Bren LMG mount

[David Hardway]

A couple more

Dave

[David Hardway]

Last ones for now next lot in camera

Dave

[cletrac (RIP)]

Here's a couple of pix from Tools of the Trade. The mounts on the carriers in 1941 don't have any springs for counterbalancing. The Chev Cab 12 water truck doesn't have a roof hatch and I thought all 12 cabs had them.

[rob love]

The pogo stick type mount on the carriers have a spring in the shaft to smooth out the Bren Guns ride. I always found the Carrier's AA setup to be fairly high.....no need for a counterbalance spring.

There were some of these carrier mounts made up in limited numbers years back. With all the carriers on the go these days, it would be nice if someone did another run of them.

[cliff]

Originally Posted by cletrac

The Chev Cab 12 water truck doesn't have a roof hatch and I thought all 12 cabs had them.

Cab 12's only had the hatch if it was required and not all had them.

[cletrac (RIP)]

My motley seat came in the mail today. I thought it'd arrive by courier but it came with regular mail deliveries. I put it in the back of the 2B1 and tried it out for size. I can barely squeeze my butt into the seat but then they were designed for 20 year olds. It looks like the same seat could be used on the over the shoulder mount or the straddle mount. There's the verticle pipe at the back as well as one that faces forward.

[cletrac (RIP)]

Here's a pic off ebay with a different kind of mount on a Jeep.

VERY SCARCE ORIGINAL SIGNAL CORPS PHOTO SHOWING FREE FRENCH SAS RECON AIRBORNE TROOPS IN THEIR SPECIALLY DESIGNED MB WILLYS or GPW FORD JEEP WITH BREN GUN AND TWIN VICKERS " K " or " VGO" LIGHT MACHINE GUN MOUNT PICTURED AT FLORENVILLE, BELGIUM ( south of Bastogne ) during the Battle of the Bulge by an american signal corps photographer.
THE SIDE OF THE JEEP BEARS THE CROSS OF LORRAINE INSIGNIA AND THE BUMPER IS MARKED " ORADOUR SUR GLANE " : the french town where almost 600 french civilians were murdered by the 2nd SS Division DAS REICH.

Also, but this is difficult to see on my scan, the driver wears a Denison Smock with pegasus badges applied and a captured german map case.
The door of the barn behind the jeep bears two TEXACO oil company enamel advertizing signs
A must have for the collector of french , british and belgian SAS paratrooper related items like denison smock, beret , " Who dares wins " stuff etc

[cletrac (RIP)]

I've been trying to figure out how they anchored the seat when not in use. That long hinged handle under the gun support arm hooked onto something, but what? In this motorcycle pic it's being used (circled in yellow) but what would it hook to on a truck? The seat has a pin that would have been spring loaded to stop it from rotating too. This is a pretty good LIFE pic too.
It looks like the motorcycles used the same setup as the trucks except for shorter legs on the seat. These are both Mark IV mounts.

[cletrac (RIP)]

I downloaded some of those Small Arms Training pamphlets and came across this one.
http://www.weapons.org.uk/
This twin Vickers setup needed a second truck to carry supplies and the rest of the crew. It seems pretty labour intensive when compared with the twin Bren setup.

[cletrac (RIP)]

There's even a listing of the stores they carried.
I'm not sure what kind of truck it is but it looks like a 2A1 style box although likely a British version.

[cletrac (RIP)]

I've been making a 2A1 box for my Cab 11 to make it an AAAT1 and today I just had to try the motley out for fit. It's going to look pretty good when finished.
I figured something else out too. That pix I posted with the bar for stowing the mount when moving puts it pointing towards the passenger side of the endgate. This accomplishes two things. It keeps the gun from sticking out behind the endgate when stowed and it keeps it out of the way when you climb in over the endgate.

[Big D]

Hey David. Is this where you got your Lewis:

http://www.foxflier.com/lewis/

I recall you mentioning it to me. It does look quite good in the photos. How does it look 'in the flesh'?

Cheers

Darryl

[Robert Bergeron]

Incredible finds gents. Incredible.

I learn more on the subject of Bren mounts reading this forum than visiting the War Museum in Ottawa.

Whe we compare the American way of mounting their 1919A4 and BAR with the Commonwealth way of mounting their Bren's , Lewis and Breda's, don't you think the Commonwealth way was a little overly complicated ?

Take the Bren tripod ( quadripod in fact ) , have you ever seen a more doubtfull piece of ... equipment ? I own and use one by the way.I had to examine it up close and personal ,i could'nt believe what i saw in the pictures.And the subject AA mount ?

David and friends , congratulations on finding parts and wanting to reconstruct one . But sheee's , what did they ever think ? A simple pintle would of been too simple, too american ?

My two cents. Keep up the good work.


Robert

[chrisgrove]

Hi Robert

Could you set up a Browning on a fixed line (or to be more accurate, on several fixed lines) on the simple American mount? Not a problem on the Bren 'tripod'. It could also be used as a ground mounted AA mounting for the Bren. Though I grant you that I would not like to be the guy who had to carry it to where it was needed.

On the other hand, Alex (about three posts up) says this thread is about Motley mounts. If you look at the top, it is about Bren LMG mounts and I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Lakeman mount, seen on many British tanks in the earlier part of the war.

Chris

[cletrac (RIP)]

Here's a non Motley mount off the AWM site. Both pics are the same truck.

[Wolfy]

As this is a fairly in depth thread I'll also add that there is a Motley Mount at the Royal Armouries in Leeds (along with examples of almost every small arm this planet has produced) which I saw several years ago. I will see if I have any pictures but I was there to study something else at the time.

Carleton

[cletrac (RIP)]

I actually came across a pic of a Lewis gun on a Motley mount!