About British 1 Pdr / 37mm WW1

[37bis]

Hi,
When the fuse of british HE 37mm shell is marked "P". Is it an exercise projectile (P = practice) ? or, as some say, a day tracer / incendiary (P = phosphorus) ?


Thanks for your help.

 

[TimG]

Do you have an image of the base of the projectile?
Have you disassembled the 'fuze'?

A "Fuze, Percussion, Q.F., 1Pr." should have a flash hole in the bottom of the fuze, from the above image it would appear this is not present. The Day Tracer Projectile, Mk I used "Plug, Fuze Hole, Q.F., 1 Pr" from the plate, one assumes this was machined from solid. I suspect that this is a 'Plug' fabricated from fuze components. The 'P' in this instance, is to signify that it is a 'Plug' and not a 'Fuze.'

TimG

 

[Burney Davis]

I think every 37mm day tracer I have had came with this converted plug. I have also seen them in a practice projectile.

D

 

[37bis]

Others photos of the first projectile :



and of a second projectile :


Fuses are empty.

 

[Gspragge]

1st one is a day tracer, secound one is the regular explosive. If you rinse the first one
with some alcohol you might see a purple colour.

 

[TimG]

As you can see from the accompanying diagram, the first projectile has what very much appears to be a 'Day Tracer Vent'.

Have the bottom of the fuze bodies been soldered over?

TimG

 

[TimG]

Gordon, I'm pleased you described it as Purple, my experience is very deep blue, but the Treatise describes it as black. What is puzzling is that the constituents for Day Tracer liquid are stated to be Turpentine and Aniline, clear and yellow, so why is it the colour it is?

TimG

 

[37bis]

So, in summary, the Day-tracer has a plug.
The fuse marked P and empty, ie without mechanism, is for the practice.
Exact ?

And what do you think about this one:
The fuse can not be disassembled.

 

[Gspragge]

Clear and yellow make no sense for the dye, maybe that is the turpentine grade.
The fuzes marked P = PLUG I don't see the empty mark here ? but last fuze looks
soldered together and filed down so the top can't be unscrewed as well. The Day tracer
is not practice per say, but you could practice with it. A plugged projectile that is not a tracer
would be a practice type and in theory have a yellow painted band around it. These are Arsenal modified fuzes,
not V.S.M. modified (as far as I know unless they were contracted to do this) V.S.M. plugs are solid and
are found on Drill rounds made by them.

(I recall seeing an image one of these with the letter N stamped on the body (N = Navy) but I cannot find an image of it.)

I think a few years ago I posted a day tracer showing a bowl of purple coloured alcohol, it's here somewhere. If I recall
the base of the fuze had been cut and a large lead filler slug was observed.