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Smoke discharger

MINENAZ16

Well-Known Member
Ordnance approved
Hello,
What is the designation of smoke pots used on this tank smoke discharger ?
Regards

tank-matilda-smoke.jpg3951539.JPG3951539.JPG
 
Scaling the generator length to diameter by eye, it can only be a Generator Smoke No.8 Mk 1.
The diameter is a shade over 4" and the length is just under 6". Mks 2 and 3 of the same generator had a diameter less than the length.
This was 1940 production so fits in perfectly.
 
For Small Arms Ammunition collectors this was the smoke discharger that initially used the Cartridge, SA, Discharger Smoke Generator, .303-inch E Mark I T (the T indicating a black powder filling); later the H1 Grenade Cartridge was used.

I believe this apparatus to have an interesting history. I have not quite found all of the pieces of the jig-saw but work seems to have started on a remotely operated discharger at the end of 1917 to meet a requirement to protect the rear end of a Handley Page Bomber from the attention of enemy aircraft. The resulting design was similar to that shown on the tank but the discharger fired an HE grenade ("No 48 RAF Time Experimental") of 64mm diameter. A later design used a 2-inch discharger firing a 'Brandt' shaped bomb with a Steuart fuze. The end of war, and the advent of better solutions, brought an end to the interest of the RAF in the discharger but the Tank Corps apparently saw possibilities, especially for smoke screening purposes. The 4-inch discharger likely arose because of the smoke payload required to give an effective screen. In 1940 an idea was put forward to use the 4-inch discharger with an up-sized No 68 Grenade for anti-tank purposes.


Notes: 1. With apologies for ignoring the work of Burn and others
2. The Grenade No 48 serial was later reassigned to a signal grenade.
 
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