Picture of the day

I wonder how the Portuguese got those Grizzlies? I remembef reading one of the WW2 unit histories that mentioned getting Cdn made tanks in Europe, but the majority of Shermans used by Cdn units were American made M4, M4A2 and M4A4 types. The Firefly conversions were on M4 and M4A4 models.
 
I wonder how the Portuguese got those Grizzlies? I remembef reading one of the WW2 unit histories that mentioned getting Cdn made tanks in Europe, but the majority of Shermans used by Cdn units were American made M4, M4A2 and M4A4 types. The Firefly conversions were on M4 and M4A4 models.

 
I wonder how the Portuguese got those Grizzlies? .

I bet there was a field full of them post war and some smooth talking used surplus dealer (like the Levy Brothers in Toronto) talked them into a package deal. When the Portuguese Grizzlys were being surplused in the 1970's and 80's there were also ###tants and CMP artillery tractors . It seems they got a lot of our stuff.
 
Found on Finnish Defence Forces pictorial archive site.

I don't think I've ever seen MN in original trim shot with bipod.

132746_r500.jpg


The hunter approaches the seal on an ice clear.
Vitele, Laatokka 4/2/1943

Any clue what instrument is this?Trench art?

133087_r500.jpg
 
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Found on Finnish Defence Forces pictorial archive site.

I don't think I've ever seen MN in original trim shot with bipod.

132746_r500.jpg




Any clue what instrument is this?Trench art?

133087_r500.jpg

Most likey. Judging by number of strings it's in the mandolin family. Neck too short for lute/Oud family.

Just noticed it has 4 pairs of 4 strings, in an Unusual form is like a Beganna or Kithara.

sakuva_lg_133087.jpg
 
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I wonder how the Portuguese got those Grizzlies? I remembef reading one of the WW2 unit histories that mentioned getting Cdn made tanks in Europe, but the majority of Shermans used by Cdn units were American made M4, M4A2 and M4A4 types. The Firefly conversions were on M4 and M4A4 models.

They got a shipment of M3 'Stuarts' from Canada sometime after WWII. Maybe part of that batch. The Cdn. Stuarts were used in the Portuguese Colonial War. They were obsolete but were used up there mainly.
 
I read somewhere that the Canadian tanks were left in Europe and taken over by Belgium and Holland who later passed then on to Portugal through Nato.

Found part of it.
Service history
Canada
Canada left all its wartime Shermans in Europe, giving them to the Dutch and Belgian armies. In 1946, Canada purchased 300 M4A2 76mm (W) HVSS Shermans. Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) operated a squadron of US-loaned M4A3(76)W HVSS in the Korean War. The Shermans were replaced in the Regular Force with the Centurion in the late 1950s, and remained in use in reserve armoured regiments until 1970.

Canada used Grizzly/Skink Kangaroo APC variants into the 1950s and beginning in 1954 transferred at least 40 to Portugal, some of which were found in a Portuguese scrapyard in 1995. When Canada's post–World War II M4A2(76)W HVSS Shermans were obsolete, it also converted some to Kangaroos and used them into the 1960s until replacement by M113s. A proposed purpose-built Canadian armored vehicle, the Bobcat, never materialized.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post–World_War_II_Sherman_tanks
 
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Translated from Portuguese. Just replaced the word "custard" with "cream" and you get the idea.
"The Mk I Spitfires and (mostly) the Mk V were the custard of the Air Defense between 1943 and 1952."
 
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Hawker Hurricane Mk-IIb e Mk-IIc

Military Aeronautics received 103 of these fighters in 1943/44, followed by a second plot of 45 in 1947. The last flew on June 5, 1954.


 
Breda Ba 65 bis
Military Aeronautics received 10 of these attack aircraft in 1939. But in 1941 a violent temporal collapsed the roof of the hangar, destroying them. The pilots are said to have celebrated the fact, given their poor flight qualities and poor engine reliability.
In North Africa this model was considered more dangerous to its pilots than to the enemy. One of the biggest disappointments in Italian aeronautical industry among wars.
 
Excellent pictures Diopter.

Do you have any pictures of Spit I with Portuguese Squadron badges,personal makings etc?While squadron codes and cocardes are known for size and location I have yet to see other markings even in plastic model kits.

What were those Spits and Hurricanes used for in Portugal? Home defense or colonial service ?

As for Italian planes it's been known since ww1 that while Italians can make good airframes making reliable engine and all systems around it was their Achilles heel.

Kind of like British use to have with electrical systems in bikes,cars,homes,fridges etc.
 
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