Stellan,
Lovely picture of a Malta Bofors. It was emplaced in the right hand corner of the old saluting battery at upper barracca garden, Valletta overlooking the Grand Harbour. The sandbags making up the emplacement have ammo boxes built into them, for ready-at-hand ammunition. The canvas cover is in place over the predictor, which indicates that it was not being used. In fact the gunners preferred hand control. To use predictor control would mean having to start up a Coventry Climax 2.75 kw generator. In the words of an ex-gunner " they were pigs to start!" Another reason for using hand control was that it was more personal and satisfying. Also the predictor would sometimes go out of sync with the gun, providing some scary moments for the crew.
__________________
George Cross Island
|