Anti Aitcraft Bren Setup

[read6737]

Does any one know much about Brens in an anti aircraft mount? WW2 era.

Are they in pairs?
Is it a tripod they were mounted on?
What sight was used?

Information

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[browningautorifle]

There were several mounts. One used the tripod and an extension made with a Lee Enfield attached for the front leg. Another was the Motley mount which was a chair rigged with one on each side of the firer. The best way to see what was available is get the book The Bren Gun Saga(1986) by Thomas B Dugelby. Collector Grade publications. ISBN-0-88935-045-0

[peregrinvs]

There were three types of Bren tripod, the MkI, the MkII and the MkII*. The MkI included an auxiliary leg stored in two pieces in the tripod frame to convert it into an AA mount. As mentioned, the No.1 MkIII Lee-Enfield could also be used in place of the auxiliary leg. Early MkI tripods also included a pair of clips on the frame to store the butt handle when the Bren was mounted to the tripod in ground fire mode.

The MkII did away with the auxiliary AA leg as a production shortcut. The MkII* tripod is a rare folding version of the MkII made for airbourne use.

As for sights when mounted on the tripod in AA mode; the normal Bren sights were used when using standard 30 round magazines. When using 100 round drum magazines, a mixture of tracer was included in the ammunition so that the rounds could be 'walked' on to the target.

There's lots of information about the Bren tripod on this thread on the Weapons Online forum:

Weapons OnLine - Bren Tripod info.

Mark