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A Riddle............................................


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For the last two years I have been researching and gathering fact based evidence for the most important project I have ever undertaken as a collector of Artillery.

 

This is for the Hardcore Artillery enthusiast,Gentleman I give you this ..........................................

 

 

G & J WEIR LTD.

 

 

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

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For the last two years I have been researching and gathering fact based evidence for the most important project I have ever undertaken as a collector of Artillery.

 

This is for the Hardcore Artillery enthusiast,Gentleman I give you this ..........................................

 

 

G & J WEIR LTD.

 

 

Rob,

 

Pump makers, they made 25 pounder field guns among other military items, inc aircraft in WW1 and experimental helicopter in WW2

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Well you're in the wrong place then ....:-D

 

If you look for Weirs Pumps, Cathcart, Glasgow there should be more info that you could possibly need. I'm sure they'll have a historical records section somewhere.

 

Their basic production was pumps at the Cathcart plant - for example all the pumps on the RAF refuellers like the Thompson Brothers and Bedford refuellers with the Zwicky booms, but they also did huge amounts of other equipment and would have been full time on military production throughout the war. Lots of production for naval ships and so on too, given the proximity to Clydebank.

 

If you wanted a centrifugal or reciprocating pump, you went to Weirs, while dog-bone compressor pumps all came from Mirrlees and fans from Howdens - all within walking distance of each other if you could put up with the Glasgow rain.

 

I wouldn't have expected them to be tooled-up for gun barrels, but receiver frames, carriages, platforms, etc would be well within their machine shop capacity.

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You are all Quite right with your comments but heading down the wrong pipeline.

 

25 pounder,could you post the date and reg no stamped on the carriage plate on your Gun,it may start with the letters CA.

 

Gordon,you are correct.Weirs did not produce the Ordnance but manufactured carriages,recuperators and other componants.

 

 

 

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

Edited by rnixartillery
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Rob,

 

Anything to do with Project Babylon ?

 

Richard,

 

Great thought but I think useing the word pipeline in my earlier post was not very apt,although I wouldn't mind a piece of the 'Super gun' in my collection !

 

According to weir's wartime production history they started in 1940 producing 40 25 pdr carriages per month with production of 'other' componants alongside.by 1942 they were upto 180 carriages a month but oddly they seem to have ceased all carriage production by the end of 1943 and no reason explaining why and what they made as an alternative.

 

 

This info does lead somewhere but I have to unravel it veeeery slowly :yawn: as I am still in the process of tying loose ends.

 

 

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

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Aha, so they were doing something else instead then.

 

Let me think then - pipeline has to equal PLUTO I suppose? Weirs could have done all those pumps, lines, and distribution systems no problem.

 

Gordon

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well,just to add another aspect into the equation.In late 1942 The Clyde banks were the staging point for 'operation torch' and the massive export of men and equipment to Gibralter and then on to reinforce the battle for North Africa.

 

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

Edited by rnixartillery
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Anything to do with stuffing larger guns into turrets?

 

 

 

Not quite Redherring !.

 

I have uploaded some images of Weir's production facility in Cathcart ,Glasgow showing production of the 25 pdr's and some interesting VIP's.

The King being one and Mrs Roosevelt ,who had been invited to the plant to inspect one particular item.

 

 

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

production line 001.jpg

weirs 2.jpg

Weirs.jpg

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This might be a little left field... but in 1942 the Australians designed a new variant of the Australian Cruiser tank design capable of mounting a modified 25-pounder gun in a fully traversable turret using a larger turret ring than was used on the production AC1 'sentinel'. The gun could load armour piercing or high explosive rounds. The Ordnance QF 25-pounder field gun/howitzer was quickly redesigned for this purpose, work that would later prove useful for the design of the 'small' Ordnance QF 25-pounder short gun/howitzer used extensively in the mountains of New Guinea later in the war. The AC3 never made it into full production, however I understand the redesigned 25 pounder gun went through testing in the prototype AC3 which now resides at the AWM in Canberra.

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Phesant 17pdr on 25pdr trail till new ones were ready just a thought:red:

 

 

A paragraph taken from the 1945 print "G & J.WEIR Ltd 1939-1945 The War Years "

 

"1942,It was in this year also that we made a notable contribution to an immediate need.It became known the German "Tiger" tank was unusually heavily armoured,and to provide against this it was decided to design an anti-tank weapon heavier than any yet in service with the British army.This was the famous 17-pounder gun.A number of these had already been produced in the summer of 1942,but carriages were unfortunately not yet available to mount them.With the North African campaign reaching its climax,it was clearly of the greatest value that this splendid new weapon should be bought quickly into operation against the enemy,and our chief Engineer suggested mounting the gun on a 25- pounder carriage as a stop-gap until the proper carriage was available.From War Office approval to the completely successful trial of the first "Hybrid"(as the combination was called ) only ten days elapsed, thereafter we produced 150 of these during the Autumn of 1942,having the pleasure of showing one of these unique weapons to Mrs Roosevelt during her visit in November. The "Hybrid" proved a tactical success, taking part in the later phases of the North African campaign and during the subsequent battles in Sicily and Italy."

 

Weirs were responsible for all 150 gun conversions to mount the 17 pdr ordnance to the 25 pdr carriage known then as the " Hybrid" and later on to the legendary "17 pdr Pheasant".

 

 

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

Edited by rnixartillery
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Not much chance you finding one of them, then?

 

I suppose given the bits you could replicate what Weirs did, if you had the info. After all, if a few Scots can do it in ten days .....;)

 

Being a non-artillery type, how come something 8lbs lighter (17 versus 25 ) was superior as an anti-tank weapon - barrel length?

Edited by Gordon_M
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How intriguing. Not only did the Australians redesign the gun mount and recoil for the 25 pounder so they could squash it into their cruiser tank turret, they performed the same operation on the 17 pounder as well. Do we have a parallel universe here? Were Weir's involved?

 

On another issue. Do you happen to know whether there is a site I can download the Service handbook of the 9.2-inch Howitzer...

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Just to throw another piece of information into the pot, at the time Eskmeals trials and proof rang facility in Cumbria which belonged to Vickers Armstrong and assisted by the ministry of supply was to be the proof range for trials on the 17 pdr "Hybrid" along with many more of Weirs production.

 

 

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

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