"David" high-velocity anti-tank gun

[tankbarrell]

http://www.bookworldws.co.uk/pounder...ce-p-4094.html

Other booksellers are available! It's worth getting.

[Colin Alford]

Gents,

If you are interested in an in-depth read of war-time documents pertaining to this gun see this link:

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oo...2/1613?r=0&s=1

There are 3 files pertaining to it's development and trials:

55/2100/P2 - Proj No 2 - 2 pr David H.V. Gun - starts at image 1613 (above link) and ends image 1896.

55/2100/P2/2 starts at image 1898 and ends at 2144.

55/2100/P2/3 starts at image 2149 and ends at 2294.

The documents in these files are placed in reverse chronological order so the reader may wish to start at image 1896, work backwards to 1613, skip to 2144, work backwards to 1898 etc.

Happy reading!

Colin

[rob love]

Holy smokes Colin....lots of information there.

[Colin Alford]

Gents,

The files listed in my previous post were Canadian Military Headquarters-London files.

The following link will get you to the Army Technical Design Branch files related to the "David"

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oo...5/2955?r=0&s=4

These files start at image 2955 (above link) and end at 3668.

My disclaimer: I have no specific interest in this topic and merely used this evening to test my research skills.

With that said, as I was skimming through the file trying to find the end of it I noticed some information that is worth some discussion:

The attached 5 documents seem to indicate that there was some confusion regarding correct nomenclature.

They can be found at images 3472, 3482, 3443, 3423; and 3534

Here is my interpretation of the war-time documents:

There were only 4 true "David" guns produced (2 Pr H.V. on a 2 Pr Carriage with 360 degree traverse and fitted with Muzzle break): Ex 19 and Ex 20 were sent to the UK, their barrels became worn during firing trials and two new barrels were produced and shipped. Ex 81 and Ex 82 were produced at the same time as the replacement barrels and were intended to stay in Canada.

Ex 54 and Ex 55 were essentially 6 pr guns on 6 pr carriages but with 2 pr bores. These were intended to stay in Canada and be used for firing trials. Ex 55 subsequently was modified by having the barrel drilled to accept pressure gauges.

The post-war "confusion": In the typed text of the last document (Feb 46) the two guns on 6 pr carriages (Ex 54 and 55) are identified as "Davids" but this is contrary to the war-time documents. In the handwritten note at the bottom of the page (which was subsequently scratched out) it seems to say "Not Davids. Davids are 6 pr bored for 2 pr" with an arrow pointing to the information regarding Ex 81 and 82. Again this is contrary to the war-time documents

My deduction is that the Shilo gun is likely Ex 54 due to no obvious (in the available images) barrel drilling for pressure gauges.

Given this information I think that it may be incorrect to refer to the Shilo Gun as a "David" although it was certainly part of the "David" project and designed to fire "David" ammunition.

Colin

[Tony Williams]

Wow - I am most impressed, gentlemen, thank you for taking the time to help!

[Tony Williams]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

http://www.bookworldws.co.uk/pounder...ce-p-4094.html

Other booksellers are available! It's worth getting.

Thanks, that one has arrived, along with Roger Lucy's book Secret Weapons of the Canadian Army (which has rather more info).

[rob love]

I pulled the 2 pr off the golf course a week or two back, repaired both tires and gave it a quick coat of paint before it moves over to the main museum. I thought I would put some photos on here. I could not find the EX number. The carriage number does not match the documents Colin showed and I didn't spot a breech ring number. The number may well be on the breech end of the barrel, covered by the stuck breech block, so it will remain a mystery for now. Note it has the groove and keyway for the littlejohn attachment (I believe).

I had a look earlier in the week.....as can be seen it is raining now with possibly some snow flurries today, so the details did not come out that well.

[tankbarrell]

Breech ring number is usually stamped vertically on the right hand rear face of the ring. There should be two numbers, one starting FL which is the part number and one starting B/R Lxxxxx which is the serial number.
The barrel will have its own number stamped on the rear face.

The ring is stamped as a tank ring rather than an AT gun ring.

[rob love]

OK, so I scraped away the paint in the area of the markings at the back of the breech, and here is what I found. Still no EX numbers.

[David Dunlop]

Rob. The end section of the barrel in Ed’s photo from Kapyong looks a lot longer than the one on the gun you just posted pictures of. Are they two different guns by any chance?

David

[rob love]

Same gun. If you blow the photo up you can see the groove on the end of the barrel.

[tankbarrell]

Originally Posted by rob love

OK, so I scraped away the paint in the area of the markings at the back of the breech, and here is what I found. Still no EX numbers.

With a blank serial number!

[rob love]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

With a blank serial number!

Yep. I'm going to have to touch up the paint in that area and the mystery will have to wait for someone else to solve it someday in the future. Perhaps when the entire gun is stripped or sandblasted, the numbers will show up. In the meantime, I'll copy and insert some of the relevant information into the gun's electronic file.