Wanted: Carrier parts and accessories wanted

[lssah2025]

I am looking for some bits and bobs..

1. A HMG Vickers mounting for carrier deck (See pics)
2. Mount that was used/modified (to use) the M2HMG or 1919 up front. (see pics)
3. Smoke discharger mount for 4" discharger.

And I am also looking into manufacturing the Vickers/Piat holder that mounts on the side wall for a carrier, I don't have any prices at this time, but those interested let me know.

Lance

[lssah2025]

Bump, still looking for parts..

[rob love]

While the front mounted 50 cal was not a standardized or approved modification, it was done with fair frequency. As such, there is no right or wrong mount to use. Some of the photos I have seen show them using the same mounting bracket as the halftrack. BMGParts has them listed on their mounts page. http://www.bmgparts.com/mount.html
Then you would just use the standard cradle.

I can't help think that the 50 must have really rattled the armour on a carrier.

For the smoke discharger mount, I believe Rod Shaver has them, either originals or repros.

[kevin powles]

Hi, on the subject of vickers mounts, I have a couple of original straps used to hold the tripod when stowed next to the driver TL stamped. Also has anyone seen a close up quality original pics of a vickers mounted up front in a rivited carrier?, I have the Australian mount I want to put on a canadian carrier, I would need to make an adapter plate to make it fit using the two holes that are there on the carrier.

[rob love]

Not quite carrier, but I wanted to relate how ad-hoc some of the modifications to up-gun the vehicles could be.

I talked with a fellow who was writing a book on WW2, and he related a story to me from a neighbor who drove a lynx in WW2. He broke an axle, and when he brought it to the vehicle dump to exchange it, they asked him if he wanted a salvaged 50. He took them up on the offer and had the RCEME mount it on top of the lynx. He later modified the lynx by removing the co-drivers seat and installing a bicycle seat on top of a post, so he could carry more ammunition.

The lynx and the carrier were not meant to be used as fighting vehicles, but the firepower of a 50 meant you were engaging targets of opportunity at much longer ranges and with a lot more effective firepower than the Bren would have provided.

[lssah2025]

Rob, thanks for the info, I completely forgot about BMG...

Originally Posted by rob love

The lynx and the carrier were not meant to be used as fighting vehicles, but the firepower of a 50 meant you were engaging targets of opportunity at much longer ranges and with a lot more effective firepower than the Bren would have provided.

Exactly, the .50 could reach out and touch someone, especially against structures and soft skin vehicles.

[Lynn Eades]

Kevin, some questions to ponder:
Have you ever wondered why the earlier British and Australian MG carriers had wider gun slots than those designed to carry a Bren gun?
For example a Canadian MkI* Universal carrier?
How wide are the gun slots in your U.Cs.?
What is the diameter of a Vickers M.G. water jacket?
Answering these questions now might save you some disappointment later.

[RichardT10829]

Having been present when Vickers has been deployed from the engine deck, I can see why the idea didn't take off with more crews... Your arc of fire is more restricted than you think, and the percussion onto the drivers and gunners heads is rediculous !

[Jim Burrill]

Some years back at the Cor's VMMV Openhouse, I met a veteran of the independent Machine Gun Company assigned to the 61st Division. He was a bren carrier driver and had his carrier with him from D+19 to the end of the war.

He said in all that time, they never fired the Vickers from the engine deck mount.... always took the section of Vickers up to a firing position and strung phones to them and the layer with the Barr and Stroud rangefinder.

He said in their role, they just never "fought from the carrier" with the Vickers.

[charlie fitton]

[QUOTE=rob love;214806]Not quite carrier, but I wanted to relate how ad-hoc some of the modifications to up-gun the vehicles could be.

DITTO:

Maj Del Struck, HLIofC CANLOAN officer to 10th HLI told me that he had 2 - .30 Brownings in each of his carriers... "they were lying around all over the place"

When I asked how they got ammo, he said "that was easy - we had rum, the Yanks had ammunition"