[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

1. Thank You very much Bill for Your kind offer regarding Terry Ganders book.

2. Thank You Tony. Yes, I thought the gun should have the MK II carriage.

40 mm BOFORS MK I - CARRIAGE MK I

The British MK I guns seems all to have been imported. They were made by:

Belgium (Fabrique Nationale,FN)
Hungary (Mágyar Allami Vaggon és Gépgvár, MAVAG)
Poland (State factories Starachowice and Poznan)
Sweden (Bofors)

Hungary and Poland aquiured license rights in 1935, Belgium in 1936.

The first British order for 100 guns was placed in Bofors May 1937. This was followed in 1938 by three orders for totally 230 guns and in 1939 another 179 guns.

This makes totally 509 guns of which 24 were placed under embargo by the Swedish Government in Dec 1936 - Jan 1940.

But all these guns could not have been made by Bofors as we can see from this:

1935 Ordered 76 - Delivered 0
1936 Ordered 92 - Delivered 12
1937 Ordered 195 - Delivered 48
1938 Ordered 468 - Delivered 62
1939 Ordered 385 - Delivered 118
1940 - Delivered 84

So obviously guns ordered in Bofors were also made in Belgium, Hungary and Poland.

I know that 406 guns were made in Poland of which 168 were exported to Great Britain, Netherlands and Rumania, but I do not know how many guns to each nation.

The model bought by Great Britain was M/1936 P (E). P for Poland and E for England. Also guns made by Bofors in Sweden were designed so. In Great Britain these were known as Mk I.

The Mk I guns had the "Bofors Course and Speed Corrector" with optical sights. The corrector was capable to calculate a target speed up to 563 km/h. In GB these were called "Polish sights".

In 1937 Great Britain aquired license rights and started production at Nuffield Mechanisation in Coventry.

The first gun delivered in summer 1939. These had simpler cross-wire sights, the "Forward Area Sighting System".

In 1943 the "Cartwheel Foresight" was introduced. This had three aiming rings for respectively 100 - 200 - 300 mph (161 - 322 - 483 km/h).

In 1944 the MK IV "Stiffkey-Stick" was introduced.

I am not sure which sights were the MK I - MK III.

The later British mass-production was MK III on the long wheelbase MK II welded carriage.

The MK II gun I know nothing about.

So to conclude:

Guns
MK I - Belgian, Hungarian, Polish and Swedish made
MK II - ?
MK III - GB mass-production (Can MK 1, US M 1)

The air-transport type (MK ?) had double-baffle muzzle brake instead of conical flame hider.

Carriages
MK I - Swedish type
MK I A - Polish type
MK II - GB welded long wheelbase (Can MK II)
MK III - ?
MK IV - Air-transport carriage
MK V - Morris truck (1944)

US M 2 was a welded version of the Swedish type with short wheelbase.

Sights
MK I - 1937 Polish?
MK II - 1939 Cross-wire?
MK III - 1943 Three aiming rings?
MK IV - 1944 Stiffkey-Stick (for sure)

So here is the MK I gun: