My new toy - 1942 "M & A" Bofors gun

[Darkman]

As I am a Bofors fanatic, I recently bought this ex Australian Army 40mm Bofors gun. It is a British made gun - a 1942 Mk I* "M & A" gun in a Mk IV "N M" mounting on a Mk III (round outrigger legs) "BPM Ltd" platform.

It is in generally great condition and elevates/traverses OK on the crank handles. To deactivate it a solid plug has been welded in the barrel near the flash eliminator and the breech ring/firing pin has been removed, plus a few other minor things done.

It is missing the complete sight assembly (possibly stolen as it has been freshly removed) and the rear breech casing cover/cartridge deflector, but other than that it is fairly complete and in good mechanical order having been stored under cover for many years. The hydraulic pumps, electric motors and azimuth indicator (for synchronisation with the Kerrison predictor) used for automatic operation were removed by the Army in WW2 - a common mod to convert to manual operation only.

If anyone in Australia has any sight parts or a rear breech casing cover they would part with I would be very pleased to hear from them.

It is currently in post WW2 (Korean War?) trim with many minor mods including the single man (loader/firing number) platform conversion.

I know the Breech Casing was manufactured by Nuffield Mechanisation & Aero, but does anyone know who "N M" (mounting) or "BPM Ltd" (platform)was? I would love to find out.

Cheers, Graeme

 

[TimG]

Graeme,

Very nice

If you can wait a month or so, I'll see if I can find the contracts.

TimG

p.s. BPM might be Beyer Peacock, Manchester. Who once made rail locomotives.

 

[HAZORD]

Very nice! Wish I had one.

 

[Dronic69]

Hey Graeme - congratulations!

But you might need to upgrade your man cave to accommodate it.

I know someone who may have some spare bofor bits to haggle over............I'll email you.

Cheers
Drew

 

[Darkman]

Just bumping this up. I was wondering if Tim G has had a chance to look up who the mounting and platform manufacturers may have been.

 

[TimG]

Graeme,

Alas not. It was my intention to visit the Archives today, however the Barbarians are playing the Fijians at Twickenham which means traffic will be gridlocked. I'm going early next week to finish some research and I'll try and fit it in then.

Apologies

TimG

 

[TimG]

Graeme,

BPM - Bowater Paper Mills, Northfleet, Kent. Up until the start of WWII one of the biggest producers of newsprint in the UK. At the start of the war they closed the factory due to war economy restrictions.

N M - The records for the Bofors manufacture are a nightmare, every contract for whatever item, right down to nuts and bolts is listed chronologically. At this stage the closest I could find was Wm. Newman & Sons Ltd, Hospital Street, Birmingham (they used to manufacture 'Briton' door closers). They did have contracts for mountings. There are some other records I will look at when I get the opportunity.

Regards

TimG