40 mm Bofors AA guns made in GB and US

[Tony Smith]

Ford F60L.

[Rob Fast]

Bofors mallet in box, need one, any out there? Cheers Rob Fast


Source: http://www.milweb.net/webverts/15858/

[Edited by moderator to include link to picture and picture source]

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

FM B.L. Montgomery I presume --- but could also other persons on this picture be identified?

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Fallujah, Iraq, 26th August 2004. "Bofors gun captured by US forces".

The gun is however not a genuin Bofors but a Soviet 37 mm M/1939 (see earlier post on page 5). Such guns were also made in China and Poland.

[nuyt]

Stellan, do you have this one already (from the Ceges site):
Kind regards, Nuyt

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Hello & Thanks!

That one I did not have. Judging from the wheels it seems to be a Belgian made (Fabrique Nationale) gun of which approx 150 were made.

Looking closer the gun seems to have Polish PZO sights and Bofors m/35 FC predictor. The Belgian guns were M/1935.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Photo of FN-made Belgian carriage. Note dirrerent wheels compared with Polish and Swedish.

[Bill Murray]

More misc stuff that some times comes up here. Sorry, Norwegian Bofors.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thank you for that one, Bill.

I think this is one of the ten privately owned Norwegian Bofors guns. Ten were bought by AS Norsk Hydro from Bofors in 1939.

The Norwegian Army bought eight wich were made by FN in Belgium and delivered in 1939. That year another 25 were ordered from Mavag in Hungary but not delivered before the German invasion of Norway.

[Bill Murray]

Stellan: I will try to send some anti-aircraft pics from a book I got long ago about Sperry Corp. equipment. I think the book was published in the late 1920 era.
Bill

[Bill Murray]

Sperry2

[Bill Murray]

Sperry3
I would imagine that the Netherlands as well as other countries were aware of and perhaps interested in Sperry's equipment and may well have purchased some units.
The book from which these pictures were copied was a first class sales presentation, hard bound and running 45 pages so it was a major sales effort for the time. Sadly, the book has no publication date but it is fairly early as the aeroplanes it depicts as "targets" are all biplanes so it may be from just after WWI.
Bill

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Stellan, in case you are looking for US references, TM9-252 is available on CD-ROM - see a review here.

And have you read WWII Tech Pubs Briefing 40-mm L/60 Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun

H.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thanks Bill for the Sperry pictures. Such listening equipment were still used in early WW 2.

Hanno, the Tech Pub I had seen before. There are a few minor errors. The US Ref i had not seen. Thanks!

Enclosed: Australian Dummy Bofors.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Stellan Bojerud
Enclosed: Australian Dummy Bofors.

Or: Dummy Australian Bofors?

[Bill Murray]

Or, Bofors by Dummy Australians.
This could go on for ever bloody ever.
And...Australians have always been my best mates so the post is in jest.
Bill

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Bofors gun operated by Katanga gendarmes. Elisabethville December 1961. British MK III or Canadian MK C 1 gun.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Gun in UK home defence. 1943 type sights.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Canadian AA units in GB summer 1941

HQ Drury Lodge
CO: LtCol G.A. McCarter, RCA

Trps: Colchester (Sobraon Bks and Goojerat Bks)

1st LAA Regt CO: LtCol W.E. Huckvale
35th Bty Sherbroke
89th Bty Woodstock
109th Bty Trail

Regt and Btys formed in GB

2nd LAA Regt CO: LtColE.W. Neville
2nd (ex-1st) Yorktown
4th Kingston (Permanent Force)
5th Montreal
54th Brantford

The first Regt that got to GB. 2nd Bty depoloyed under GB Command at Hartlip, Thames Estuary and 4th at Kerington Manor, S:t Mary´s, Kent. 54th Bty formed in GB.

3rd LAA Regt CO: LtCol B.R. Ker
15th Bty Winnipeg
16th Bty Vancouver
17th Bty Calgary
53rd Bty Toronto, formed in GB

From Canada in Feb 1941.

4th LAA Regt should arrive later.

Bty HQ and 3 Troops each of 4 guns. 8 Offrs and 273 ORs.

Guns
2nd Bty 12
4th Bty 12
Other Btys Nil. They were trained by using totally 8 guns MK III ob MK II platforms. In May 1941 increased to 12 guns.

Who has more on Canadian AA during WW 2?

Picture: MK III on MK II carriage.

