Now I'm excited

[Luke R]

Anyone got some pictures of what a AALMG Blitz should look like anyway?

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Luke R

Anyone got some pictures of what a AALMG Blitz should look like anyway?

Mike Cecil would know for certain but I think AALMG just refers to the gallows mount fitted to so many CMPs and other Australian vehicles AALMG = Anti-aircraft light machine gun. Those mounts were counterbalanced to support a bren gun, so nothing special.

It was positioned so a gunner could stand in the hatch and use the bren/gallows combination for protection from aircraft.

There was a SP Bofors version but that's another story.

[Keith Webb]

A couple of quick and low-res images, the F15A with Sunshine Roof has a rather bent AALMG mount - they were very susceptible to being hit by branches or low roofs by drivers who forgot they were there... and the other is the Bofors SP version on a F60L.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Keith and David,

I don't want to go too far off topic but as this thread has been identifying vehicles I thought I might add a few observations.

Zooming in on your photo of the F15-A with the bent gallows gives an ARN of 132159 which shows as a Battery Staff vehicle in the AWM records.

Was nice to see the 2 gallon foam extinguisher on the drivers side bracket as Mike Cecil pointed out to me a few weeks back. Also the 5 ton bridge disk and wheel valance storage lockers. Thanks again Mike. Still don't know what the bracket above the extinguisher is for. Radio mast maybe?

The question I have is from the ARN book extract posted here.

ARN 132156 list it as type "H" and ARN 132158 list it as type "GA" Both are Battery staff if the ditto marks from a previous entry are correct. So what are "H" and "GA" type vehicles?

My parts truck seems to be originally a Battery Staff vehicle based on the transmission s/n which gives it an ARN of 55166. The foam extinguisher holder and sunshine roof adds to the likelihood. Pity the sunshine roof is so rotted away however that the only thing salvageable are some of the fittings.

Cheers,

[Mike Cecil]

Dave,

From the other thread you showed the image in:

"Dave Buckle: the number 61176 over three coloured bars on the bonnet is not an ARN, but the Unit Serial Number. The ID of the unit and the explanation of the three colour-coded bars system is explained in my book 'Australian Army Units and Unit Serials of the Second World War,' available from Virtual bookworm (unless some other Forum member has a copy handy?) Not a marking that usually survives."

Battery Staff vehicles came in various loadings, designated by a letter or letter combination, eg H or GA. The Battery Staff vehicles, as mentioned in the other thread, were the ones for which the Sunshine Cab was originally designed. BS vehicles were withdrawn from service when the jungle division structure cam into being. Returned to OVPs, the fittings were removed and they were re-issued as standard GS vehicles.

The bracket above the 2 gallon Fire ext bracket is a standard Australian wireless aerial mount.

The AALMG was not the type descriptor for a truck fitted with a gallows-type LMG mount. The gallows mount was an early standard fitting on Aust CMPs, as was the fitting of brackets to allow the Bren LMG to stand in place of the rifle on the left side of the cab. The gallows mount was discarded by troops, and by 1943(? I'd have to check the date) was dropped from production. As far as I can gather, the CMP 15cwt AALMG was fitted with a flat bed with a Polsten 20-mm LAA mounting, or a smaller sized MG like a twin Bren mounting, but the type was soon converted to standard GS. I have found little paperwork on either the 15cwt AALMG or the 3 ton AALMG trucks. I have a 'requirements of units' listing which shows a total of 1,124 15 cwt and 498 3 ton AALMG trucks were required by the Australian Army in early 1943, divided up by the units & formation types requiring them. By that stage, all but 53 had been delivered from contractors 'less fitments', whatever that actually covers.


Mike

[Mike K]

Off topic but the gallows mount . I've seen original pics of them fitted on 1941 12cwt Plymouth GS vans , AKA utes .

Would take a brave soul to take aim at an attacking aircraft with a Bren gun

[Mike Cecil]

Mike,

I should have made my previous post clearer: the 'Mountings, Cab, AALMG (Aust)' commonly known as the gallows mount, was an item fitted to many Aust Army vehicles fitted with a roof hatch, not just CMPs. The gallows mount is covered in one of the MGO Equipment Memorandums No.7, pages 27-28). It was included in early production, but stopped later on because it proved to be so useless. Firstly, it snagged just about every tree and bush the truck drove near, and second, as Mike observed, who in their right mind would stand up inside a nice big ground target and take on a Zero or a Val with a Bren gun anyway? Much better to stop, bail out and take the Bren with you.

Mike