shatters Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 (edited) Whatever happened to the M109 Howitzers the British army used up until gulf war one? Were they sold on, returned to the U.S. or are they sat in reserve somewhere awaiting their fate ? Phil Edited November 7, 2009 by shatters poor spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 The M109 was I beleive the Light Gun 105 with a diffrent lenght of barrel, 45 calibers if mamory serves at this time of night, and a diffrent twist for US shells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shatters Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 The M109 was I beleive the Light Gun 105 with a diffrent lenght of barrel, 45 calibers if mamory serves at this time of night, and a diffrent twist for US shells. Sorry Tony that's the M119, I'm refering to the Paladin sp gun Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Cheers mate, Looong day! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan turner (RIP) Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 having worked at the Royal Artillery museum in woolwich I can tell you that they were all sold to Austria, where the chassis were stored and the turrets mounted on platforms in the mountains for self defence. The AUstrian authorities have been kind enough to totally refurbish 1 unit and present it to the museum and it currently resides in the cold war gallery (currently closed) where it is in Gulf 1 colours. sorry but I cant find a photo at the moment from own own collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shatters Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 having worked at the Royal Artillery museum in woolwich I can tell you that they were all sold to Austria, where the chassis were stored and the turrets mounted on platforms in the mountains for self defence. The AUstrian authorities have been kind enough to totally refurbish 1 unit and present it to the museum and it currently resides in the cold war gallery (currently closed) where it is in Gulf 1 colours. sorry but I cant find a photo at the moment from own own collection Amazing the amount of knowledge on this forum :-\ Many thanks Alan for such a detailed answer Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 The AUstrian authorities have been kind enough to totally refurbish 1 unit and present it to the museum and it currently resides in the cold war gallery (currently closed) where it is in Gulf 1 colours. Alan, That M109 was restored at Ashford workshops. There is a story attached to it, as it returned from the Gulf and was selected for the museum and sent back to UK........a certain item was found hidden in it........caused all sorts of problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I think this is the SPG you are talking about Alan !:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 the turrets mounted on platforms in the mountains for self defence. Thats interesting. You only think of nations doing that during and just after WW2. I had no idea such methods were still undertaken today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Signals Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Alan, That M109 was restored at Ashford workshops. There is a story attached to it, as it returned from the Gulf and was selected for the museum and sent back to UK........a certain item was found hidden in it........caused all sorts of problems. Come on then Richard, we aren't all 'in the know' and that is distinctly not a fair tactic Spill the beans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Alan, That M109 was restored at Ashford workshops. There is a story attached to it, as it returned from the Gulf and was selected for the museum and sent back to UK........a certain item was found hidden in it........caused all sorts of problems. Sorry Alan, you are correct, I made a mistake and was actually refering to the M110 and not the M109, always get those numbers confused :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
recymech66 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Alan, That M109 was restored at Ashford workshops. There is a story attached to it, as it returned from the Gulf and was selected for the museum and sent back to UK........a certain item was found hidden in it........caused all sorts of problems. Was it an AK or similar? I heard countless rumours of weapons being smuggled back hidden under A veh packs etc. Or that could be a myth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Was it an AK or similar? I heard countless rumours of weapons being smuggled back hidden under A veh packs etc. Or that could be a myth. It was a sub machine gun, I did not see it, but believe it might have been from Syrian forces. It was found under the flooring wrapped up in hessian. Caused a big flap and a lot of questioning. I understand it was deactivated and is now in the Royal Artillery Museum collection, where the M110 also is. So, definitely not a myth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan turner (RIP) Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 (edited) Thanks to richard for putting me right, thats the thing with working with the military, they tell you one thing when its not true and of course you keep the story going for the customers that ask cos you have been Bulls****d and dont know any better. nice photo of the firepower unit. The museum certainly have an AK47 but also a RPG kit. they never told us where they came from Edited November 7, 2009 by alan turner (RIP) more info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Thanks to richard for putting me right, Alan, You were right in the first place, see my post #11...........I got confused with the numbers....its an age thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berna2vm Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Replaced with the AS 90 in the early nineties. Is that what really happened to the 109's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan turner (RIP) Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Thanks Richard for the confirmation the 110 is in the field of fire exhibit,but in deference to the Regiments creed of "the Guns are our colours" we never set foot in any of them, unlike some of the squaddies who if they needed to find a hiding place would dive into anything with an unlocked lid or door. Any idea how they got the AS90 did it fall off the back of a lorry, lifting strop and twist its chassis, so becoming uneconomical to repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
recymech66 Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 Thanks Richard for the confirmation the 110 is in the field of fire exhibit,but in deference to the Regiments creed of "the Guns are our colours" we never set foot in any of them, unlike some of the squaddies who if they needed to find a hiding place would dive into anything with an unlocked lid or door. Any idea how they got the AS90 did it fall off the back of a lorry, lifting strop and twist its chassis, so becoming uneconomical to repair. I know of one AS90 that had a serious fire, it was completely burnt out inside, it went through a full respray in Osnabruck a few years ago (we had to tow it through the washdown and through the respray facility) and it was said it was to be used as a gate guard but not sure were, maybe it ended up in the museum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan turner (RIP) Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 there is no eveidence of fire on the museums exhibit, mind you theres no engine/gearbox or computer bits either, all the plastic stowage bins are undamaged, got a city of \nottingham emblem on base of barell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan turner (RIP) Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 found my photos of the M109 at firepower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 hi fellas Thought you might like to see these pics from the gulf war 1,the first is of a 109 on loan to 26 fd ra(abbott regt converted to 109 for gulf war).while on a practice fire mission an ember from a previous charge ignited the new charge bag while the breech was open.The crew was badly burned but lived,the rear door was found 100 yards away. I thought i would also include a pic of me doing a pack lift on a 109.We never did fix it and ended up dragging it through iraq from one fire mission to the next.not much fun in a foden.The last pic is of an iraqi 2s3 152mm gun their equivilent to the 109 ,nice bit of kit. Incidentally i saw another 109 blow up while i was there i'm not sure which regt is was maybe 40 fd or 2 fd but it was parked up only 2k's away when it started to cook off which was bad enough but there was also a fully bombed up 548 next to it (big bang time) luckily some brave soul jumped in and moved it .I don't think anyone was killed but i did see a 432 ambulance scudding across the desert to their location shortly after.I heard later that the british fuse was longer than the american one and this had caused the shells stowed on the floor to rub the turret ring when traversing causing an electric short. all the best eddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 pack lift and 2s3 pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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