2" Mortar end cap

[CINDERS]

Thanks to the kindness of a member they have assisted me in completing one of my 2" H.E inert mortar rounds. (pics of completed round even date matches the mortar)
It had been lanquishing for years with the end cap missing for the actuator cartridge to be honest I have trolled e bay for ages here and the 1-2 military fairs we have each year with no luck.
I made mention if the member would be so kind as to keep an eye out for one as where they are situated they had a better chance to obtain one.
So without further ado they had one in the mail to me and due to its size & cost informed me not to worry about the postage costs.
Previously they had assisted with another part of my collection that was missing a piece all at cost price but also their time in obtaining it was not factored in.
This is what it is about assisting each other as very few sites offer this depth of knowledge and assistance to the members.
For some it may seem a trivial piece to the mortar round but to me it was always niggling at me as the other 2 had their end caps so now the 3 of them are complete (2xH.E 1xIlum)
My deepest gratitude to the member involved they know who they are.

Sorry for the pics (I-Phone) our Siamese cat (The Boss) pulled our good camera off the desk in my room it now has to be repaired before we go on our trip to Sing & VN.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Peter Laidler]

2" and 51mm mortars were good kit. We used to call then 'section artillery'. Made a small Infantry fighting section into a VERY versatile part of a platoon.

[Gil Boyd]

Cinders,
A bit of useless information on the 2" mortar.
I personally took to the tube big time, it was very accurate in the right hands within a Platoon. As long as you knew your "angle of dangle" it was a lethal piece of kit.
The times I saw it being used wilyl nilly with Para Illum being launched down wind when you needed the battle field lit up and often saw the bloody light dissapearing quick time in the wrong direction and not floating across your front!!

It was an unforgiveable piece of steel tubing, and didn't like the human body when doing parachuting rolls, it hurt bad, but like the 66mm, always worth taking along, as it was always used to GREAT effect. As long as you could find enough suckers to carry the bombs for you!!
When I took three veterans back to the Battle of Plaman Mapu in Borneo in 2015, there were hundreds of fins and end caps stroon all over the hillock and that is not an exageration, showing that many mortar rounds were dropped on bthe location as the Indonesians infiltrated the lines!!

[browningautorifle]

That bomb looks great, more complete than any I've seen so far...even the instructions. Yes, I was weapons det too for some time. My thing was the .30 cal but the 60mm was still there. Our bombs were different, but lots of those are still in the fields in Alberta...good to see that one complete.

[CINDERS]

Here's a fact for the 3" that the Australian Army learnt the hard way apparently when the bombs were in the early stage of development no one had really envisage dropping them from an aircraft so in New Guinea the need to air drop them was acute but here was the catch.
When the crates hit the deck it apparently armed the fuse so the crews not knowing this took the cap off dropped it down the tube only to have the bomb detonate inside the tube killing the crews I do not know where I read it possibly in one of my books of that campaign but it cost them dearly until they sorted the issue out I guess that is why they have the pins to remove before firing.
I wish I could remember the book as it was a real disaster for a bit till they twigged but in that jungle as in Hurtgen Forrest with so much overhead canopy mortar rounds suffered airbursts so laying flat on the ground was in most cases not a good idea.

[Gil Boyd]

How strange I was offered a complete 3" mortar sight the other day in its case for £100.;
I think he put it on that site ending in Bay

[bigduke6]

Brings back a lot memories, I used to dig them up by the hundred at times when out metal detecting many had corroded, but around a dozen or so were like new after a good clean, the other bits to survive were the fins and the detonator part that the cap screws onto........ these all varied in condition though, other finds were parachute flares some complete with parachute and smoke bombs also about 5 complete HE rounds that never detonated.

I wrote not long ago about how the flare part lit up the village when I threw a bit on the open fire......

There was another type of cap which was the same but half the size, only ever found a handful and where in a different location can't remember what they were off.

[Flying10uk]

There was another type of cap which was the same but half the size,

I think that I may have one of these attached to the fins which is all that's left of the round. I'll see if I can dig it out another day and photograph. It looks like a shotgun shell/cartridge under the cap.

[browningautorifle]

It looks like a shotgun shell/cartridge under the cap.

That's correct.

[bigduke6]

The one I'm on about is the same as in cinders pics but half the size and has "Remove before Firing " on the top.