Chris Camfield

Hi Dennis, Thanks for your reply! No, I'm not in Alberta... I'm in deepest darkest Toronto. Which is fortunate from a writing point of view because it turns out the local reference library has a ton of regimental and divisional history books. I am glad that the artillery museum was able to help you. I have not been in touch with them, I have to admit - don't know why, except that I couldn't visit them in person. The War Museum in Ottawa had some interesting things like an Archer maintenance manual.

Hi Kevin, My book will be published in the UK in fact, by Trackpad Publishing. I have a somewhat longer list of serials, but it needs some work to be presentable. Cheers, Chris

Hi Dennis, I realize I'm about six months too late so I imagine you have made your Archer, but if you have any questions related to the vehicle let me know, like if you want to use different markings from what's provided in the kit. The Tamiya kit has a spotlight on the right side of the fighting compartment (if you're looking at the vehicle from the point of view of the driver) and a cable reel mount on the right mudguard which is actually missing the cable reel. After the first 300 vehicles - as I recall - the spotlight was removed and the cable reel mount was moved up to around that location. But probably all the Archers used during WW2 were in that range. Cheers! PS Hope to have my book on the Archer done early in 2022

Wally, just wanted to say thank you very much for sharing images of all those treasures.

Rather belated reply here but - It seems to be one of a set - one I didn't know of. The Canadian War Museum library and archives have three others, none showing the gun traversed. Two small things that make me scratch my head: the first batch of Archers (I forget how many) had a spotlight where the reel of signal cable is on this one. The signal cable was located on the front end of the right track guard. Since as Adrian said this is one of the first-produced Archers, I think it may have been modified after, removing the spotlight. The other thing I hadn't really remarked on is the long wrapped bundle near the front. That doesn't seem a likely official place to permanently stow something while traveling.

Hi all, I have seen references on this forum indicating that the No 43 Telescope was standard issue for 17-pounder AFVs like the Firefly and M10C. And the No 41 was the one provided for towed 17-pounders? Is that correct? According to the manuals I have, the Archer (Valentine 17-pounder SP) was initially issued with a No 51 LC (I'm not sure what 'LC' indicated). But a 1952 RAC manual for the vehicle indicates that at that point it had a No 43 with a removable eyepiece allowing the gunner to switch between x3 and x6 magnification. Does anyone know anything about the No 51? Do the numbers indicate that it was an evolution of the No 41?

That's an interesting idea, Adrian! Particularly in light of that slit in the side of the compartment.

Thanks so much, Andrew!!

Hi all, I have a couple of questions about specific bits. First of all, at the Tank Museum back in June I noticed that the Crusader (not just theirs, but others I've seen in walkarounds) have a horizontal bar sticking out of the right side of the driver's "box". Does anyone know what that was for? Second question is about this box-like frame on the Valentine SP aka Archer. I feel sure that I have seen this on other vehicles. Did it house a toolbox? Something else? Was that thing strapped in place or just too heavy to move on its own? I was reading over the stowage list for the Archer this week - ordered it from the Tank Museum - and have been able to start to understand a lot of little details. I was also trying to sort out what was in each stowage compartment and I think I may have conflated what was in the stowage bin pictured, and this other thing. Thanks in advance, Chris

Thanks for the welcomes! Clive - that is a shame! I hope on my next visit to the UK I will get to see some privately restored vehicles. Paul - yes, absolutely! I have not been to the archives as many times this year but I do go every couple of months. I presume you know that many Canadian unit war diaries are now online, though?

Hi everyone, Just thought I would say one or two words to introduce myself. I'm a Canadian with a strong interest in WW2 that lay dormant for a long while. A couple of years ago I started doing plastic scale modelling and also started to help Mike Starmer by trying to match paint colours against WW2 paint chips that are in the Canadian archives. My first trip to the archives, I discovered a sheet with chips of the Caunter paint colours, which was absolutely thrilling to me. (The Canadian archives also have samples of Light Green and Dark Tarmac, which we've been trying to get an exact match against, but we haven't hit that yet.) Since then I've also been reading like mad about WW2, and exchanging photos of documents in the archives with a fellow in the UK. Last November I decided on a project, which is to try to write a book about the Archer, aka Valentine SP, because so far as I can tell, no one has done one yet. I am fascinated by restoration work (have been following the Matilda videos of the Tank Museum with great interest) but since I live in a flat I don't expect to be doing any of my own. Last year I saw the Flakpanzer IV restoration underway at Borden Base museum. Currently I am on vacation in the UK and amongst other things hope to visit the Cornwall Regimental Museum, will be at Bovington for Tankfest on the Friday and Saturday, and hope to see some of the museums in Winchester as well. Do people from the community bring their vehicles to Tankfest? Cheers, Chris