Gunner Bailey Posted 4 July , 2022 Share Posted 4 July , 2022 On 29/06/2022 at 20:40, MrEd said: This might be of interest to some people. A blog post I wrote a few years back about a WW1 bombing school in the UK https://www.thetimechamber.co.uk/beta/blog/it-isnt-all-about-cold-war-bunkers-and-broken-concrete-you-know Thanks for posting the link. Very interesting work. I've got some documents from a 1918 course at the Godstone Bombing School and it also includes a map. However it shows the site was extended to the south but with very little more trench and range details than in 1917. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEd Posted 4 July , 2022 Share Posted 4 July , 2022 18 minutes ago, Gunner Bailey said: Thanks for posting the link. Very interesting work. I've got some documents from a 1918 course at the Godstone Bombing School and it also includes a map. However it shows the site was extended to the south but with very little more trench and range details than in 1917. Is it a diary by a chap called trotter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Bailey Posted 5 July , 2022 Share Posted 5 July , 2022 15 hours ago, MrEd said: Is it a diary by a chap called trotter? Sadly un-named technical documents plus the map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEd Posted 5 July , 2022 Share Posted 5 July , 2022 3 hours ago, Gunner Bailey said: Sadly un-named technical documents plus the map. I think i have a copy of his diary, will look and get back to you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Bailey Posted 5 July , 2022 Share Posted 5 July , 2022 1 hour ago, MrEd said: I think i have a copy of his diary, will look and get back to you Whoever it was he was a bit of an artist. A couple of nice sketches on the back of one document. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEd Posted 5 July , 2022 Share Posted 5 July , 2022 7 minutes ago, Gunner Bailey said: Whoever it was he was a bit of an artist. A couple of nice sketches on the back of one document. I do have a PDF of it, it is probably already something you have already seen, but if you PM me your email i will send it over, its 130 pages Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmateking2 Posted 2 March Share Posted 2 March Hi, I'm new to the Forum. I've been collecting WW1 Militaria for more years than I care to admit and have recently been doing a deep dive into the British Soldier in the Great War. I volunteer at the Museum of American Armor in New York, USA. Each year we run a Military History Timeline Event and I've decided to portray a British Quartermaster Sergeant from the 1/7 Kings Liverpool Regiment, 55th Div. 1918. I've made a number of crates to simulate a small supply dump display of rations and ammunition, etc. I recently made a couple Mills Bomb Crates for the No. 36 Grenade (from Tommy's Pack Stuffers" plan) and was wondering if anyone would be so kind to post the label(s) that are affixed to the inside lid of the grenade box? I'm trying to have it as authentic as possible, so I'd very much appreciate some assistance. I do have a reproduction Mills Bomb Crate that I purchased from a guy on UK Ebay and was a unsure of the markings stenciled on the front of the crate & what they were referring to? It is marked- 12 Grenades Mills T.S. 20-80 A.F.M 3 1916 Sorry to run on. This Forum has been a wealth of information. Cheers! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Bailey Posted 3 March Share Posted 3 March PM sent regarding this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14276265 Posted 5 March Share Posted 5 March On 02/03/2023 at 18:47, Checkmateking2 said: I do have a reproduction Mills Bomb Crate that I purchased from a guy on UK Ebay and was a unsure of the markings stenciled on the front of the crate & what they were referring to? It is marked- 12 Grenades Mills T.S. 20-80 A.F.M 3 1916 Is the reproduction box something like the one shown below? 265 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmateking2 Posted 5 March Share Posted 5 March Yes! Exactly. Looks like one of the crates from Edward's Shed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14276265 Posted 5 March Share Posted 5 March (edited) On 05/03/2023 at 22:51, Checkmateking2 said: Yes! Exactly. Looks like one of the crates from Edward's Shed. Well the stencilling is somewhat astray for a WWI British Mills grenade box. Below is shown a box with genuine markings - post war (December 1923), Belgian Army supply. TS denotes the explosive filling, AFM the munitions plant from whence issued. Edited 7 March by 14276265 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmateking2 Posted 22 March Share Posted 22 March I was wondering if anyone might know who was making repro/inert detonators for the can that is in the Mills Grenade transport box. Much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peregrinvs Posted 23 March Share Posted 23 March 10 hours ago, Checkmateking2 said: I was wondering if anyone might know who was making repro/inert detonators for the can that is in the Mills Grenade transport box. Much appreciated The eBay seller stevens7873 does them. I can personally recommend his service and products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmateking2 Posted 23 March Share Posted 23 March Excellent! Thanks very much. I'll give it a go. