U.S. 81mm M-56 Mortar Shell

[wichitaslumlord]

I found this nice 81mm M-56 mortar round at a military show in Dallas TX this weekend. It is a presentation piece to a worker at the U.S. MACHINE CORPORATION in Lebanon Indiana USA. It is dated as "A MEMENTO OF 1944" on the plaque. There are no markings on the round itself. It is a thin walled round and from what information I have found, it would be filled with high explosives. Being a high capacity, thin walled round, could it also have been used for WP or chemical fillers?
In over 40 years of collecting I have never crossed paths with one before. Are they that uncommon or have I just been that unlucky? Any information or comments welcome! THANKS Pat

 

[ordnance]

Just your bad luck Pat. :bigsmile: They do show up from time to time but are far less common than the M43 types. I've seen a couple more with the same type of plaque attached but never had a chance to get one like it. As an M56, it's definitely a high capacity HE type. There's a really nice one with original yellow paint on Gunbroker right now. The M57 chemical type was similar but had a long internal burster tube.

The fins are incorrect for this round as it should have the 12 blade aluminum fin common to the M301 illumination shell. As a presentation piece, I'm sure they didn't care about having the correct fins. Nice piece!

Looking forward to seeing you at SOS next month.

 

[wichitaslumlord]

Thanks Rick. I had no idea the aluminum fins were correct for this model!

See you at SOS!