Armour in Canada: T17E1 Staghound Armoured Car

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3224497)

General Motors "Staghound" T17E1 armoured car of the 18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons)

The T17E1 Armoured Car was an American armoured car design produced during the under the name Staghound. The T17E1 was armed with a 37 mm M6 gun, a coaxial .30 cal M1919A4 Browning machine gun and a 2-inch smoke mortar in a rotating. In the hull was mounted a second .30 cal M1919A4 Browning mg. The turret had power traverse and featured a turret basket (which limited the amount of internal crew storage). The 37 mm gun was gyroscopically stabilized. This variant had a crew of five: commander, loader, gunner, driver, and hull machine gunner.

It was not used on the front line by American forces. A number of other countries used the Staghound after the war, and some vehicles continued to serve until the 1980s. 3,844 Staghounds were produced in total.

The Staghound was an innovative design that incorporated some advanced features. It had two rear-facing 6-cylinder engines with automatic transmissions (with 4 forward and 1 reverse gears) feeding through a transfer case to drive both axles. Either two- or four-wheel drive could be selected. Either engine could be shut down while in motion and taken out of the drive train. Additionally, a power steering pump was incorporated that could be switched on or off manually from the driver's instrument panel depending on steering conditions. Steering and suspension components were directly attached to the hull as the structure was rigid enough to dispense with the need for a separate chassis.

The first saw operational service in Italy, where many units found its large physical size too restrictive in the narrow roads, and streets of Europe. It saw most service at squadron and regimental headquarter level, with an armoured car regiment having three Staghounds with the Regimental HQ and three with each HQ of the four squadrons in the regiment. Conditions for the Staghound improved when the Italian campaign became more mobile in the middle of 1944, and the Staghound was also used in north-west Europe campaign. (Lucy, Roger V. The Staghound in Canadian Service. Ottawa, Ontario, 2007: Service Publications. Wikipedia)

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3596091)

General Motors "Staghound" T17E1 armoured car of the 18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons), August 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3596094)

Staghound.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3191574)

General Motors Staghound T17E1, 18th Armoured Car Regiment, 12th Manitoba Dragoons, crossing the Seine River, 28 Aug 1944.

The Chevrolet T17E1 version of the Staghound was powered by two 97-hp GMC Hercules engines with a hydraulic transmission.  It was served by a five-man crew with three men fitting inside the fully-enclosed, power-traversed turret.  It weighed 14 tons and had a maximum speed of 90 kmh (55 mph) and a range of 720 km (450 miles).  It was armed with a 37-mm tank gun and co-axial and bow-mounted .30-inch Browning machine-guns.  A total of 2,687 Staghound T17E1s were built as well as 789 T17E2 AA vehicles.  The two Canadian armoured car regiments initially received 72 Staghounds each plus a number of additional vehicles allocated to HQ and various other organizations which were in service overseas during the Second World War.  A number were brought back to Canada after the war and at least 85 of these served until they were retired in 1964.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3202099)

General Motors Staghound T17E1, A Sqn, 12th Manitoba Dragoons, advancing towards Xanten, Germany near the Hochwald, 2 March 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3209158)

6 Brigade, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, the T17E1 Staghound is with the 12th Manitoba Dragoons, 18th Armoured Car Regiment, on the road to Vimoutiers, France. The crew and motorcycle rider are passing a destroyed German Tiger II [Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B], 22 August 1944. The Tiger II is number 132 1./s.Pz.Abt 503, destroyed by its own crew. A Bergepanther stands in front of the Tiger II, located in la Fauvetiere before Vimoutiers.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3202103)

Sergeant I.F. Chase cleaning his mess tin on a General Motors T17E1 Staghound armoured car of the South Alberta Regiment, Bad Zwischenahn, Germany, 29 April 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225543

12th Manitoba Dragoons Troopers on a General Motors Staghound T17E1, near Caen, France, 19 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225545)

Trooper Ernie Tester of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons lying on a cot in front of a General Motors Staghound T17E1, near Caen, France, 19 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3224498)

General Motors T-17E1 Staghound, 12th Manitoba Dragoons, UK, 30 Dec 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524437)

General Motors T-17E1 Staghound, 12th Manitoba Dragoons, Elbeuf, France, 28 Aug 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3202102)

General Motors Staghound T-17E1 armoured car of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons, Blankenberghe, Belgium, 11 September 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3202100)

German soldiers mounted on a Sd.Kfz.222, Reconnaissance Armored Car, surrendering to the 12th Manitoba Dragoons, one of whose General Motors Staghound T-17E1 armoured cars is seen at right, near Sogel, Germany, 10 April 1945.

(Balcer Photo)

Staghound in the CFB Borden Military Museum, Ontario.

(Author Photo)

T17E1 Staghound Armoured Car, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.

(Author Photo)

T17E1 Staghound, previously stored at Worthington Barracks, Royal Canadian Dragoons, CFB Petawawa, currently on loan to the Royal Ontario Regiment, Oshawa, Ontario.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3208267)

General Keller, General Officer Commanding 3 Division, inspecting 3 Division Signals Stag Hound armoured car of Royal Armoured Corps.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3208267)

General Keller, General Officer Commanding 3 Division, inspecting 3 Division Signals Stag Hound armoured car of Royal Armoured Corps, 14 April 1944.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