MILITARY VEHICLES #12.

 

 

AUSTIN K2Y AMBULANCE.

 

A total of 13,102 K2 ambulances were built at Austin`s Longbridge Plant between 1939 and 1945. By no means the only ambulance used by British forces during world war two, it was the most numerous and certainly the most recognisable. Powered by Austin`s own 3.5 ltr straight 6 cylinder, petrol engine the K2 has a top speed of 55mph and gives 10mpg with 2, 12 gallon fuel tanks. The cab and chasse used many components from the pre-war Austin K30 commercial truck, while the body was designed and initially built by Mann Egerton. Its rigid construction enabled it to carry four stretcher cases or ten seated wounded, with space for a medical orderly/nurse, driver and co-driver. This vehicle KYW939 was sold off some time after 1955 and was stripped out and used as a bread delivery van. It was rescued from a scrapyard in Herne Bay in 1980 and put back on the road as a caravanette. Its present owner bought it in 1990 and is carrying out restoration a bit at a time. This vehicle has done film work in Atonement and the remake of Brideshead Revisited. The current markings are of a field dressing station of the 3rd infantry division in Normandy 1944.

 

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60 POUNDER BL MK1 FIELD GUN.

 

This heavy field gun served with the Royal Garrison Artillery in Mesopotamia, an area which now includes Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran. The type was used by the British Army in all main theatres of the first world war. This gun was built by the Elswick Ordnance Company (EOC) of Elswick, Newcastle Upon Tyne, circa 1915. It was in service with the 2/104th heavy battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. That battery was present at the fall of Kut-Al-Amara and Baghdad in 1917, and also took part in the battles of Shatt-Al-Adhaim and of Instanbul, again in 1917. Later operations included the capture of Kitri and of Kizil Robat in 1918. The 60 pounder field gun was introduced in 1904. The calibre was five inches and it could fire a 60 pound shell up to a maximum range of 13,600 yards. It was designed to be horse drawn or vehicle towed and served throughout the first world war in all the main theatres. It remained in service with British and Commonwealth forces during the inter-war period, and was in front line service with British and South African gun batteries during the second world war until 1942. After returning to the UK and being withdrawn from British Army service, this gun was presented to the Imperial Wat Museum by the Royal Artillery in 1923.

 

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ARGENTINE 120mm MORTAR MO-120-AM50.

 

 

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FORDSON WOT 1 BALLOON WINCH.

 

Second world war lorry with mounted barrage balloon and winch. The Fordson WOT ( war office transport ) was widely used by the RAF. This version carries a wild winch used for raising and lowering barrage balloons. The balloon was carried in the large green package behind the winch. Large balloons of over 60 feet fixed on wire cables were used to form barrages or obstacles around important locations. The cables could damage enemy aircraft if they flew into them. This forced the aircraft to fly higher and drop their bombs with less accuracy. Almost 1,500 balloons were in use at the height of the Battle of Britain in 1940. Although aircraft could avoid barrage balloons, the pilotless V1 Flying Bombs fired at Britain later in the war could not. Between June and September 1944 279 V1s were destroyed by balloon cables. Many members of the Women's Auxiliary Airforce worked for balloon command on its sites. The command was formed in 1938 and disbanded in January 1945.

 

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STANDARD BEAVERETTE.

 

A 1940 emergency measure light armoured car. The British Army was very short of armoured vehicles with which to face a German invasion in 1940; much of its equipment had been lost in France. Improvised armoured vehicles were therefore built as stop-gaps. They were based on ordinary car chassis or frames. The Beaverette, named after lord Beaverbrook, the minister for aircraft production, was built by the Standard Motor Company on their 14hp car chassis. Its thin armour would have given little protection to its crew of two or three who were armed with a machine gun. The Beaverette defended aircraft factories and other important industrial targets. Later variants were used by the RAF as home defence reconnaissance cars. Beaverettes were used at Duxford to protect the airfield from 1942 to 1945.

 

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BRITISH 40mm BOFORS LIGHT ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN.

 

The most widely used anti-aircraft gun of the second world war. The 40mm Bofors gun was designed in 1928 for the Swedish Army and Navy but by the mid 1930s it had earned a world wide reputation for reliability and efficiency. It was adopted by the British Army in 1937 and a licence to manufacture the weapon in the UK was obtained. The Bofors accuracy and rapid rate of fire was particularly effective against low flying or dive bombing aircraft, making it a vital element in the air defence of Britain. Its lightness and robustness also allowed it to fulfil its role in the field with ground forces. It saw service with virtually every one of the combatant armies, in every theatre of the war. This example is a 40mm Bofors mark1 gun on a mark 11 mounting and a mark 1 platform. From August 1940 until the end of the war it was part of a battery stationed at Sheerness, protecting London and the Medway towns from enemy aircraft approaching up the Thames estuary. Crew - six. Calibre-40mm. Weight-1 ton 19cwt. Maximum ceiling- 23,600feet. Ammunition- 2lb high explosives.

 

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BRITISH QF 1-POUNDER MARK 11 ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN.

 

First world war British light anti-aircraft gun used in the first air raid on the city of London. The 1 pounder belt fed quick firing gun was designed as a light field artillery piece by sir Hiram Maxim in the 1880s. Originally turned down by the British Government. It was adopted after being used by the Boers against British troops in the South African war of 1899 - 1902. Early models on wheeled carriages were followed by Naval versions on pedestal deck mountings. During the first world war they were installed on ships for defence against torpedo boats. When converted for high angle shooting they were also useful anti-aircraft weapons, becoming the forerunners of the 2-pounder Pom Poms widely employed on British warships during the second world war. This  particular gun was issued in August 1914 to the anti-aircraft station at Gresham Collage, London, where it was operated by officers and men of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and the Royal Naval Air Service. On the evening of 8th September 1915 it fired several rounds, without success, at the German airship L13, which was carrying out the first air raid on the city of London. The officer commanding the gun was sub-lieutenant Charles Foulkes RNVR, later the first curator and secretary of the Imperial War Museum. The gun itself moved to Ipswich in the autumn of 1915, firing another 150 rounds during a Zeppelin raid over east Anglia on 13th October. Crew - six. Calibre - 1.46inch. Rate of fire - 120 rounds per minute. Weight - 410lbs. Max range - 16,200feet. Ammunition - 1lb high explosive.

 

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BEDFORD QLC FUEL BOWSER.

 

This standard British aircraft refueller was in service during and after the second world war. The Bedford QL was the most numerous of the four wheel drive, three ton trucks in service with British Armed Forces during the second world war. Over 52,000 were produced during 1941 - 1945. As a standard chassis, it could be fitted with a wide variety of specialist bodies. Six bowser models were produced for the RAF, with varying tank capacities for different fuels. This bowser is an 850 gallon AVTUR (aviation turbine fuel) carrier. It is fitted with a rear mounted pump and two booms for over wing fuelling of aircraft. Using both booms, an aircraft could be refuelled at a rate of 65 gallons per minute. Bedford QLC fuel bowsers were used to refuel Gloster Meteor fighters at RAF Duxford in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This bowser was acquired by the Imperial War Museum in 1984.

 

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