending on the year and fashion, represented our troop assault section, or notional DFSV.

Or, three troops of seven Lynx and one assault troop.

C Sqn, for the mid seventies was "training Sqn", responsible for QL3 training, then after the Olympics, it had out TOW troops.  Seems to me Pete Penner was the SSM when it was TOW.

B Sqn was renamed D Sqn when the tank squadron in Gagetown became B Sqn 8CH.  This was around 77 or 78.  I remember we were in Meaford, and the famous "All stations 2, you are now 4" and somebody starting singing "happy birthday to us" over the net.

 

[Mountie]

I didn't actually mean the Ferret and the Fennek were the same.  I was meaning that the Fennek is the modern day equivalent.  Both are small 4x4, light armoured cars with a 2-3 member crews mounting medium to heavy machine guns or grenade launchers and both are used for reconnaissance and liaison tasks. 

 

[Baloo]

Problem is, you can say that about dozens of armoured cars such as the Fennek, and not have to single it out specifically.

 

[12alfa]

Mountie

You are really stretching it there.   There is no comparison between the Ferret and Fennek.   Both are completely different animals.   The Ferret is smaller, has same speeds in transmission forward and reverse, crew are in an "open" vehicle, weight is much less, bridge class is different, width, height...........other than having four wheels, there are no similarities.


GW

LOL

Having a veh that can move the same speed backwards is great, but how the driver centered in the front middle and can't see to his rear is somewhat a feature that escapes me. Or maybe the c/c can stick his head out to manoveer the driver while they are being engaged, being the reason for them to move to the rear at great speeds.

The Fenneck is a better veh for recce that the ferret, they are now deployed and doing well in the harsh terrian of Afgan. there large wheel base gives them better stability than the Ferret, that as we all know had a nasty habit of rollin over, giving the c/c problems, we lost a few that way.

 

[Kirkhill]

Can't speak to the Ferret but the Dingo, the Ferret's predecessor was my Uncle's vehicle in the Blues and Royals.  He was a driver.  Drivers sat side-on in the vehicle so they could see out the front and rear.  It had as many reverse gears as forward and went the same speed in both directions.

Room for one passenger, his Troop leader.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

LOL

Having a veh that can move the same speed backwards is great, but how the driver centered in the front middle and can't see to his rear is somewhat a feature that escapes me. Or maybe the c/c can stick his head out to manoveer the driver while they are being engaged, being the reason for them to move to the rear at great speeds.

It can be and was possible in the Ferret, we practiced it lots. The crew commander would watch over the back and guide the driver over the IC. A good crew could get up quite a bit of speed. Did so on more than one occasion. Confidence and trust in your crew is all it took. Stand still shooting back or run, take your pick. You only backed up far enough to get turned.

 

[Franko]

As some of you know we have a running Ferret.....

What a blast to drive in reverse!  ;D

60 kph.......all of it backwards.

Wish we'd bring 'em back to replace the jeeps for Recce......

*blink  blink*

Huh?  oh.....

I must have been dreaming 

Regards