I've just cracked open my 17pdrs. Stunning model. Don't know why specifically - it just is.
For those times when a Crusader tractor isn't appropriate, which do you all think would be the best? I've got the tractors for the 40mm Bofors, which are the most likely suspect. There is also the 6pdr tractors, but they will generally be tied up towing 6pdrs for the PBI in the M-5s. Another possiblity is the Scammell that tows the 7.2in howitzer. It might be a bit big. I'd have to buy some though - and there is eight in a battery... Oh well, it would give me some heavy guns to back up the ** CENSORED **...
The 17pdr was quite big. I have the chance to live near a park where 2 of those ar on display and they are big enought.
A bren carrier might be able to carry the smaller 6 pdr, but not the 17pdr wich was almost bigger than the carrier...
As the British doctirn required that ennemy tank be dealt with the AT guns, make sure that your 17pdr have lot of mobility. The US M3,M5,M9 wathever halftrack are a good choice. I cant see a WWII wheeled vehicule fast enought to re-deploy such a big gun under batlle condition.
I've just cracked open my 17pdrs. Stunning model. Don't know why specifically - it just is.
For those times when a Crusader tractor isn't appropriate, which do you all think would be the best? I've got the tractors for the 40mm Bofors, which are the most likely suspect. There is also the 6pdr tractors, but they will generally be tied up towing 6pdrs for the PBI in the M-5s. Another possiblity is the Scammell that tows the 7.2in howitzer. It might be a bit big. I'd have to buy some though - and there is eight in a battery... Oh well, it would give me some heavy guns to back up the ** CENSORED **...
Short synopsis is that the Bren carrier was the standard tower for the 6pdr by 1944. The 17pdr weighed in at just over 4600 lbs - too heavy for the Bren carrier to move reliably. The Scammell was a real brute (and not particularly numerous) and they needed every ounce of their strength in their assigned roles - recovery/wrecker in REME units and as towers for the 7.2 in. The version of the 7.2 that GHQ produces weighed in at only 10.1 tons. Later versions (using the carriage of the US Long Tom and 8in HOW) tipped the scales at 17.5 tons. It wasn't called heavy artillery for nothing. For the 17pdr the preferred tower in Armd Divs was the deturreted Crusader (deturreted Ram for Canadians). Some units used M5/M9s. Other units, primarily those part of Inf Divs, used wheeled towers - FAT w/limber(modified to accommodate the longer ammo), Morris C/8, Fordson WOT6 for example. Something else to keep in mind: halftracks were not available to UK/CW units in the same numbers as in US units. They were in high demand as APCs and HQ vehicles in Armd Divs, as well as fitters vehicles with the REME dets in Armd Regts.
Good point... I forgot I was going to need Universal Carriers for the 6pdrs. I hope I've got enough to go around...
The best carrer for a 17pdr is still a Firefly !
This is why I have 20 of them and only 4 towed.
Since my lot is based around an armoured regiment for the time being the Crusader will do nicely. I might just have to wing it with what I've got otherwise. No one will know...
I checked out the link you posted, which lead to the "British Artillery in World War II - Anti-Tank Artillery" -- what a wonderful source of information! I will most certainly take more time to "dig through" the information presented there -- who knows where all it may lead!?
A big part of the enjoyment I get from participating here is all of the neat stuff I'm learning from discussion threads such as this one. And it probably goes without saying... my list of "bookmarked sites" keeps growing and growing...
Thanks for passing this one along!!
Regards,
Tom Stockton
p.s. Something I stumbled onto by accident -- if you use GHQ's "commands" for formatting quotes, but go back and change the "q" in "quote" to an upper-case Q -- they will work "properly". So... it's a left-bracket, then the word Quote, then a right-bracket to "open" the "quote" section... and a left-bracket, then a slash, then the word Quote, then a right-bracket to close the "quote" section. Just thought I'd pass that along...
"Well, I've been to one World's Fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a set of earphones. You sure you got today's codes?"
BattlerBritain wrote:Bren or Universal carriers, trucks, anything really.
Im pretty sure - not 100 percent - that the Bren and Universal carriers could not tow the OQF 17-Pounder but could tow the OQF 6-Pounder. The Crusader tractor, or if terrain permitted, a larger truck.
The 17-pdr was a much larger weapon then its predecessor. As a result it had to be towed as it could not effectively be moved by its crew alone and needed vehicles such as the Crusader gun tractor) on poor ground and was issued strictly to armour and anti-tank artillery units, and not infantry.
mlcolbert posed the query:
just a general question for the early war artillery users, have you ever done a conversion of the 17 pounder barrel to the 25 pounder gun carriage??
Quite the opposite!
GHQ used to make the 17 pounder on the 25 pounder carriage. I bought some about 25-27 years ago.
Found the window of opportunity for their employement (early portion of the Tunisia campaign) to be too limited. So I converted most of 'em to 25pdrs.
Simple/poor conversion, just chopped the barrels back. And now I find that the originals, having become somewhat rare, would probably have been a better item to hold.
I probably still have at least two of the originals left. If anyone wants to offer an item for trade, I'd be happy to consider it. Contact me by PM offline.
-Mark 1 Difficile est, saturam non scribere. "It is hard NOT to write satire." - Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, 1st Century AD
