Wednesday 17 June 2015

Mystery interwar AT gun


Can anyone help with an  identification of this anti tank gun?

12 comments:

Conrad Kinch said...

Hard to say Clive, it doesn't look like any of the usual suspects?

What is the provenance of the picture? It couldn't be a picture from a film perhaps or something using a mock up?

Vintage Wargaming said...

It's from The Wonder Book of Soldiers, ninth edition, from 1939. It's a children's reference book.but the photos seem to be official army ones, this one is sited as Central News, and plenty are of manoeuvres. The captions can be taken with a little pinch of salt - a photo of two soldiers firing Boys ATRs is headed learning to use the bren gun. Theres a rather fetching head on picture of two Carden Loyd Mk IVs in wheel/track configuration I may scan in next.

Hugh Walter said...

Janes would be the people to ask...they were created in the year dot and may well be the photographers?

http://www.janes.com/defence

H

tradgardmastare said...

Looks like you could scratch build/bodge one in 20/28mm without too much hassle...
it is an intriguing piece of kit.
Alan

Pierre le Poilu said...

My first thoughts - the cannon could be a French infantry piece, 37mm TR 1916, with its flash suppresor removed and turned upside down. Also - the trolley is far too big for the cannon. A strange photo....

Big Andy said...

Clive I have 3 or 4 of those Wonder Books of Soldiers but not that one . Barrel looks too short for an AT Gun and the wheeled mount is distinctly suspect .

Vintage Wargaming said...

Pierre - that's been suggested elsewhere, that or a 3pdr tank gun seem to be the only possible suggestions so far.

Andy - I went for this edition specifically for the plenty of interwar kit on view

Big Andy said...

Further- the caption as you say is twaddle- there is no way that the gun calibre is "a little over 2 inches- that would make it over 50mm - the 6pdr- of later years was a 57mm gun.. perhap a French 25mm but again the barrel is far too short. The mount looks far far too bigh for the gun .

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

Beardmore produced experimental 40mm and 47mm calibre anti-tank guns during the 1930s, and it may well be one of their designs. They did some work during WW1 trying to fit the Le Puteau gun into an aircraft and would certainly have had experience doing engineering work with that weapon.

All the best,

Bob

Vintage Wargaming said...

Bob, do you have any references/photo sources for the Beardmore guns? I can't find any pictures.

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

I found a reference to the Beardmore anti-tank guns in 'The Fighting Tanks 1916-1933', but there were no photographs of the weapons.

All the best,

Bob

Anonymous said...

I mentioned on LAF that it looks like a mock-up using a 3pdr 'short', like the ones used on the Vickers E 6-ton.

The similar type of gradiated 'iron sight' that would later be found on the Panzerfaust, the shoulder pad traverse and the 'box' it's mounted on, all say "We don't have a 2pdr gun to show you, but it would look vaguely like this old tank gun on a crate".

The number plate is civilian from a series which ran until 1932... but presumably that referred to whatever vehicle towed it. It's an 'O' Oxfordshire plate, which is where the Didcot ordnance depot was located. I doubt they would have trouble making one of these.

Other than that I'm stumped.