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego Posted 16 April Share Posted 16 April On 05/12/2014 at 17:51, Michael Haselgrove said: John, Thanks very much for sharing your grenades; very nice they are, too. In return, I attach a few photos of those in my collection; all inert. Left to right they are No.3 Mk.I with a Mk.I detonator holder, No.3 Mk.I with Mk.II detonator holder, No. 3 Mk.1 (sectioned) with Mk.II detonator holder, No.3 Mk.II with Mk.I detonator holder and No.3 Mk.II with Mk.II detonator holder. All the wind vanes are marked “THE COTTON POWDER CO. Ltd. LONDON. HALE’S PATENT” except the second from left which has a wind vane marked “ROBURITE & AMMONAL Ltd. LONDON. HALE’S PATENT”. The No.3 Mk.II with the large detonator holder is marked on the body plug B.W. Ltd. London indicating manufacture by Bowden Wire, London. The sectioned example is marked on the body plug GTL. I’m afraid I don’t know what that stands for. I’m also attaching other photos to show the detonator with the four small fire holes and the transit tin. I have read the relevant section in Rick Landers book again. I now see that the detonator holders Mk.I and Mk.II were fitted to both the No.3 Mk.I and Mk.II grenades. Hope the above is of interest. Regards, Michael. Hi Micheal. What's the current value of these, nowdays? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donbogen Posted 18 September Share Posted 18 September Any of you experts can help me being offered a early no 5 grenade small pull ring and a early lever but the base plug is dated 11/16 is this ok Thanks In Advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB1943 Posted 28 September Share Posted 28 September I thought that I knew that upon its introduction in 1918, the ammonal filling of the No. 36 had the following composition, Ammonium nitrate 58.6% TNT 18.0% Al powder. 21% Charcoal. 2.4%, but is this correct? The problem is that ammonal has a few different compositions (absence/presence charcoal; different ratios of the the major components) depending on where you look! Can anyone @14276265 @Gunner Bailey give a definitive answer to this conundrum, with a documented source? Regards, JMB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14276265 Posted 28 September Share Posted 28 September Ammonal was a pre war explosive (as initially marketed by the company Roburite and Ammonal Ltd), with a composition given in the Textbook of Explosives Used in the Service (1938 Edition): AN 65% TNT 15% Al powder 17% Charcoal 3% Slight variations are indeed recorded in different period texts, but the effect on explosive power (or the somewhat obsolete term "brisance") was unlikely to be significant. Of more significance to the variation of explosive power is that there were a number of alternative fillings used in the No.36*: alumatol 2, Cilferite "C", and 80/20 amatol, and its very close cousin 83/17 amatol. Then for the No.36M there were three fillings: Cilferite "C", 20/80 baratol and TNT alone**. *Drawing IDW B270 Method of Filling Grenade, .303-inch Rifle, No.36 Mark I **Drawing IDW (TW) 359 Method of Filling Grenade, .303-inch Rifle, No.36M Mark I For all practical purposes in the TW filling stations, by 1918, ammonal had largely been replaced by 80/20 amatol and alumatol for grenade and trench mortar ammunition, so the conundrum of its composition can effectively be ignored. 265 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14276265 Posted 29 September Share Posted 29 September Confirming the composition of military ammonal, the attached from the Fourth Conference of TW Engineers, Liverpool, July 30th 1916, refers. (However, ammonal was phased out as a charge for bombs and grenades from January 1917, so any No.36 filled in 1918 would have been filled with one of the alternatives as listed above.) 265 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB1943 Posted 29 September Share Posted 29 September 265, Thanks for posting this original reference. It does give me also the chance to ask for the meaning of TW & IDW. (Tidal Waterways & Inland Dept. of Waterways??) Regards, JMB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14276265 Posted 29 September Share Posted 29 September JMB, Sorry, I should have clarified. TW is Trench Warfare. IDW is Inspection Department, Woolwich. 265 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Bailey Posted 2 October Share Posted 2 October On 28/09/2023 at 14:45, JMB1943 said: I thought that I knew that upon its introduction in 1918, the ammonal filling of the No. 36 had the following composition, Ammonium nitrate 58.6% TNT 18.0% Al powder. 21% Charcoal. 2.4%, but is this correct? The problem is that ammonal has a few different compositions (absence/presence charcoal; different ratios of the the major components) depending on where you look! Can anyone @14276265 @Gunner Bailey give a definitive answer to this conundrum, with a documented source? Regards, JMB JMB1934 Sorry have been away overseas but 265 has done the business in more detail than I have to hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB1943 Posted 2 October Share Posted 2 October Gunner, That’s OK, because what I know about grenades can be written on a very small piece of paper. Next question that I post, you can do the heavy lifting. Regards, JMB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Bailey Posted 3 October Share Posted 3 October 15 hours ago, JMB1943 said: Gunner, That’s OK, because what I know about grenades can be written on a very small piece of paper. Next question that I post, you can do the heavy lifting. Regards, JMB Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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