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120mm WOMBAT


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What's Conbat?

 

Converted BAT..

 

L1/L2 BAT (full armoured shield, no spotting rifle,)

L4 Mobat (no shield, left side mounted Bren spotting rifle)

L7 Conbat (no shield, top mounted .50 spotting rifle)

L6 Wombat (Weapon Of Magnesium, Battalion, Anti-Tank, top mounted .50 spotting rifle)

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Another pic taken from one of the B.A.T manuals dated 1954,I am posting these pictures because there are not many images on the net !

The only BAT parts I have to sell at the moment are the correct Wheel rims and the hand spike pins..............I think ! :???

 

Rob..............rnixartillery.

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Converted BAT..

 

L1/L2 BAT (full armoured shield, no spotting rifle,)

L4 Mobat (no shield, left side mounted Bren spotting rifle)

L7 Conbat (no shield, top mounted .50 spotting rifle)

L6 Wombat (Weapon Of Magnesium, Battalion, Anti-Tank, top mounted .50 spotting rifle)

hi whats diffrent from wombat to conbat?

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hi whats diffrent from wombat to conbat?

 

BAT, MOBAT & CONBAT Sliding Breach

 

WOMBAT side opening swing Breach..

 

 

 

L2 BAT, Battalion Anti Tank

 

The original towed gun complete with a heavy armoured shield and wheeled mount. Accepted for service in 1953.

 

L4 MoBAT (Mobile BAT)

 

A BAT with the shield removed to lighten it (even though it still weighed some 770 kg (0.76 long ton) and a spotting weapon (a Bren light machine gun) added. It could be towed by an Austin Champ or later the Land Rover.

 

L6 WOMBAT (Weapon Of Magnesium BAT)

 

A new build weapon with lightweight carriage, which meant it was usable by all air Mobile (Infantry Battalions) plus mobile troops such as the Parachute Regiment or Royal Marine Commandos. It was also fitted to vehicles, such as the FV432 or a 3/4 ton Portee Land Rover. When fitted with an M8C .50 cal spotting rifle, which fired a Zirconium tipped spotter tracer round visible past 2,000 yards, it could engage targets out to 2,000 m (2,200 yd). The strike was observed by the No1 who called the fall of shot. The No2 maintained the spotting Rifle and observed the Back Blast area. The WOMBAT entered service in 1964, rapidly replacing earlier versions in service with the Regular Army; but it never fully replaced MOBAT and CONBAT with infantry units of the Territorial Army.

 

L7 CONBAT ("Converted BAT")

 

A conversion of the L4 MoBAT or L2 BAT utilizing a L40A1 12.7 mm as a spotting rifle. (This weapon is often called the .50 cal spotting gun, M8C).

Edited by Marmite!!
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I have never fired these 120mm BAT's but the noise from them when fired is somewhat LOUD...

 

Apparently the loudest piece of Artillery (not including the big Naval guns??)

 

3' brass shell case full of cordite :shocked::nut: A portion of the propelling charge is vented backwards through the venturi. This counter blast backwards cancelled out the recoil..

80% of the charge out the back of the gun, only 20% of the charge was used for propelling the shell..

 

firing.jpg

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hummermark

You're not alone in that mistake......the Muckleburgh museum had their BAT (complete with shield) marked up as a WOMBAT on the info board attached to it. Even had a photo of a WOMBAT on the board.

 

WOMBAT is a different animal to all the others....apart from the side swinging breach just note the wheel size.

7.50/16 wheels as on Champ & LR = BAT series

Scooter wheels = WOMBAT

 

Best regs.......H

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Thanks for that all this time I thought I had a wombat now I know it is a conbat !

 

Mark,

 

I'm currently producing a list of known MOBAT & CONBAT survivors. If you could let me have the Carriage Number (CA***c) and dat eof your CONBAT, I'd be very grateful.

 

I've just bought copies of the EMERS for the MOBAT & CONBAT from Vintage MV Manuals - superb!

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  • 5 months later...

Hi Im looking for a Conbat Pamphlet if anyone can point me in the right direction. And as for Mobat/Conbat Survivors there is a Conbat in the Museum at Fort George, Inverness. It was brought back from Belize in 1987. Im looking to put up a display board regarding the gun and to hopefully go up and give it a good clean and paint in early September. Ill get the carriage number and pass it on.

 

Anyone who could help with photos that would be great.

 

Glen Lawson

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  • 1 year later...

I was a WOMBAT DC back in the late 70s, early 80s. Yes they were loud! If the weather conditions were wrong we weren't allowed to fire on Salisbury Plain because of the risk from breaking windows in Salisbury.

 

With a following wind, the efflux from the venture would singe your eyebrows and lashes, even moustaches. Weapon could be fired from the portee but only a few times as the blast started to pop the rivets!

 

If anyone would like some good photos of WOMBAT, portees on the ranges and on exercise etc then I have some pretty good shots, some taken professionally. I'd be pleased to post them if wanted.

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OK, here goes. It's a bit late and uploader seems to be struggling, so more for tomorrow

 

So we assume it was shooting to the right from the direction everyone is looking... ;)

 

I did not realize they made such a flash, was that not a problem?

 

trevor

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Yep, correct :D. The flash doesn't last long but the rear danger area in peacetime was 293m! That went down to about 9m in wartime for troops under cover or about 15m or so in the open but my memory on exact numbers is a bit hazy on the latter!

 

Tactics were to shoot from an enfilade position where the gun and the signature are hidden by hard or soft cover from the enemy's axis of advance.

 

Some more pics from Netheravon ranges

 

 

 

 

 

Wombat Standby Netheravon.jpg

Wombat Loading Netheravon.jpg

Wombat Netheravon1.jpg

Wombat Sight Picture.jpg

Wombat Firing Netheravon.jpg

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