Thornycroft J type Lorry AA gun

[Rlangham]

Thornycroft J type lorry, as used by the ASC and RFC etc during WW1, with a 13 pounder 9cwt anti-aircraft gun mounted a mk III mount on the rear

 

 

 

[Rick W]

This one is at Shuttleworth Im guessing. Must pay it a visit soon.

[Rlangham]

IWM Duxford, as with all the photos i'm putting up tonight. Shuttleworth definitely worth a visit though, hopefully off there tomorrow for the evening air display

[woa2]

I remember my Landlady talking about these vehicles, as she was a teenager in central London during WW1. (I worked and lived in Acton during the working week during the late 1970s early 1980s). She remembered the trucks driving around London trying to get a good shot at the Zeppelins.

[Tony B]

I think there are some very similar in the opening shots of the HG Wells film 'Things to Come'. Racing about shooting at planes.

[nz2]

Should any one get the chance to crawl under one of these Thornycroft AA gun carriers please look carefully at the type of chassis cross members above the rear axle.

An illustration in the book Military Transport of WW1; C. Ellis and D. Bishop; Blandford Press, 1970; shows the two raised pipe cross members. Were these pipes used solely for mounting the gun, or did they have other load carring uses as well?

Did the illustator for this book copy this from an eariler plan or was this from an existing vehicle?

All other Thornycroft J chassis I have seen, and seen photos of, have traditionial steel plate cross members. That is aside from one chassis I have here that has raised pipe cross members.

If it was built for carring a AA gun then I've another search to locate a gun!

Doug

[Great War truck]

I am looking at the Ellis and Bishop book that you are referring to and i think that the drawing is incorrect. Firstly it appears to be on pneumatics and the rear axle is all wrong. There should be one tubular cross member not two. Oh hang on i might as well scan the thing.

 

I know of one surviving 13pdr AA gun and although it is not under water it is as about as inaccessible as it could possibly be, unless you have a helicopter of course.

 

Tim (too)

[Great War truck]

Here is the Ellis and Bishop chassis drawing. It looks to me (with all due respect) as if it were drawn from memory and without the aid of a ruler:

 

 

You should be able to quickly see that there is no room for the differential in the back axle. Also, the X strengtheners extend too far forwards. They should stop (i believe) by the rear cross member tube.

 

Here is another J chassis, this time post war (a forward control bus i would think). It shows one tube and where the drawing seems to indicate another tube there is a much more substantial support which the prop shaft runs through. There is no X strengthener on this one at all.

 

 

 

Finally. Here is another J chassis. Although slightly dissmembered it does show the correct layout of both types of support.

 

 

It just goes to show that you cant always trust what someone is happy to write down. I wonder if i have now upset a hoard of model makers who have used Ellis and Bishop to build Models?

 

What does yours look like?

 

Tim (too)

[Great War truck]

Doug sent me a photo of his J type chassis. It is as you can see quite different.

 

 

Does anybody have any thoughts?

 

Tim (too)

[Stormin]

Wouldn't the mounts for the stabilising outriggers distinguish a gun carrying chassis from the rest?

[nz2]

Does any know of a contact for Denis Bishop to clarify the origin of the drawing.

Doug