Ford F60L with Triple (and Quad) Polsten AA guns

[Noel Burgess]

Some posts back Sapper asked about 0.50s on US Warships see http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_50cal-M2_MG.htm for some WW2 and modern info. which on the "additional pictures" page, includes pictures of the Army quad mount installed on USS Lexington in 1945.
Noel

[Neil Ashley]

I assume the quad Polsten in Alex van de Wetering post is a prototype?

From memory two Skinks and two towed examples were sent two NW Europe for trials.

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Noel Burgess

Some posts back Sapper asked about 0.50s on US Warships
seehttp://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_50cal-M2_MG.htmfor some WW2 and modern info. which on the "additional pictures" page, includes pictures of the Army quad mount installed on USS Lexington in 1945.
Noel

Thanks Noel! for the link to this excellent web site. Did you notice what was stencilled on the ammo can holder for the twin .50? FDNY: Fire Department of New York. A little payback for Sept. 11th, I imagine. It was interesting to see the quad .50 mounted on the USS Lexington, I didn't realize they had been mounted on Navy vessels. I was onboard the "Lady Lex", which has been preserved in Corpus Christi, a few years back but the quad mount was no more.

[Alex van de Wetering]

I assume the quad Polsten in Alex van de Wetering post is a prototype?

From memory two Skinks and two towed examples were sent two NW Europe for trials.

Here is the same (?) crew during a demo in The Hague 21 may 1945.

source: http://www.gemeentearchief.denhaag.nl

Alex

Polsten-Oerlikon.jpg

[Neil Ashley]

Alex

Thanks for the additional picture.

No one else seems to have picked up on this but presumably this is a totaly new version of this vehicle?. Presumably a workshop mod to subsitute the normal three gun mount to this later model.

It would be interesting to know if indeed this one one of the guns trailed in Europe late in the war.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

From https://www.silverhawkauthor.com/pos...ft-machine-gun:

20-mm, QF, Polsten Anti-aircraft Machine Gun
60f378bdb4cab17a4ee6d85b_Polsten-quad-AA-gun--mounted-on-a-CMP-truck--MIKAN-No--3607616.jpg

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607616)

Polsten 20-mm Quadruple Anti-Aircraft Gun Mk. I, mounted on a CMP truck. The Polsten was a Polish development of the 20-mm Oerlikon gun, designed to be simpler and much cheaper to build than the Oerlikon, without reducing effectiveness.

It was used on a wheeled mounting that could be towed behind a jeep. Various double, triple and quadruple mounts were developed. John Inglis Limited of Toronto, Ontario, produced many thousands of guns and some 500 quadruple mountings that saw limited service at the end of the war. These multiple mounts were both trailered and truck-mounted.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

From the Vehicle Data Book:

Lorry, 3-ton, 20-mm Quad, Self-Propelled
339246564_966714568042797_7907749869475929579_n.jpg