I am in search of photo's of the Improvised artillery RNAS ect., used, often seen towed by Rolls Royce Armored Cars, especially the 3 pounder Hotchkiss. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(Picture attached)
All the Best
Tim R.
-- Edited by Tim R on Friday 28th of December 2018 09:32:54 PM
-- Edited by Tim R on Friday 28th of December 2018 09:49:52 PM
I can't see much similarity to be honest, Peter - the AA guns in the Dardanelles seem quite flimsy-looking affairs with carriages that definitely have the appearance of something literally 'knocked-up in the field', whereas the one in the original post seems to be of much sturdier construction with several characteristics of the contemporary 13pdr & 18pdr field guns (a single pole trail & elaborate folding armoured shields around & beneath the gun), which makes me think it's the product of a better equipped workshop.
The one in the bottom picture is Russian I think, with a presumably relatively mass-produced carriage, so is probably not related to the RNAS guns.
Yes the bottom one is Russian: I just chose that picture as it showed the carriage well. There are other pictures of guns like this, not all Russian. I believe it was a standard Hotchkiss product. I only asked if this was the same carriage, not saying that it definitely was.
There are clear carriage shape similarities to the Dardanelles guns but they do look more improvised. Maybe someone has seen one and tried copying it. The shoulder pads suggest that the ordnance is naval: Hotchkiss 3pdr naval guns are commonly seen with this attachment. So I think they meet the "improvised" criterion.
Looking again at the original picture I have to agree that they are very different. Being RNAS, this is probably another naval weapon: it also has the shoulder pad. It seems to be mounted on an old cart chassis - or perhaps part of a chassis from a damaged vehicle - fitted with (differently-sized) pneumatic tyres. Note the horizontal girders. The pole trail is, I believe, the tongue of the cart/wagon. Just behind the officer's backside you can see what looks like the neck yoke for hitching a horse or maybe a handlebar for hand pushing: the horizontal bar pointing at his bum.
The folding shield is nicely done, as is the hinged lower shield plate. Some naval mountings had the angled flat-plate shield, to which the folding wing pieces seem to have been added. Attaching the weapon mounting to the chassis - whatever it is - would have needed significant engineering as the recoil system looks quite puny.
Now, this one below looks to me to be very similar to, if not the same as, the RNAS gun. Different wheels and no shield, but the carriage looks pretty much the same to me. Here it does look like part of a car or light truck chassis rather than a cart, but could be completely improvised. You can't see the trail here, but the method of mounting the gun to the carriage is much clearer. The source for this photo (IWM) suggests that it's being used by RNAS personnel of the Armoured Car Expeditionary Force, but they could equally be Russian.
This view shows the other end of the carriage of another gun, but it's not identical to the one above. Similar, but not identical. Shows I was wrong with my cart chassis idea above. But where is the towing attachment?
