Weird place for a Lee Enfield receiver

[spinecracker]

I have just come back from a wonderful holiday back in England. During this much-needed vacation, I dragged my poor family around Bovington Tank Museum. One of the tanks, a Matilda Infantry Mark I A11, had Lee Enfield receivers as part of the smoke screen system (can't remember the exact term for it) on either side of the turret. The receivers looked like No.1 Mk.IIIs, but the only identification I could see was BSA stamped on the side. Imagine that in your collection - a Lee Enfield with tank attachment!

I must admit that I was amused by the smoke screen set up - the person in the turret would have to lean over, pull the trigger (probably while under fire), and hope he didn't get a smoke grenade in the face - British engineering at its finest!

For those of you who may be interested, I believe that I also witnessed the last flight of a British First World War bomber (Handley Page?) at Duxford, and was greeted when we arrived at the carpark by a fly over by a Spitfire and 2 Mustangs - it was a good day.

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[spinecracker]

Correction - the person in the turret would have to pull the bolt back, load the receiver, push the bolt back, then pull the trigger - all while under fire and moving over rough terrain. No thanks, mate

[gunner]

Thats sportsmanlike, the opponent has his chance! Very british.

Regards

Gunner

[limpetmine]

We've trod the same ground. I went over in 2004 for the 60th, spent 17 days, half there half there. We went to Duxford and Cambridge on the front side, and made Wool and Bovington on the backside. Wool is a quant little town; we had a good time at the pub there, and at dinner, too. We arrived off the train at 1:30 PM, and the taxi found us a nice B&B, then we went to The Tank Museum. The smoke dischargers you saw are quite common, and are listed in Ian Skinnerton's tome. I saw, and almost bid on, a 10" discharger that was on eBay a while back. But not having a Matilda to mount it too, I passed. We saw a very low flyover of their Mk IV Spit
(about gave me a hair cut it was so low!). You were lucky to see the bomber fly. I've wondered when these old birds will finally be roosted for good.

I have just come back from a wonderful holiday back in England. During this much-needed vacation, I dragged my poor family around Bovington Tank Museum. One of the tanks, a Matilda Infantry Mark I A11, had Lee Enfield receivers as part of the smoke screen system (can't remember the exact term for it) on either side of the turret. The receivers looked like No.1 Mk.IIIs, but the only identification I could see was BSA stamped on the side. Imagine that in your collection - a Lee Enfield with tank attachment!

I must admit that I was amused by the smoke screen set up - the person in the turret would have to lean over, pull the trigger (probably while under fire), and hope he didn't get a smoke grenade in the face - British engineering at its finest!

For those of you who may be interested, I believe that I also witnessed the last flight of a British First World War bomber (Handley Page?) at Duxford, and was greeted when we arrived at the carpark by a fly over by a Spitfire and 2 Mustangs - it was a good day.

[Peter Laidler]

Ah, yes...., we gave Bovington a big handfull of those old 4"(?) smoke discharger thinggies, fired using a No1 action. Loading was by hand, outside the tank but firing was by remote bowden cable from inside! Things haven't changed much because the 6 barrel multi directional smoke dischargers you still see on tanks are loaded from the outside but fired (electrically this time) from inside the old Centurions, Chieftains, Ferrets et al.

I often thought about putting in a spoof suggestion, suggesting that there ought to be a little door in the side armour of the turret where the loader might stick his hand outside to re-load the smoke dischargers. Something like a cat flap...............

I don't think I have ever seen those things used. A quick hose down with the co-ax Browning or a couple of rounds of cannister would usually be enough to quell the most restless wild colonials or antipodeans

[Bindi2]

Ah, yes...., we gave Bovington a big handfull of those old 4"(?) smoke discharger thinggies, fired using a No1 action. Loading was by hand, outside the tank but firing was by remote bowden cable from inside! Things haven't changed much because the 6 barrel multi directional smoke dischargers you still see on tanks are loaded from the outside but fired (electrically this time) from inside the old Centurions, Chieftains, Ferrets et al.

I often thought about putting in a spoof suggestion, suggesting that there ought to be a little door in the side armour of the turret where the loader might stick his hand outside to re-load the smoke dischargers. Something like a cat flap...............

I don't think I have ever seen those things used. A quick hose down with the co-ax Browning or a couple of rounds of cannister would usually be enough to quell the most restless wild colonials or antipodeans

Some restless wild colonials might just get a litttle peeved and wind up with some dirty tricks of their own

[Alfred]

Wouldn't smoke dischargers be meant to cover movements during an engagement and obscure the aime of enemy anti-tank weapons?

Talking of hard to reload, have you ever seen our Ontos?
Its a very small armorered vehicle with four large recoiless rifles mounted to the body.
Aimed and fired from inside but only reloadable from the outside. Still thats four heavy anti-tank rounds that could be fired in less time than reloading a tank main gun even once.


I suspect they had alternative methods of launching smoke grenades should they be unable to climb out, perhaps a GL fired through an open hatch.

PS
I have a collection of photos of the restoration of the Glacier Girl P-38. A friend visited the site where it was being rebuilt.

[jmoore]

PS
I have a collection of photos of the restoration of the Glacier Girl P-38. A friend visited the site where it was being rebuilt.

Small world, there! I helped a little on the rebuild of its horizontal and vertical stabilizers when those parts were in Griffin, Ga. (several of the recovery team members live(d)) around there. Don Brooks (the ice drill inventor and early investor) lives about 1 1/2 hours south.

[spinecracker]

If anyone has a chance, the airborne museum is open at Duxford and, although small, is worth the visit. I went and drooled at the firearm displays. Not a pretty sight. Makes me want to fork out for a denison smock, but I would have to mortgage the kids....(no, wait, Obama has already done that...)

On an aside, the reproduction firearms on the HMS Warrior were manufactured by Parker and Hale - I was surprised to see their name stamped on the barrels.

[jmoore]

I've been to Duxford to work on Stephen Grey's (The Fighter Collection) P-40 Tomahawk that Tom Wilson rescued out of Russia just after the Soviet collapse. (He's since sold it.) Got to see a real Bf-109g in action and saw the Bf109e ("Black 8"?) there just weeks before it got bent. Also the Beaufighter in pieces undergoing resurrection.

I think the taxi drivers over there know more history than school teachers do in the US!