3.7 anti aircraft gun

[REL]

Originally Posted by John McGillivray

....Also when in the horizontal firing position the 3.7in AA Gun had a lower profile than the German 8.8cm flak guns. However, because the British had such fine A/T guns like the 6 and 17 pdrs there was really no need to use their heavy AA guns on the A/T role. Because of their long range (18,800m) the 3.7in AA guns were often used in the field artillery role especially in the counter battery role.

Actually there was a crying need, perhaps we should say a dying need, in 1941-43 in North Africa when the 2 Pdr. or the 25 Pdr. were the only poor alternatives. The attached scans show the mentalities that prevented the 3.7 inch guns being used, despite successful trials (including some not referred to in the scans)

A gunsight of some kind could have been found and if the will had been there. The Ross 7x50 or 10x70 binocular gunsights would have been highly suitable given an appropriate improvised mounting. Something could have been built and flown out within 60 days, again had anyone bothered. Yes, they were very busy building useless 2 Pdrs. in 1941, but if priority had been assigned, probably the resources of British industry would have been equal to the task. Of course that assumes that the intelligence to employ such guns effectively was there, which perhaps one cannot assume in some cases, viz. the scans below.

A highly effective, much lighter and very low profile 75mm combined field and AA gun very similar to the Flak 36 had been built by Vickers during the 1930s and supplied to several foreign nations, including Turkey. The Royal Artillery no doubt refused it because 'combined' guns were not 'proper' guns, old chap!. And so hundreds, perhaps thousands of men died needlessly.