Class 24 Mark V Pontoon Bridge

Class 24 Mark V Pontoon Bridge with a Mark VII Trestle and Long Landing Bay . Designed in the late 1930s it could handle the heaviest vehicles (Class 24) in use at the time. With the introduction of the Sherman (Bridge Class 33) and Churchill (Bridge Class 40) tanks, in 1943, the Class 24 Mark V bridge became obsolete overnight. It was replaced by the larger floating Bailey bridge. The bridge sets were broken up and the components used for other purposes. The pontoons were used for the floating Bailey bridges. The long landing bays were used by bridge laying tanks. The Mark VII trestle was used with the Folding Boat Equipment bridge. Although the Mark V was never built operationally by Commonwealth forces it was extensively used for engineer training with 6 Field Company building it on a number of occasions in 1942 and 1943.

Motor Boat Mark 1. Flat bottomed boat with a single propeller in a tunnel, so it doesn't project below the bottom of the boat. Powered by either a 6- cylinder or 8-cylinder gasoline engine. Two rudders. Two-person crew. Used for towing and pushing pontoons during the construction of floating bridges. Also used as a tug for ferries. Top speed, without a pontoon, was 13 mph.

3 Ton Truck. 4x4 medium truck of which the 6" had eight. Built in Canada to British specifications. It has right hand drive.

Vehicle Markings. The 49 in the blue square indicates it is a 6" Field vehicle and the maple leaf in the gray square indicates it is part of 3"° Canadian Infantry Division (3"° CID). The door number is its War Department number.

Bridge Load Class. These are yellow signs at the front of the vehicle that indicate the approximate loaded weight of the vehicle in tons. Military bridges are each given a load class and in this case the load class of the Mark V floating bridge is 24. As the vehicle load class for the 3-ton truck crossing the bridge is only Class 7 it can safely cross the bridge. However, a Class 33 Sherman tank would overload and could damage a Class 24 Mark V floating bridge.