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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

RHA 13 pndr


Fat Frank

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Overenthusiastic b-s merchant!

Daggers

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And the red thingies on this 5.5

Carl

The 'red thingies' are nuts which are only to be removed by qualified tradesmen. Tampering with these can cause malfunction to the equipment or injury to the unwary. They are most decidedly not 'bull'!

Kind Regards

Woolly

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And bear in mind that the King's Troop guns are bulled to b--gery and back again. They don't recoil as the cradles are welded to the gun and they only fire a very, very reduced blank charge. The rifling is worn beyond belief.

IMHO they should never be taken as a representation of the actual gun in WW1 service.

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GWF members might be interested to know that the Kings Troop 13 pounders were used as AA guns during WW1, were fitted to field carriages at the end of the war and returned to use with the RHA, and issued to the Kings Troop after WW2. Now norra lorra people know that! Well, apart from you lot, anyone that's read Ian Hogg's Allied Artillery of World War One, and anyone else that's heard it....

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. . . removed by qualified tradesmen . . .

Woolly

There is always a reason.

And now for that white stripe on the 13-pounder . . .

Carl

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Could the white line on the shield be a safety marker for the lead driver to aim for on the cross over during the Musical Ride.

John

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I don't think so. It also appears on the 18pndr at Woolwich and the some say they have seen it on the AS90. They do not do many musical rides with these guns

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This is the 18 Pounder on display at the Firepower Museum Woolwich, no white line!

John

post-1365-1217534819.jpg

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Adding fuel to the fire; what's the horizontal black & white line on the shield for?

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The 13 & 18 Pdr both had hinged top part of the shields which were locked into position after line had been passed to the guns, and they were in action. The Dial Sight upper prisim would have been visible by the Director on both the 13 & 18 Pdr before the upper shield was locked into position. Photo of 18 Pdr upper pat of shield.

John

post-1365-1217536881.jpg

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They are the aiming posts which are stowed on the shield there are qty 2. These are in use when the gun is in action. They are planted at a distance approximately 50 yards for the near one and 100 yards for the rear one in line as directed by the No 3. One Aiming Post has a circular Disc and the other a square plate both are positioned verticle on the aiming post. These Aiming Post enable the No 3 to lay the gun correctly for line using the Dial Sight.

John

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Ah I see now - had thought that these were stowed on the limber.

Luminous versions (from one side only) later in the war IIRC

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This is the 18 Pounder on display at the Firepower Museum Woolwich, no white line!

John

And the 13 pndr and the AS90? Nevy 13pndr has it as well.

Also johnreed, the 13pndr we have does not have a hindged section on the front plate and neither do the RHA guns. That was one of the reasons Ken gave as to the white line being there as a reprentative postition of the dial sight.

I attach pictures for your reference.

THA gun

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Could the white line on the shield be a safety marker for the lead driver to aim for on the cross over during the Musical Ride.

John

Could lead to accidents not prevent them, marking the shield edge would be better. Musical drives go back a while, very popular in the inter-war period, any pictures?

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They are the aiming posts which are stowed on the shield there are qty 2. These are in use when the gun is in action. They are planted at a distance approximately 50 yards for the near one and 100 yards for the rear one in line as directed by the No 3. One Aiming Post has a circular Disc and the other a square plate both are positioned verticle on the aiming post. These Aiming Post enable the No 3 to lay the gun correctly for line using the Dial Sight.

Actually this isn't quite correct. Each gun had a pair of aiming posts with the same shaped top (originally they'd used colours). The guns in a section had different shaped tops to avoid confusion and errors. Futhermore British aiming posts for indirect fire had a cross bar (this was turned to the post axis for transport) with numbers painted on it and these were used for laying (I'm fairly sure this was the case in WW1, but don't have a gun handbook to hand). However, its possible that the aiming posts used in the late 19th C (ie before lining plane sights were introduced) didn't have a cross bar, they were also used differently.

I'd also suggest the No 7 dial sight shown on the Woolwich 18 pr gun is the wrong mark if it's supposed to be representing WW1. I'm not absolutely sure that the telescope is the right one either. This site explains matters in some detail http://members.tripod.com/nigelef/fc_laying.htm

If the dial sight could not see over the top of the gunshield then a white line was totally pointless, as has been pointed out the dial sight and director have to be able to see each other. As I said in an earlier post the director was only 130 or so yards from the furthest gun and had x4 magnification, I can only offer conjecture as to what RHA were doing to turn themselves blind that they couldn't see each other.

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Brilliant thread this - lots of differing views, loads of good information and explanation, no one has thrown their teddy in the corner and despite all that we still don't have the definitive answer to the original question posted nearly 4 weeks ago but are still trying. Excellent and just what this forum is all about.

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Next time I am around St John's Wood and a section comes clattering along, I think I will step in front and ask the nice Officer the question.

Better still, why don't we all stand in the road?

Just a thort.

Teddy in the air.

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. . . we all stand in the road?

Grumpy

I really do not need any more stripes on my anorak (AND hoof prints) and the rupert then being unable to answer the question about the ******* white stripe.

Carl

PS

It really is nice to have a full and frank discussion without FM Whiskey (and Health & Safety)

Carl

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Have only had occasion to contact the King's Troop twice.

On the first, my written enquiry was replied to within 10 days with a very detailed answer.

On the second, a telephone enquiry, I was put through to the the Adjutant, a Major, who resolved the query for me.

Mind you, both enquiries were made over 20 years ago.

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