bigalni Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 Id be greatfull if anyone can ID the type of gun and its uses,in the attached photo. The pic is dated Cologne 10.1.19. All comments welcome. The origonal photo is available for sale or trade to Pals. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigalni Posted 9 February , 2005 Author Share Posted 9 February , 2005 OOps!Forgot to attach the picture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnie Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 British 13 pdr AA gun on a Thorney croft J-Type Lorry The gun in question was a 13-pdr. field gun, as used by the Royal Horse Artillery, removed from its normal field carriage and fitted to a rotating pedestal mount. However, soon the need for a more powerful AA gun arose. At first the 18pdr was used in the same role as the 13pdr, but this was a failure balistically speaking, so instead it was decided to use the 18pdr, but to reline it to the calibre of 76mm, thus enabling it to take the grenades of the 13pdr. This proved a very successful solution, and this gun, the 13pdr 9cwt AA gun became the most common of all British Anti-Aircraft weapons during WW1. The muzzle velocity of this gun was 655m/sec, giving it an effective ceiling of some 5.790 meters. The gun was used in conjunction with a visual rangefinder carried in an accompanying vehicle and set up in a convenient position alongside the emplaced gun carrier. Jacks on the chassis steadied the vehicle when the gun was fired. The usual gun section was equipped with two Thornycroft gun-carrier lorries, each supported by two 3-ton lorries which carried the gun crew, the rangefinder, and ammunition. Arnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 Arnie, Excellent reply. Where was the attached picture taken? Regards, Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcerha Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 Arnie, Brilliant and very informative answer which ties up a hole in my knowledge. Do you by any chance know how many RHA 13pdrs were converted from use as field guns to this role and how many 18pdrs were laser relined? The former answer could help to explain why there is such a relative shortage of 13pdrs today. Finally do you know over what period the RHA batteries converted to 18pdrs and did they all do so? Many thanks again Regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 Arnie, Excellent reply. Where was the attached picture taken? Regards, Marco Marco it is marked on the left bottom of the picture. Cologne 10 -1919 Colongne is Keulen. So it is a picture of the British occupation force in the German Rhine land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 Marco it is marked on the left bottom of the picture. No it is not. I asked Arnie where the picture was taken, not Alan. Regards, Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 I grew up in Basingstoke, where the Thornycroft vehicle works was located. For many years into the 1960s, they had a lorry with gun mounted, as shown, on some waste ground near the back fence, which was allowed just to rust away. Shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_H Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 Angie999 All was not lost - the Thornycroft J type with AA gun that you remember was disposed of by the Company from the works at Basingstoke and after passing throught the hands of several vehicle collectors it was purchased by the IWM and restored. It is the vehicle shown in Arnie's photo, now at Duxford, Cambs. The restoration was completed in 1987 and in May that year the vehicle ran in the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society's London - Brighton run and won the cup for best pre 1920 vehicle. yours Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compo Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 Not necessarily only Royal Horse Artillery. Although my grand father received AA training at the RHA training depot in St Johns Wood, he was RGA and continued to serve as such with Fourth Army's AA batteries labelled as letters eg. "N" "Z" etc. Any idea of the time frames of the caliber changes? I know this is hard to pin down but, for example, did they all occur rapidly at the beginning of the War or were they spread over the years? Regds Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compo Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 A gun section was labelled with a number eg. 114 Section. If this had two guns as, stated earlier, then how many sections to a battery labelled with a letter eg Z battery? Artillery in general had 12 guns to a battery at the time so did the AA have SIX sections to a battery? Seems high. Regds Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chip Minx Posted 12 February , 2005 Share Posted 12 February , 2005 While we are on the topic of AA guns, does anyone know which gun fired the 1 1/2 pound shell? I have a bottle necked brass casing with this mark and I have been told that it was for an AA gun. Regards, Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 12 February , 2005 Share Posted 12 February , 2005 Angie999 All was not lost - the Thornycroft J type with AA gun that you remember was disposed of by the Company from the works at Basingstoke and after passing throught the hands of several vehicle collectors it was purchased by the IWM and restored. It is the vehicle shown in Arnie's photo, now at Duxford, Cambs. The restoration was completed in 1987 and in May that year the vehicle ran in the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society's London - Brighton run and won the cup for best pre 1920 vehicle. yours Mike Wow! Thanks Mike, good to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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