Just an ordinary No.117 fuze

[Rrickoshae]

well no, not quite. Its designation is 117 R1M1. This was given to me by a friend who worked in a local engineering firm. Actually, the R stands for Rhodesia. These were being made in contravention of the embargo put in place following UDI. It worked OK for some years but someone in authority got wind of it and the firm was raided. Every effort was made to find every single fuze but my friends friend had just finished assembling this one and in the heat of the moment put it in his pocket. he later gave it to my friend (his colleague) who subsequently passed it on to me. The managing director spent some time in a small room with barred windows!

 

[Tarbelin51]

Hello
I spent a few months in Angola.
And during this mission I collating a lot of information. And some of the information that has been recovered is that the marking R1M1 and R2M1 etc, are markings of South Africa.
See photo with markings.
Regarding Rodhesie, actually it is the R but with other letters and numbers. Example: RAP-1 or RAP-2 Rodhesian Anti-Personnal.
Mine R1M1

Mortar R1M2

Handgrenade R1M5

Rocket R1M4


I hope my English is correct and that my explanations are also correct

 

[Rrickoshae]

hmmm, nothing is what it seems! Thanks for all that, I'll get back to him and see what else he remembers - perhaps he got it wrong, or only heard what others thought they were making - I don't suppose the 'workers' were told who the end user was to be. I'll up date this if I can find anything else. Dave

 

[bommuntje]

here some fuze's of the 25pounder