40 mm Bofors AA guns made in GB and US

[John McGillivray]

Here are a series of photos of American SP 40mm AA prototypes. All of these photos come from “British and American Tanks of World War II” by Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis.

The first is a photo of the 40mm Gun Motor Carriage T59E1.

[John McGillivray]

M3 half-track motor carriage with twin 40mm AA guns superimposed with overhead equilibrators.

[John McGillivray]

40mm AA gun and its direction equipment based on the M3 medium tank chassis.

[John McGillivray]

A single 40mm AA gun flanked by two .50 cal machine guns in a ball-type traversing mount on the M4 medium tank chassis.

[John McGillivray]

The final photo. A Cadillac design based on a lengthened M5A1 light tank chassis.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thank you John for these interesting pictures!

I have found some new information regarding the British Bofors production.

In 1939 the production was made by "one of the Royal Ordnance Factories" (which?) and the Nuffield Group. In 1940 six companies were organised as the "40 mm Mounting Group" which was chaired by Artur Stephens.

In June 1940 A. Reyrolle & Co Ltd got a contract for producing Bofors-gunmounts. This was however soon changed to the full assembly of the guns.

Guns and carriages were not made by Reyrolle but supplied from other factories. The production line took considerable time to set up and reached capacity by late 1941.

The production made by Reyrolle ceased in December 1943. By then Reyrolle had produced 1.580 Bofors guns.

Reyrolle also made "Kerrison Predictors" - unknown number.

Stellan

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Chrysler production of Bofors guns was made by 10 factories. Main assembly (?) by 1) Highland Park, 2) Plymouth and 3) Jefferson-Kercheval.

The most difficult part - breeches - were made by Jefferson-Kercheval reportedly also for Maribyrong in Australia.

Stellan

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Argentina got 6 Bofors guns before WW 2 prevented further deliveries from Sweden.

Here are some on parade. What type of trucks?

Stellan

[Bill Murray]

Stellan:

I believe you will find those are CMPs of which Argentine received a number after WWII. I think I have a better copy of that photo and will post it if I can find it.
Bill

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Bill Murray
I believe you will find those are CMPs of which Argentine received a number after WWII. I think I have a better copy of that photo and will post it if I can find it.

Let me help you, Bill

Source: TANKS! > Argentina

Definitely CMPs - see http://www.oldcmp.net/aacvm.html for some survivors, one of which is very rare.

H.

[Bill Murray]

Hanno:
Thanks as always.
Amazing how those Monkey Faces ended in the strangest parts of the world isn't it.
Bill

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally posted by Stellan Bojerud
Argentina got 6 Bofors guns before WW 2 prevented further deliveries from Sweden.

Here are some on parade. What type of trucks?

Stellan

Looks like a 13 cab F 60 L to me...

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Alex, I blew up the pic and it appears that it has the Chevrolet-style front and back radiator guard uprights rather than the Ford-style rear-mounted. What do you think?

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally posted by David_Hayward
Alex, I blew up the pic and it appears that it has the Chevrolet-style front and back radiator guard uprights rather than the Ford-style rear-mounted. What do you think?

Hi Dave
Hard to tell without further magnification,but the front axel looks like the vertical split Ford axel,but then again they were interchangable with the Chev..
Maybe it's a Volkswagon....

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Now I have learned that a Polish made carriage has wheels with eight holes and six bolts (is that the correct expression?). A Swedish made has also wheels with eight holes but only five bolts. The Hungarian made guns I am not sure of yet.

Thus this could be a Polish made gun.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

A French "Alligator" with 40 mm Bofors gun.
Who knows more of this type of vehicle?

[John McGillivray]

It is not an Alligator. It is an American made LAV 4 or what the British called a “Buffalo”. Note that it has a forward mounted engine and a rear ramp which allows the loading and unloading of light vehicles and guns. The earlier versions of these, the LVT 1 and LVT 2 had a rear mounted engine and no ramp. The British called the LVT 1 the “Alligator”.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Stellan Bojerud
A French "Alligator" with 40 mm Bofors gun.
Who knows more of this type of vehicle?

Landing Vehicle, Tracked Mark 4 or LVT 4, fitted with a 40-mm Bofors gun by the French. The "Alligator" (LVT 4) and "Crabe" (M29C Weasel) gave the French troops the much-needed mobility in French Indochina's rice paddies.

See http://members.lycos.co.uk/Indochine/cefeo/afvs.html

[Gunner]

Hi Guys:

I couldn't get good enough definition on blow up but I'd bet that the tractor in the 1950 picture is a Ford LAAT. Definitive would be a good look at the front bumper for the winch fairlead, the hand crank support and the brush guard mounts. On the body look for the horizontal handles that open the lockers for tools and ammo.

Interesting to note that the spare is on the roof... CMP roofs aren't that solid... the weight of the air sentry hatches caused them to buckle, let alone 200 lbs of 11:00X20 tyre and rim!

Round roof hatch points to late production and, if we can get confirmation on the LAAT body, would be a relatively rare thing as not many LAATs got the hatches. I guess they figured that bird gunners would be doing air sentry with the Bofors not with a .303 girlie gun.

Cheers! Mike

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

I have found out that those 40 mm Bofors guns Mk III on carriage Mk II are waiting for D-Day at Ordnance Depot Bicester on 4th April 1944.

So please tell me where is Bicester?

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Royal Army Ordnance Corps Depot, Bicester [pronounced as in BISTER] is or was until recently [as it was closing at least in part] in Oxfordshire, and is/was near RAF Bicester, an airfield where there is a gliding club now. There was apparently a War Department railway and was a major depot and large employer.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Have I got it right? LVT 4 called "Buffalo" by the British but "Alligator" by the French?

Here a French LVT 4 in Suez 1956.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Originally posted by Bill Murray
Stellan:
Here is a Polish one for you I have not seen you post before.
From Illustrated London Daily News of about 1938 I think.
Bill

Looking on the wheels and the sights I come to the conclusion that those eight guns are from the original Swedish-made batch Poland bought in Dec 1935 together with the license rights.

But I am not entirely sure of that.

Stellan

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Who is he? Not the man in bowler hat but the officer standing to the left (on the picture right) to the Prime Minister?

Gen Sir Frederic Pile, GOC British AA Defence?

The officer left in forage cap. Which unit had such multi-colour caps?

The wheels has six bolts wich suggest that this is a Polish-made Mk I gun or possibly an early made British Mk I.

[Rob Fast]

My Bofors.

[Rob Fast]

OK.

[Rob Fast]

OK

[John McGillivray]

Which unit had such multi-colour caps?

You can clearly see the cap badge of the person standing behind the ammo feeder of the gun. It is of the Royal Artillery (RA). The 40mm Boffors were only used in the Light Anti-Aircraft Regiments (LAA Regt), which were all part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The same cap badge was also used in the Canadian Army. There it is the Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA).

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thank you John - yes I can see the cap badge.

And thank you Rob for those fine pictures of your gun. I see you have the "Polish" sight to the left and a British "spider-web" to the right.

Here a Zeiss new model sight from Finland.

Stellan

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Austrian made Bofors guns.

Those had sights type Goerz. Other types were Zeiss (shown by Rob Fast above) or Aga-Baltic (Sweden).

The target-calculators were
1) Bofors FC m/35, m36 and m/38 (Sweden)
2) Goerz (Austria and Poland)
3) Juhasz-Gamma (Hungary)

Polish made carriages (British Mk I A) had six wheelbolts instead of five.

But what type of truck is towing the gun?