UN White Ferret Ontario Regiment Museum, Oshawa

The Oshawa Military and Industrial Museum is an accredited Canadian Forces Museum located in

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The museum, more commonly known as

The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) The Ontario Regiment ( RCAC) is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Canadian Army. The unit is based in downtown Oshawa, Ontario, and is named after Ontario County (1852–1973). Formed in 1866, and more commonly known as th ...

"Ferret Club", was founded in

in 1980 and has grown to become th
Historic Vehicle Section
of the

Ontario Regiment Museum The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) Museum is a military museum located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum is composed of a "Static Section" tracing the history of the Ontario Regiment and a Vehicle Section with more than 100 operational military ...

. The museum's maintainers are a group of volunteer military vehicle enthusiasts. The group includes civilians as well as several current and former members of the RCAC, and other units of the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

and the

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

Description

Almost every vehicle in the museum's collection is operational or in some state of repair or restoration. Many vehicles, including the vintage Sherman Mark IV, Chaffee, M60 and

Sheridan Sheridan may refer to: People Surname *Sheridan (surname) *Philip Sheridan (1831–1888), U.S. Army general after whom the Sheridan tank is named *Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Irish playwright (''The Rivals''), poet and politician ...

tanks,

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

s, trucks and

jeeps Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...

, are frequently driven in parades and other ceremonial activities involving

the Ontario Regiment The Ontario Regiment ( RCAC) is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Canadian Army. The unit is based in downtown Oshawa, Ontario, and is named after Ontario County (1852–1973). Formed in 1866, and more commonly known as th ...

or other units of the

. The funding required to restore, maintain, and fuel the museum’s historic vehicle collection and static displays is provided entirely by volunteers—current and former members of the Canadian Forces, veterans, cadets and civilians. The museum raises some of its operating funds by providing the use of some vehicles for select recognizable Canadian and international television or film productions. Many vehicles in the museum's collection are visible from Stevenson Rd N, the road leading into the south field of the

Oshawa Executive Airport Oshawa Executive Airport is a municipal airport adjacent to the north end of the city of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the busiest general aviation airport without scheduled airline service in the Greater Toronto Area by aircraft movements a ...

Historical Development

The museum was founded in 1980 as the Ontario Regiment Ferret Club. Housed in a garage in north Oshawa, the collection began with nine fully restored surplus Canadian

Ferret armoured car The Ferret armoured car, also commonly called the Ferret scout car, is a British armoured fighting vehicle designed and built for reconnaissance purposes. The Ferret was produced between 1952 and 1971 by the UK company Daimler. It was widely ...

s. The club was relocated to a disused dairy farm on Oshawa's 8th Concession for much of the 1980s before finding a permanent home on the Oshawa Airport lands, one of the many

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...

sites for allied pilots during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Collections

Historic Vehicle Section (Ferret Club)

The museum's collection contains over 70 vehicles, including jeeps, carry-alls, carriers, tanks and a motorcycle. Aside from fully restored

Bren Gun Carrier The Universal Carrier, also known as the Bren Gun Carrier and sometimes simply the Bren Carrier from the light machine gun armament, is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrongs and other ...

and

M24 Chaffee The M24 Chaffee (officially Light Tank, M24) was an American light tank used during the later part of World War II; it was also used in post–World War II conflicts including the Korean War, and by the French in the War in Algeria and the Firs ...

, a pair of M4A2(76)W HVSS, and one unrestored

Centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...

, there are also a number of foreign-operated vehicles including a Scania HLVW prototype. Other highlights of the collection include two

M60A3 The M60 is an American second-generation main battle tank (MBT). It was officially standardized as the Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105-mm Gun, M60 in March 1959. Although developed from the M48 Patton, the M60 tank series was never officially ...

s and two M551A1 Sheridans. A number of ex-US Army M113A2s are maintained and driven regularly, as are the M113C&R Lynx. Softskin vehicles include a number of examples of different Canadian military pattern vehicles, as well as many jeeps and examples of the Dodge M37. Post-war trucks are also on display.

Static Display Section

The museum's Static Display Section consists of uniforms, medals, photographs, diaries, historical books and artifacts relevant to the history of the Regiment, the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, and the

from the 1850s to the present day. These artifacts are displayed in diorama settings depicting their era of use. Among the medals displayed include those of past members of the

Ontario Regiment The Ontario Regiment ( RCAC) is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Canadian Army. The unit is based in downtown Oshawa, Ontario, and is named after Ontario County (1852–1973). Formed in 1866, and more commonly known as t ...

, including the original

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

awarded to its longest-serving Honorary Colonel, RS (Sam) McLaughlin.

References

External links

The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) Museum
Oshawa, Ontario
CFB Borden Military Museum and Major-General FF Worthington Memorial Park

The Ontario Regiment (RCAC)
- Official website
Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Association (Cavalry)
{{coord, 43.92018, N, 78.89467, W, type:landmark_source:enwiki, display=title Military and war museums in Canada Buildings and structures in Oshawa Transport museums in Ontario Museums in the Regional Municipality of Durham Tank museums