We Know you Ride, But do you Shoot?

Plant is a little west of Dixie off Lakeshore , the ranges are still there and some older brick buildings . At one time a big observation tower was over towards the lake to spot bombers . They built a huge floating pyramid roof with black shingles they would tow out into the lake , bombers would fly out of Hamilton and do a run down the lake and bomb the pyramid with dummy shells . My mom and uncles as kids would go to Marie Curtis park on Lakeshore and watch the bombers. When the war was over my dad’s friends bought surplus dive gear and made a business with the Port Credit fishing fleet walking on the bottom of the lake collecting scrap lead from dummy bombs .


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I grew up nearby...
In the early/mid 70's we'd ride our bikes out behind where the test ranges were. The baffles were still present.
We'd occasionally find spent .303 casings.

The Lee Emfields produced at Long Branch are coveted as the best examples of that particular rifle.
They were also produced in the UK, Australia, India and the USA, however....The Canadian made rifles were of superb quality and enjoyed production conditions unaffected by war.
The US produced rifles have a reputation for brittle steel and many recommend not firing them...
 
I very briefly lived near there , I was in LongBranch for a couple years . Was visiting friends down there when the biker war blew up the log Cabin burger place.

Since we are on WW two , my mom used to get ice cream as a treat from the German POWs at the camp in Mimico, they were often out on work detail and since they had a small working wage per day and nothing to spend it on they bought ice cream for kids . I asked her if she thought that was kinda weird . She says they probably had little sisters or kids of thier own they missed . They were just on the wrong team . The really lucky ones ended up POWs in Ontario .


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My dad came to Canada from Germany in 1956.
Growing up I came to know that several of his German friends/guys he knew weren't all immigrants like him... Some were former POWs that decided to stay or... they were former POWs that when freed went back to Germany, looked around. 'said "Scheiß drauf" and sailed back to Canada.
 
I think the deal at the end of the war was you had to go back , there was a brief waiting period then you could apply to return . A really large number opted to come back to Canada .


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Gaoler said:
Canadian Arsenals Ltd.

'Plant was located at Dixie Rd. and Lakeshore.
They manufactured the Lee Enfield there as well as the Sten gun and I believe the Bren gun as well.
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Are you referring to Long Branch? I know that’s where the made the Lee Enfield Mark IV which is highly regarded among collectors. The building was still there up until a few years ago that I know of. I know the Inglis plant made Bren guns at their plant closer to the city near the CNE grounds somewhere.
 
Bobo said:
Are you referring to Long Branch? I know that’s where the made the Lee Enfield Mark IV which is highly regarded among collectors. The building was still there up until a few years ago that I know of. I know the Inglis plant made Bren guns at their plant closer to the city near the CNE grounds somewhere.
Click to expand...

Yes, thats pretty much it.
 
Gaoler said:
Yes, thats pretty much it.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I skipped over those previous posts.Coincidentally, my father is from Steyr, Austria. That’s where they made a large number of the K98 rifles as well as MP40 sub machine guns among other things during the war.As the Americans got close a lot of guns got dumped into the canal/river that ran through town. Not sure if by soldiers or the factory. My dad and his friends would pull them out and trade them for cigarettes to the American soldiers.They still make high end firearms there to this day.
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