SOE Spigot Mortar

[siegfreid]

Here's a scan of the tree spigot mortar with both types of projectile . It's a photo from my old collection taken about 25 years ago but I don't think I ever actually owned it although I did have some of the drill rounds . This may have been taken at the IWM but I'm not sure . Mike.

 

[switch]

Hi Mike

I might be a bit backwards here, but I do not quite understand the projectile in the middle of your picture. It appears to have a pair of time pencils inserted into the back of the warhead??!! I know that a modified time pencil was used for discharging the tree spigot after a delay period, but was there a projectile that was discharged, and then initiated after a delay (Time pencil)?

Apologies if I am misinterpreting the photograph, but I understand that a variety of projectiles were trialled for the tree spigot, not all of which came to general issue.

Cheers

Switch

 

[siegfreid]

Switch . I can't remember but the drill ones I had also had two tubes like that [& a wooden head] . Norman or Dave can probably tell us . Thanks , Mike.

 

[switch]

Mike

Thanks for that - Hopefully someone will be able to enlighten us accordingly.

Cheers

Switch

 

[Bonnex]

Mike and Switch,

The projectile in question is an early pattern Tree Spigot Bomb. The two fuzes are in fact simple inertia fuzes with shear wire safety. The Tree (and Plate) Spigot was designed by CV Clarke (of Limpet and 'Great Eastern' fame) in 1940 and a number of bomb types were experimented with. By the end of the war the bomb type was as per the left hand example - base fuzed HESH with near silent projection. An incendiary projectile was also designed late in the war.

I'll write something up on it.