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Wombat info


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Hi...

 

I have a LIVE MOBAT... I may have somethng in my manuals for the WOMBAT will have a look

 

Weapon was the .50cal spotting rifle mounted on the top of the Barrel..

 

I have all the photos in this vid... http://www.hmvftv.com/watch/ddfb385ea76b26521ea4/120mm-WOMBATs-and-MOBATs-in-Service

 

Cheers Lee

 

mobat1.jpg

Edited by Marmite!!
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what's the difference?

 

BAT.... Battalion Anti-Tank

 

MOBAT.... Mobile Battalion Anti-Tank PW era towed by the muzzle

Side mounted bBren, mags filled with tracers

 

WOMBAT.... Weapon Of Magnesium Battalion Anti-Tank lightened barrel made of magnesium carried in the back of Land Rovers & mounted in FV432's

.50 cal tracer spotting rifle mounted on top of barrel

 

1st photo WOMBAT, 2nd MOBAT, 3rd BAT ROUND

51stHighlandV.jpg

Cyprus_3.jpg

ab5.jpg

Edited by Marmite!!
Correction to photo order
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I take it they both used the 1 piece 120mm Hesh round, As can remember being a naughty boy on my NCO's cadre in Cyprus and had to do the old "Pick the round up and 2 laps of the square, GO"

 

Yep.. & a canister round & HE... they did experiment with a chemical round but not much use lobbing one of those a short distance..

 

A complete round weighs in at almost 80lbs & with it's storage container a whopping 110lbs

Cyprus_1.jpg

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Not forgetting CONBAT which is a MOBAT designed to assimilate the characteristics of WOMBAT.

 

Fitted with WOMBAT sighting & firing systems & with the 0.50 in Spotting Rifle M8C.

 

Towed behind vehicle & not transported as is the WOMBAT but is transportable by air & adapted for dropping by parachute.

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is it possible to get sighting bits and pieces still?

 

and how was it fastened down in the back of a 109

 

Ian

 

 

Any BAT bits are very rare as are the Guns, ther are very few WW2 BATS, I have one of only 6 MOBATS, (I know of a complete deactivated MOBAT for sale £5k, one sold for £6,800 last year) haven't seen any CONBATS, there seems to be more WOMBATS about but not that many..

 

It's taken me a few years & a fair bit of dosh to collect the accessories & manuals...

 

Sighting gear will be very hard to find... I managed to get a spare sight for the CES a few years back...

 

Do you have a WOMBAT or looking to buy one??

Edited by Marmite!!
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Why you don't stand behind a BAT... 80% of the propellant is expelled through the rear venturi, only 20% is used in actually firing the shell..

 

The photo in question isn't a BAT, it's a M40 106mm RCL Anti-Tank Rifle, but you get the idea

firing.jpg

Edited by Marmite!!
info added
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  • 3 weeks later...

Lee, I have read this thread with great interest but could you explain exactly how the BAT was used? I gather it uses a sighting rifle to fire tracer to aim the main barrel, but would this be done by just one man, and how would it work against a moving target as there must have been a short delay between observing the tracer and firing the main gun?

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It's being incorrectly termed a sighting gun: it is a ranging gun. A small weapon with similar ballistics to the main armament has a modified (if necessary) round to increase / decrease its ballistics to exactly match those of the main armament.

 

When a target is engaged, a short burst from the ranging gun is used first, firing at a range estimated by the commander. The fall of shot is observed, the range corrected accordingly and another ranging burst fired. When the ranging burst is seen to strike the target, a main armament round is fired using the same sight picture. Ought to guarantee a first-round hit with the seriously more-expensive and limited-supply (a Scorpion could carry a mountain of 7.72mm belt, 1 ball 1 trace for the L37 GPMG ranging gun but only 42 correctly-stowed 76mm rounds for the main) 120mm (e.g.) ammunition.

 

The drills for engaging a moving target basically amount to tracking the target (largely in traverse) and continuing to do so through the moment of firing, and aiming forward of the target so that it and the shot are coincident in the space / time continuum when the round lands.

 

With a muzzle velocity of 533ms-1, a 76mm HESH round would take just under 3 seconds to cover the range of a typical engagement at 1500m.

Edited by AlienFTM
Edited for being stupid
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