tinweasle Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 What Support wepons were used by british forces in the 70's and 80's? I know that L4's (Brens modded to fire 7.62 rounds) and GPMG's were carried by troops or fitted to vehicals and some armoured vehicals like the turreted ferrets were fitted with Browning 30 cal MG's (also modded to 7.62 I believe) and the WW2 2inch mortar was still in use intill the 80's when it was replaced bt the 51mm mortar and there was also the the LAW66 and Carl Gustav 84mm to take out armour but was anything else used, say a larger mortar or a heavy MG like the Browning 50 cal, were the 30 cal's ever mounted onto a tripod as infantry support or were they only fitted to vehicals? Lots of questions there and I think I know the answers to some of them but its always good to know more Cheers Shaun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan869 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Wombat, Energa, 81 mm mortar..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferretfixer Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 The .30" Cal Browning MG was used on an M2 tripod when dismounted from vehicles. Ferret Scout Cars had the tripod mounted on the rear decks. When I was attached to 26 Engineers, we had armoured Cent AVRE's & AVLB's that had the .30" as part of thier CES. I had ovserved these dismounted & fitted on tripods in static positions. When on Exercises in Germany. The MOBAT, CONBAT & WOMBAT family of 120mm Recoiless Anti-Tank Infantry Support weapons were also used during this time period. Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Milan and LAW 80 also 66mm,GMPG sutain role Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Wombat, Energa, 81 mm mortar..... Crikey! I would not call the 94 Grenade (Energa) a support weapon, I can't remember the effective range but it was only about 250yards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinweasle Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Spot on lots to chose from then:D possibly an easier question is, are there any good books that cover the wepons and equipment for this period? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotch Harry Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Wasnt the Vickers HMG still on limited issue early 70s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
challenger Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 .30 was indeed used in the ground role, Saladin and Ferret carried the tripod to enable this. The ammunition was always .30 and not reworked to 7.62. The .30 Browning was replaced in Ferret with a 7.62mm GPMG towardsthe end of Ferret life. Last time I fired .30 Browning in the ground role was at Hohne in Germany in the eighties. The ammunition was from India and didn’twork that well. I have fired it recently, 2010, in Vietnam and it worked great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 the Browning 50 cal, were the 30 cal's ever mounted onto a tripod as infantry support or were they only fitted to vehicals? The Five Oh (as it was known to us in the day: I so HATE the latter-day Americanization "Fifty Cal" even if that's what the Americans called it, we didn't; presumably it would be fundamentally wrong to write "Americanisation") was obsolescent and used only as a ranging gun on Chieftain until Barr & Stroud came up with a laser rangefinder. Only visits to the sandpits which have found a purpose for the weapon have kept the Five Oh from the scrap heap. We had a weird Three Oh mount to fire backwards from our Mark 1 Ferrets that looked like it ought to be a ground mount but obviously wasn't. Apart from a single trip to Hohne Ranges, it never left the troop cage. Come to that, the Three Oh itself only left the armoury the same one time and for cleaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
challenger Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Spot on lots to chose from then:D possibly an easier question is, are there any good books that cover the wepons and equipment for this period? Excellent little book titled British Army Vehicles and Equipment 1968 by R.E. Smth published by Ian Allen. There are several on Amazon for as little as £2.40 Everything from the Energa, .30, .50 and the Vickers Machine gun are in it. Plus loads of vehicles of course. All you need to know is probably in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooky Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 (edited) Spot on lots to chose from then:D possibly an easier question is, are there any good books that cover the wepons and equipment for this period? Try British Army Vehicles & Equipment written by R E Smith and published by Ian Allan in 1968 This was the amalgamation of several pamphlets (Armoured vehicles,Guided Weapons and so on) Worth a trawl on Amazon He got there before me!!!!!!!! Dont follow that link to Amazon..............its the US one Edited May 31, 2012 by Brooky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 No mention of the M79 grenade launcher? ISTR we used them in NI, though I didn't personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.