File talk:Leopard1 cfb borden 2.JPG

The Leopard seen in the picture appears to be a Leopard 1A4, a successor to the 1A3 model. The 1A4 is distinguished by a rotating commander's periscopic sight. This was partially protected by the metal cage-like structure seen positioned just forward of the commander's hatch in the photo.

By comparison, the Leopard 1A3 had a much smaller commander's periscope, which did not rotate 360 degrees or have a protective cage. The Leopard 1A3 also had a cage-type mounting on the mantlet which housed the PZB infrared sight unit.

The Canadian Army operated Leopard 1A3's, although this does not preclude the possibility of a number of A4 models having been acquired for testing purposes.

Several years ago the Canadian Army retired its 1A3 turrets and replaced them with 1A5 turrets uparmoured with Mexas armour, to create the Leopard C2 main battle tank. The new turrets were mounted on the existing 1A3 hulls.

The tank upgrade project was recently discontinued, with the decision to sell the entire Canadian Leopard fleet for scrap. This suggests that the Worthington Tank Museum may have acquired a surplus 1A4 as its display piece because of an inability to get an original (i.e. pre-upgrade) Canadian-spec 1A3.

Steve Struthers