Two rare Canadian built Ram tank hulls have been rescued from an ultimate destruction as artillery range targets and will be given new life as restored Ram “Kangaroos”! Carl Brown of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in England has been commissioned to undertake the task and hopes to have the first hull, former CT40921, running and ready to go as early as the summer of 2010.

CT40921 is a mid production Ram and the lower hull, chassis and suspension is shared with the more common US built M3 “Grant” tank. Mr. Brown has secured M3 parts from as far away as Australia (where a lot of Grant hulks remain preserved in the Australian desert). The biggest challenge will be to restore some of the structural damage to the upper hull and recreate the missing interior fittings. While in very rough shape, the hull is far from hopeless and the scarcity of this type of tank in any condition makes it a prime candidate for restoration.

Nearly all of the approximately 1800 Ram tanks that were built during the Second World War were sent to England. Used extensively to train Canadian tank troops, by 1943 the Ram was considered “undergunned” to adequately do battle against German armour. For the duty on the Italian front and the later invasion of Northwest Europe, the Canadians chose to use the US supplied “Sherman”. However, many  variants of the “turretless” Ram were used in combat in Northwest Europe, commonly as personnel and ammunition carriers. Rams were also used as artillery tractors, towing 17pdr guns and some 28 Rams were equipped with “Wasp” flame throwing equipment. Turreted Rams with “dummy” guns were also used at the front as command “observation” posts. At the end of hostilities in Europe, the Rams were turned over to the British and Dutch armies. After being decommissioned in the mid 1950’s, most of them became range targets on the army training grounds throughout England or were salvaged as scrap metal by the 1960’s. Only a handful of Ram tanks exist today. (a mid-production Ram tank that was salvaged in Belgium is currently undergoing restoration by our own Canadian War Museum. That hull was acquired in 2005)

Mr. Brown has also acquired a late production hull which shares it’s drive train and suspension with the wartime M4 “Sherman” tanks. Late production hulls also features a “cast” bow gun cupola with a “ball-mount” machine gun, again similar to a “Sherman” tank. This late style of Ram was the common variant converted to Armoured Personnel carriers in Canadian Service in 1944-45. Their sister regiment, the British 49th Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment saw mostly service with earlier style Rams.

We wish Mr. Brown much success in these endeavours and he has agreed to keep us posted with his progress! He has also mentioned the possibility of the first hull being available for sale when complete...