40 mm Bofors AA guns made in GB and US

[Pete M]

This is a hugely informative thread and has been very useful to me in identifying a 1937/39 Instructional model of the 40mm Bofors that I am trying to restore. I think the model, like most instructional models used by the British Armed forces, was made by Bassett-Lowke, it is made of brass and is about 1/8th scale. From the information I've gleaned from Terry Gander's book and the wonderful information in this thread I think I've identified the model as a Mk I Bofors on a Mk I carriage, possibly Mk IA (Polish Carriage). The model also has the "Bofors/Polish Course and Speed Corrector" although parts of it are damaged/missing.

I was heartbroken half-way through the thread to discover that Stellan had died, especially so as he was a real driving force in learning new information about the Bofors and also the prime mover in keeping this thread alive. In one post he indicated that he was preparing a book on the Bofors, does anyone know how far he got with that and if anyone has taken it on after his death?

In one of his earlier posts Stellan showed a photograph of some girls with 40mm Barrels and wanted to know which factory this was? I think there's a high degree of probability that it is the 'Hush-Hush' factory that was in Tubney woods just outside Abingdon. The manufacture of the barrels was re-located here after the Coventry factory was bombed. Article on the subject here:

https://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/...elped-win-war/

On the subject of the wheel nuts, Terry Gander's book, page 49, indicates that the Mk IA (Polish) Carriage's are identifiable from five bolts on the wheel hubs. However, earlier in this thread Stellan indicated that it was the Swedish made carriages that used five wheel nuts and the Polish carriages that used six? Does anyone know for sure? Certainly on page 21 of the Gander book there appears a 1938 photo, taken in A B Bofors workshop, which shows a 1936 model Bofors, ultimately destined for Dutch East Indies, which has five bolts on the wheel hub. This would seem to indicate that Stellan has it correct and that Gander inadvertently transposed the numbers, or did the 1936 model simply involve a re-design to the Polish style?

There doesn't appear to be an option to upload images to this site so I'll have to look into getting some images up on a web hosting site so you can see the model.