[Godwin Hampton]

Stellan,as far as I know,

The Kerrison Predictor could work only with the Mountings Mk 1 and Mk111. The Mk1 was fitted with elevation and bearing receiver gears, which indicated to the layers where to point the gun by making a dial and a pointer coincide. This was the only way of "aiming" the gun, as no sights were fitted.
The Mk111 was the only mark fitted with the "Oil Units". The 2 layers ( for traverse and elevation) would unclutch their hand levers and dismount, leaving only the loader on the mounting. The Predictor would then control the gun via a cable plugged into a socket on the platform. This was connected to the oil units through a 15 way slip ring at the turntable. Data was fed into the predictor regarding the chosen target, giving bearing, speed, height, and angle of flight (horizontal or diving/climbing.)

The Predictor would work out a Future Position where hopefully the shell would meet the target, and worked the oil units so that the gun turned and elevated on its own to face the Future Position.

The gun was then fired by the loader using his foot pedal. Power to make the motors in the oil units turn was provided by a 2.75 Kw petrol engine driven generator, so this was also necessary in SP mountings. I suppose it would be carried in the Predictor vehicle.

All this became obsolete ( and simpler and cheaper) with the introduction of the Stiffkey Sight. On this the corrections were applied mechanically directly on to the layer's sights. The Sight Correction Number would control a handlebar with 2 motorcycle-type levers at its' ends. He would tilt the bar to match the angle of flight of the target, and would 'click' one of the levers a number of times,depending on his estimate of the target speed. After the engagement, the correction would be returned to Zero.
Thus many of the Mk111 mountings retrofitted with or produced with the Mk5 Correctional Sight are without the oil units.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

I agree. Here is a photo of the Kerrison predictor.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Kerrision predictors were also made in USA by Singer Corp. Sight computing M 5. Here an Australian one.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

A Finnish Bofors.

[Godwin Hampton]

Stellan,

I was just looking back through this thread at the picture of a radar controlled Mk 111 mounting on Mk 1 platform. The loader is the only one on board. The writing painted on to the gun shield is the list of lubricants and their colour code. Each grease nipple or filling plug would have a coloured ring painted around it to denote the lubricant to be applied.

The Mk3 platform was the Mk2 without the rope-operated hydraulic brakes but instead had front wheel mechanical overrun brakes, cable operated. This simplified removing the axles as the connection to the platform was now removed.It also simplified maintenance and repair. The brakes were automatic now, so none of the crew needed to sit at the back of the tractor to apply the brakes when necessary.

[Godwin Hampton]

Originally posted by Stellan Bojerud
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.

I would prefer "wheels with eight spokes......."

[Godwin Hampton]

Originally posted by Stellan Bojerud
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.

Stellan, look at the photo:

The bombardier ( corporal to you infantry guys ) has pulled the quick traverse lever back and has been or will be traversing the gun by pulling it round onto another target. The lever, when raised, disengages the drive to allow the mounting to be swung round.

When using the predictor, this method could be used to align the gun with the predictor. An indicator would show which way to turn and when they were aligned and the lever was then folded down again to re-engage the drive

[sapper740]

While still a reservist in 2000 I had an opportunity to go on board one of the new small Coastal Patrol vessels at the Naval base in Esquimalt, B.C. It's main deck gun was a 40 mm Bofors so I guess these old guns are still soldiering on in Canadian service. Anybody who has recently served in the Canadian Armed Forces can tell you stories about old equipment! When getting flown about in Hercs it was always a perverse interest of mine to find out which was older....the pilot or the plane! No need to answer which was the oldest! An friend of mine in Fort Worth works for Lockheed and he tells me that the Lockheed engineers are very interested in the Canadian Hercs as they are the highest time C-130s in service with a military anywhere! Perhaps its got something to do with corrosion around the piss tubes!

Cheemo!

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Originally posted by Bill Murray
More misc stuff that some times comes up here. Sorry, Norwegian Bofors.

Bill!

That photo shows one of the 10 privatly owned Norwegian Bofors guns. They were bought by A/S Norsk Hydro in Rjukan (yes the heavy water plant - "Heroes of Telemark") from Bofors in 1939.

Photo: The Norwegian Army had an AA Bn in Germany during some years post WW 2. This Bn had 12 x MK 1 and 7 x MK 3 (Of which one in reserve).

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thanks Godwin,

Here you have a WW 2 version of "Malta by night".

[Murray]

I couldn't resist adding this picture to the thread.
2nd LAA (Yorkton) Bty, 2nd LAA Regiment -Holland 1945