40 mm Bofors AA guns made in GB and US

[John McGillivray]

Originally Posted by madame_faloola

Hi John,

With regards to the picture of the Bofors/Crusader that you posted on 3rd October 2004 at 17.10, do you have any idea where it was taken? My Grandad was a gunner and landed on Juno beach on D-Day - he talks about being on a crusader tank, but that there were no armour plates around the gun.
Thanks for your help,

Rachel

Originally Posted by John McGillivray

Another photo of a Crusader III, AA Mk I on Juno Beach.

It is a detail from Library and Archives Canada photo PA-137013 taken on June 6, 1944 at Bernieres-sur-Mer.
The caption reads:
“View looking east along 'Nan White' Beach, showing personnel of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade landing from LCI(L) 299 of the 2nd Canadian (262nd RN) Flotilla on D-Day”

I believe that the Crusader III, AA Mk I belongs to the 102nd LAA Regt RA of I British Corps.

[madame_faloola]

Thanks so much for your speedy reply!

[ramacal]

Originally Posted by John McGillivray

It is a detail from Library and Archives Canada photo PA-137013 taken on June 6, 1944 at Bernieres-sur-Mer.
The caption reads:
“View looking east along 'Nan White' Beach, showing personnel of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade landing from LCI(L) 299 of the 2nd Canadian (262nd RN) Flotilla on D-Day”

I believe that the Crusader III, AA Mk I belongs to the 102nd LAA Regt RA of I British Corps.

Hi I'm Rob.

My Dad served in 102 LAA Regt, RA and I'm intrigued about the comment regarding the Crusader III, AA Mk 1 on Juno Beach on 6 June 1944.

Having researched this unit in depth, they did not arrive in Normandy until 16 June and on Sword Beach. Their records do not show them using any Crusaders at all. I have seen a few sites which give 102 LAA Regt assault landing credit for 6 June, but have never been able to verify this.

War diaries do not always have the correct information and if it's possible to verify a presence on Juno on 6 June, I'd be very interested to find out.

Thanks.

[John McGillivray]

It looks like I got it wrong. That’s what happens when one jumps to conclusions with checking on the facts.

I knew that the Crusaders were not Canadian, and that the 3rd Cdn Inf Div. had landed as part of the 1st British Corps. However, I did some more digging and found that there were detachments from the 93rd LAA Regt RA and the 114th LAA Regt RA which were supporting the landings of 3CID. In Richard C. Anderson’s book “Cracking Hilter’s Atlantic Wall” there is a table on page 145 giving the numbers of Casualties suffered by 8th Cdn Inf. Brigade and supporting units. It includes 5 casualties from the 114th LAA Regt. RA. So it appears that the Crusader III, AA Mk 1 belongs to that Regiment. Unless someone else can come up with better information?

Originally Posted by madame_faloola

Hi John,

With regards to the picture of the Bofors/Crusader that you posted on 3rd October 2004 at 17.10, do you have any idea where it was taken? My Grandad was a gunner and landed on Juno beach on D-Day - he talks about being on a crusader tank, but that there were no armour plates around the gun.
Thanks for your help,

Rachel

Which unit did you Grandad serve with?

[ramacal]

Hi John

I'd be interested to know what unit the Grandfather served in as well. 102 LAA was converted in 1941 from the 7th Lincolns and Madame-faloola is based in Lincoln. Very remote possibility of a link I know, but stranger things have happened.

Regards - Rob

[madame_faloola]

Hi Rob and John,

Although I'm in Lincoln at the moment, I am infact a ScaleE brat, and my grandad has only been here a few times. He's from Walsall way, he originally was in the South Staffs branch of the TA (I think) and then served in the 114th LAA regiment, landing on Juno Beach on 6th June at Graye-sur-Mer. He told me he was on the beach for about two weeks and he saw Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Montgomery and the likes land on the beach infront of where he was parked (he hates it when I say that!) So with this new info, there is increasing likelihood that this could be the gun my grandad operated? He metioned they only had four mounted on crusaders but I don't know who he was referring to when he said it. Visiting Normandy again with him this year was interesting as we went in to the Pegasus Bridge museum and he was showing me where he stood and what he did with his mates on the gun that's there. He doesn't tell us much, but we get a little bit more everytime we go.

Rachel

[David Dunlop]

Just to add a little complexity to the earlier asked simple question of who built the 40mm Bofors in Canada, it was, indeed, built by Otis-Fensom Elevator Co. Ltd. in London, Ontario. They also manufactured the 40mm gun barrels and mounting assemblies. In addition they also built the 2 and 6-pdr gun barrels and mountings.

As in any well organized war production effort, the following companies supplied 40mm Bofors parts to Otis:

Atlas Steels Ltd - Welland, ON - 40mm gun forgings
Barnes Wallace Co. Ltd - Hamilton, ON - 40mm gun springs
Canada Electric Castings Ltd. - Orillia, ON - gun castings
Ferranti Electric Ltd. - Mount Dennis, ON - 40mm Bofors magslips
Pressure Castings of Canada Ltd. - Weston, ON - 40mm chargers

40mm ammunition cases were made by:

Aluminum Goods Company - Toronto, ON
Pedlar People Ltd. - Oshawa, ON

40mm shells were made by:

Babcock-Wilcox Ltd. - Galt, ON
Goldie-McCulloch Ltd. - Galt, ON
Ingersoll Machine & Tool Co. Ltd. - Ingersoll, ON
Massey-Harris Co. Ltd. - Toronto, ON
W. H. Banfield & Sons Ltd. - Toronto, ON

Probably a lot of other contributers as well, but thought I'd share what I was aware of so far.

[ramacal]

Next time I go to the National Archives at Kew, I'll check the war diary of 114 LAA as it should tell us what equipment they were using. The information I've got is that HQ, 372, 375 Btys of 114 LAA Rgt RA landed on Juno on 6/6/1944. If you can persuade him gently, you could apply for his service records for free as they will confirm which units he served in. If he does not like to discuss the subject of the war too much, then this may be a little difficult.

Originally Posted by madame_faloola

Hi Rob and John,

Although I'm in Lincoln at the moment, I am infact a ScaleE brat, and my grandad has only been here a few times. He's from Walsall way, he originally was in the South Staffs branch of the TA (I think) and then served in the 114th LAA regiment, landing on Juno Beach on 6th June at Graye-sur-Mer. He told me he was on the beach for about two weeks and he saw Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Montgomery and the likes land on the beach infront of where he was parked (he hates it when I say that!) So with this new info, there is increasing likelihood that this could be the gun my grandad operated? He metioned they only had four mounted on crusaders but I don't know who he was referring to when he said it. Visiting Normandy again with him this year was interesting as we went in to the Pegasus Bridge museum and he was showing me where he stood and what he did with his mates on the gun that's there. He doesn't tell us much, but we get a little bit more everytime we go.

Rachel

[madame_faloola]

Hi Rob,

I know he was 372nd Battery, 114th LAA regiment RA - would the service records give us any other information or just confirm this? He does talk about it, although he is a bit vague about some things, and maybe requesting the records might help him remember a bit better.

Thanks Rob!

Rachel