The Canadian and British Coast Artillery in WWII also had a twin six-pounder
for shooting up small attack boats. A complete and operational one is on
display at Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site near Victoria, BC, CANADA.
This one had been given to Norway by Canada in the 1950s when we shut down
our coastal defence, and later re-acquired from Norway for the historical
display.
Manual loading, but the breech slams shut when shell is slid in as I recall.
Twin barrels - side by side, in a turret.
Photos of this turret are on my web site at:
http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/photos_-_b_coy_1_can_para_bn_(living_history).htm
For those in the BC and Washington (state) area, there is a military
encampment for living history at Fort Rodd Hill on May 19-20 (Victoria Day
long weekend in Canada). There will be some military vehicles, military
tents, weapons, people in uniforms (1860s-1950s). If interested in
attending, contact me off list at colin@pacdat.net FREE for people in
period uniforms. Free camping on site. VIP tour of old fortifications
(1890s, WWI & WWII zones at the fort including an underground Command Post
bunker.
Colin Macgregor Stevens
NOTE: I lost about 100 messages in early April, 11 or more messages on 2001
APR 30/May 1 due to a server problem and then whole ADSL system crashed for
first week of May! If you sent me a message during that time that was not
answered, please resend it. Thanks.
MVPA Member 954 (since 1977)
Editor: "Maple Leaf Up!" newsletter & Webmaster
of Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society
(Established 1977)
Pitt Meadows (East of Vancouver but not beyond Hope)
British Columbia, CANADA
Owner of:
1944 Willys MB jeep (ex-Norway)
1942 BSA airborne bicycles (2)
Personal web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
E-mail: colin@pacdat.net
Club web site: http://www.westerncommand.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Notton" <Richard@fv623.demon.co.uk>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 2:49 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] Mosquito vs. B-17G
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Colin Stevens" <colin@pacdat.net>
> To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 2:07 AM
> Subject: Re: [MV] Mosquito vs. B-17G
>
>
> > British 6 Pounder was equal to US 57 mm. (why the US went metric on some
> of
> > this stuff who knows!). In anti-tank guns shells were interchangeable
> > between 6 Pr and 57 mm.and as I recall, the ammo boxes were marked for
> both.
> >
> Having had a change to trawl the data it is indeed 57mm but note there is
no
> fixed rule between calibre and the pounds measurement or even that the
> production guns even fire exactly their pound designation..
>
> > 80 shots per minute? I have trouble believing that. Firing 80 6 Pr
> > shells/minute might equal reverse gear for a poor old Mossie! 8 rounds
per
> > minute perhaps?
> >
> I was working from memory having seen the B&W film of the Mossie firing
its
> 57mm on the range, 8rpm it certainly isn't, in any case you'd only get one
> shot before over-flying the target, however, the documented info search
has
> brought up the data:
>
> Source "FlyPast" March 2001 - Mosquito FB.XVIII "Tsetse" (Has a bigger
bite
> than a regular Mosquito !)
>
> The Molins gun was first fitted to HJ732 after trials in a scrap airframe,
> flew on June 8 1943 and fired a full complement of rounds, used by 618
sqdn
> and 248 sqdn proved highly successful as submarine hunters in the Bay of
> Biscay using AP shot. A total of 18 Mk VI Mosquitos were made into XVIII
> 6pdr Molins gun types and mostly operated by 248 sqdn.
>
> Molins gun:
> Weight of shell 7.1lb
> Recoil action
> Cyclic rate 60 rpm
> Weight 1800 lb
> MV 2,600ft/sec
> Capacity 22/27 rounds
> Recoil on airframe 8,000 lb
> Made by the Molins Machine Co. of Peterborough
>
> Even more bizarre, and leading from the success of the 6pdr Molins gun,
the
> RAF jumped to the idea of fitting the 3.7" (94mm) 32pdr AT gun to the
> Mosquito !
>
> Keeping the poor Mossie in one piece owing to the fearsome recoil was
> realised and a French refugee M.Galliot designed a very effective, weird
and
> almost unproduceable muzzle brake which looks like a multi-start thread
> being fed from two rows of gas vents, several manufacturers refused to
even
> contemplate manufacture of it. Meanwhile the war ended but one brake was
> made and a 3.7" was fitted to a Mosquito with Molins auto-loader having a
> weight of 4,000 lb and test flown/fired. Having proved the point the
> project was scrapped.
>
> As an aside and speaking of Molins, who was Lucy Maria Mollin, married Nov
> 1916 ?
>
> Richard
> Southampton - England
>
>
>
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>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:32 PDT