British weapons can be confusing.
Is that the 3.7" HAA gun? Or is that the early limited pattern 3.7inch infantry howitzer that was obsolete by the middle of the war? If the range isn't around 18,000 yards, then its probably not the 3.7 HAA vickers.
Ordnance, Q.F. 3.7-inch How Mk 3 on Carriage Mk 4P
http://members.tripod.com/~nigelef/37inchowsheet.htm
Quote:
|
The 3.7-inch How was designed before WW1 but did not enter service until about early 1917, and was used in Palestine and East Africa with both British and Indian mountain batteries, although the first users were probably the Hong Kong & Singapore battery with the Imperial Camel Corps in Palestine. Between the wars they were used on the NW Frontier of India and developed a reputation for accurate and consistent shooting. During the 1930's they were also used in light batteries in regular British infantry divisions. Designed as pack artillery they could be disassembled and carried by mules or towed by short draught (no limber). In the 1930's they were further adapted for vehicle towing, the Mk 2P carriage. During WW2 they had some use in European and African theatres and initially with airborne batteries, being generally but not entirely replaced by 75-mm M1, 3.7-inch How batteries accompanied 1 Cdo Bde across the Rhine at Wesel in 1945. However, they were most widely used in Burma, mainly by Indian mountain batteries but also by British field and light batteries, and continued to serve on India's NW Frontier. A few were also used in Guadacanal by RNZA and New Guinea by RAA. Production was transferred to India and during WW2 798 carriages and 805 ordnances were manufactured there together with some 2.7 million HE rounds. A HEAT anti-tank shell was specifically developed and produced for use in Burma.
|
Ahh, found a good data point on Nigels Page.
http://members.tripod.com/~nigelef/otherfp.htm
Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Quote:
|
As the war progressed the air threat decreased and both heavy and light AA units were used in the field role. HAA batteries equipped with the 3.7-inch HAA gun had long range (18,600 yards at full charge), unrestricted top traverse and were typically handled as medium artillery, and often used for CB tasks. Their high rate of fire and time fuzes were an added bonus, the latter were particularly useful. In Italy statistics reveal that many HAA regiments fired only a few thousand rounds at air targets but perhaps 50 times as many at ground targets! Most of this fire was indirect although HAA units were not officially issued with the necessary fire control equipment until late 1944. A reduced charge was introduced for ground fire in order to reduce barrel wear.
|
.
.
.
Quote:
One problem was that AA guns were designed to fire short bursts at infrequent targets. However, in the field role, particularly 3.7-inch when firing as part of a fireplan, they were required to fire for periods of a few hours. This caused equipment failure and the guns got so hot that paint on the barrels blistered and on one occasion at least the barrels were visibly drooping. A second possible issue was that 3.7-inch HAA shells had been designed to produce quite large fragments to maximise damage to aircraft. This meant that a burst produced fewer and bigger fragments that needed to create battlefield casualties. Of course this didn't matter too much when neutralisation was required.
In the final months of the war in NW Europe HAA brigades were used as AGRAs in major fire plans.
|