Help to Id. US artillery

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yantaylor
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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#511

Post by yantaylor » 23 Apr 2014, 10:55

Roland that is excellent stuff, really really good, and thank you.

Yan.

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#512

Post by yantaylor » 24 Apr 2014, 20:56

Thanks to Roland I have learnt quite a lot about the 90mm AA Gun, the totals so far are;
Total M1A1s; 6.648
Total M2s; 829

The totals for the M2 are a little low but by then the US had little to fear from the German Air force.

Now the crew status, I have seen the total of eight crew men per gun, but this maybe a little light, one source says that a mobile gun has around 16 gunners, but this would include drivers I would expect, but 14 seems ok, here is my break down of gunner for the mobile variant;

1 x Sergeant (Section Chief) + .30 M1 Rifle.
1 x Corporal/Gunner + .30 M1 Carbine.
1 x Pvt/Assistant Gunner
1 x Pvt/Elevation Setter
1 x Pvt/Fuse Setter
1 x Pvt/Fuse Range Setter
1 x Pvt/Azimuth Setter
3 x Pvts/Loaders
1 x Corporal/Ammunition
4 x Pvts/Ammunition Bearers
1 x Pvt/Driver (M4 Tractor) + .30 M1 Rifle. w/M7 Grenade Discharger.

Yan.


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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#513

Post by ROLAND1369 » 25 Apr 2014, 15:21

Here are 2 pages showing the crew of a 90 MM M2 aa gun and a diagram of their positions relative to gun manning. Both are from"FM 44-27 SERVICE OF THE PIECE 90 MM AA GUN M2 SERIES. JAN 1951". hope it helps. Incidently I described the T2E1 90 mm aa in a previous post as preproduction models, that was not strictly true. One of the major improvements on the M2 series was a combined automatic fuze setter/automatic rammer. This system was not available earlier and the T2E1s were produced without this feature in order to get the guns in the hands of troops. The stated intent was to modify them to full M2 standard as the systems became available.
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CREW2.JPG
CREW2.JPG (108.2 KiB) Viewed 642 times
CREW1.JPG

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#514

Post by ROLAND1369 » 25 Apr 2014, 15:34

Here is a third page which shows the crew in firing positions.
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CREW3.JPG

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#515

Post by yantaylor » 25 Apr 2014, 20:19

Thanks Roland, that total agrees with the one I posted, well if you add the M4 Tractor driver.

Just got to finalize my 37mm M1A2 and 76mm M3 AA guns to add to the 40mm M1 and 90mm now.

Yan.

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#516

Post by yantaylor » 02 May 2014, 17:23

Hi, I have hit a blank when researching the US 3in M3 AA Gun, I have read the training manual back to front and visited more web sites then you can shake a stick at, but to no avail, I am so close in finishing the data and the stuff I need is;

How many were produced?
They were standardised in 1933, but what month?
What type of Gun Sight did they use, the 90mm M2 had the M54 or M28 (not too sure) was it the same?

Thanks for any help.
Yan.

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#517

Post by ROLAND1369 » 03 May 2014, 15:34

I can give you some help. The attached page covers all fire control equipment used with the 3 inch m3 aa gun with mobile carriage. The on carriage telescopes wer different due to the different balistics of the ammunition which neccesitated a different reticle pattern. Also in the American nominclature system the M 3 only refers to the barrel. It is mounted on a m2a2 carriage. Ther were M1, M2, as well as M3 Barrels and T1a1,M1a2,M2a1 and M2a2 carriages. In addition You should be aware that the last 3 inch M3 production was in 1941. On numbers I have found a 1980s AA school text which states that there were 807 3 inch aa guns in service when the US entered the war, presumably in 1942, however this number includes the 3 inch M1917 and M2 fixed mounts used by the Coast Artillery. In addition for your 90 MM M2 totals I have discovered and additional 195 90M2s produced in 1944-45 by converting the pre production 90 MM M1 guns on T2m1 mount. If you are not aware there was a further 90 mm varient produced. This was the 90 mm M3 mount of which 254 were produced. It was a fixed mount produced for The US Coast Artillery.Hope this helps a bit.
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3INM3.JPG

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#518

Post by ROLAND1369 » 03 May 2014, 15:42

Here is a more readable copy
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3INM3.JPG

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#519

Post by yantaylor » 03 May 2014, 22:35

That is more than enough Rowland and thank you very much for your help.

Yan.

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#520

Post by Sturm78 » 09 May 2014, 12:06

Hi all,

An image of the barrel breech of a heavy coastal gun in Hawaii

Image from EBay
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1936 Schofield Barracks 11th FA large artillery Hawaii 2 Photos-.jpg

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#521

Post by ROLAND1369 » 10 May 2014, 05:32

My bet is a 12 inch M1895 gun on a carriage DCLF M1901, if so and in Hawaii it has to be BTY SELFRIDGE. Ther is too little detail to firmly confirm the nomenclature.

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#522

Post by Sturm78 » 10 May 2014, 14:59

Thank you, ROLAND1369

I know the difficulty of this identification

Regards Sturm78

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#523

Post by ROLAND1369 » 11 May 2014, 13:35

Obviously the id was too difficult for me. After further examination of the visable parts of the elevating band and comparison with photos of 14 inch an more importantly surviving 12 inch from my recent trip to Corregidor I was wrong in im id. The pic is of a 14 inch dc not a 12 inch. Thus if it is Hawaii it must be Battery Randolph.

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#524

Post by Sturm78 » 11 May 2014, 20:11

Thank you, again, ROLAND1369 !! :) :wink:

I have doubts with this gun. :?

Image from EBay
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eng2-151.jpg

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Re: Help to Id. US artillery

#525

Post by ROLAND1369 » 12 May 2014, 04:58

What kind of doubts? I appears to be a standard M5-3 inch AT gun as used by the towed Tank Destroyer Battalions in europe.

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