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Topic: 37 mm. Stern mounted guns |
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CJ Willis
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Apr 8, 2008 - 11:32am
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Our boat P.T. 242 and I believe all Squadron 19 boats were outfitted with Army artillery type 37mm guns mounted on the stern. They were two man operated like the 40mm. These guns required a different cartridge than the Aircraft type 37mm. we had on the bow. I know most of the later squadrons were equipped with the 40 mm which I think was a much more powerful and better gun. I was wondering how many boats were equipped with this Army Artillery type gun?
C. J. Willis |
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Alex Johnson
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Apr 8, 2008 - 2:23pm
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Are you referring to the 37mm M3 anti-tank gun? It was a single shot gun originally mounted on a carriage with wheels and it had an armour shield. ALEX
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Wayne Traxel |
MASTER
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Posted on: Apr 8, 2008 - 5:39pm
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Hello CJ,
There was a M-9 37mm and I believe the mount was M1A2. From what I can recall of the drawing It was a tubular framed mount with seats and foot pedals and hand cranks similiar to the 40mm Bofors, only not as big. The feature noted about the gun is that it was belt fed. Had the manual in my hand 6 years ago but never purchased it. Have always wondered since if this mount could ever found its way on a PT.
Is this what you had on 242, CJ?
Wayne Traxel |
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CJ Willis
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Apr 8, 2008 - 7:22pm
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Wayne: That sounds like the gun. Yes, it had seats , foot pedals and hand cranks and I believe it was belt fed. It was pretty rapid fire. One guy operated the horizontal and another the vertical movement. We had one guy as loader. I never fired or had much to do with the gun. I was a twin fifty turret gunner. I always thought it was an Army field artillery gun. I was not aboard when this gun was mounted but crew members told me that they were put on when they got off the tankers at New Hebrides. The 20 mm was removed from the stern and placed midships and these guns were mounted on the stern. Our boat also got the aircraft 37 mm on the bow at the same time. I believe Squadron 20 also had these guns.
C. J. Willis |
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comcardiv1
New Member
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Posted on: Apr 9, 2008 - 3:22pm
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testing...
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Wayne Traxel |
MASTER
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Posted on: Apr 9, 2008 - 6:31pm
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Hello CJ, Rats.!!! Knew I should have purchased that manual. Hind site strikes again. But did purchase the manual featuring the gun portion of the mount and it is the M-9, 37mm. The M-9 had a slower rate of fire than the M-4 37mm off the P-39 Air Cobra. The M-9 did have more punch than the M-4 and a slightly lower rate than the 40MM Bofors. The M-9, 37mm gun became the standard bow gun on PT's late in the war.
Have enclosed some scans of the M-9 form the manual that was purchased.
Wayne Traxel |
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CJ Willis
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Apr 9, 2008 - 7:05pm
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Gene and Wayne: The barrel and gun sights certainly look the same. The photo doesn't show the cranks and seats but they must be there. I believe our barrel had a flash shield on the end. Wayne was the cartridge for the Aircobra gun bottle shaped or was it just straight sides?
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Wayne Traxel |
MASTER
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Posted on: Apr 10, 2008 - 10:40am
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Hello CJ, That's a good question. I'm not an expert, but have seen pictures of M-4's with shells that appear straight and have viewed other photos of M-4' with shells having the tapered bottle shaped appearence shells. My take on all of this is that the M-4 salvaged from the P-39's may have been an earlier model and was chambered different from the M-4's that appeared later.
Scanned this from Frank Johnson book page 75 shells appear to be straight.
37MM M-4 on PT-331 in summer of 1944 has what appears to be all tapered shells
37MM M-4 on PT-361 Spring 1945 appears to have a mixture of straight and tapered shells.
You really have my attention with the 37MM aft mount you had on 242. By chance would you have any pictures of it?
I have an unfinished 1/24th Higgins and at this point PT-242 looks like an excellent Modeling Subject.
Wayne Traxel |
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Dick
Moderator
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Posted on: Apr 10, 2008 - 10:55am
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The image from Gene's post above:
FROM: Wikipedia.org link above . . . .
Description: 37mm Antiaircraft gun manned by soldiers of Battery F, 70th Coast Artillery, is one of many such weapons emplaced for the protection of Wickham Anchorage and Viru Harbor. Friendly small craft pushing between Rendova and supply bases to the rear found sanctuar from enemy air attack under the protection of these and other antiaircraft weapons.
Source: ibiblio.org a collaboration of the centerforthepublicdomain.org
Post-Work: W.Wolny
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