Rubber Rests. Wooden Rests. Mk1 and Mk1*

[Michael R.]

Good thought Lynn.

If I may quote a portion of your post and explain an observation:

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

We need a place to store details about the various rests and how they are fitted.

It appears the Mortar carriers had the side mounted ones on the outside . . .

while the U.C. had them on the inside. (and the U.C. rear ones are on the outside)
If we can get some solid info added here it will help those following on.

Ford Canada, located in Windsor, Ontario, produced a 3” mortar carrier as a specific model. The model number C21UCM used the hull of the standard universal carrier MK-I*. No firing rests were installed. Any holes punched in the protection plates used for the installation of firing rests were filled by the riveting method. The engine cover firing rest of the standard U.C. MK-I* was not installed on the C21UCM.

Kits were also provided to convert existing C01UC MK-I* carriers to 3” mortar. Photographs of such converted carriers may cause discussion as some of the eight (8) original firing rests could have been retained or modified. An example could be the gunner loophole rest, which was produced in early and late heights of rubber material only.

The C21UCM 3” mortar carrier was eventually identified as a model UC2 on the data plate, particularly in contract CDLV 1555. (roughly October 1942 through July, 1943).

Are we limiting the discussion to rubber/wood as found on factory production MK-I/MK-I* models? IE not the update program to MK-II standard where firing rests were replaced with rolled steel.

If members want to discuss the updated MK-I/MK-I* to MK-II, C21UCG, C31UCW, T16 and Windsor could that be a separate thread?

.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

I would keep the discussion about the firing rests in one thread. If needed, I can always split up in separate threads later.

[Petr Brezina]

If I may - I was always thinking that mortar and AOP carriers were not using firing rests at all, no matter of the Mark.
Obviously not true - please see attached picture of british made Mk.1 3inch mortar. I believe this is the variant Lynn is talking about - firing rests mounted outside. However what I still think is that Mk.II variants of mortar carriers and Mk.III AOP carriers have no firing rests - rolled steel (I mean british made at least but possibly also *).

[Rob Beale]

I bekieve this pic is of the prototype for the 3" Mortar Carrier Mk I.
It is a converted Universal Mark 1 with many UC parts still fitted such as the firing rests.
The T number may confirm this.
Rob