Thanks, I have a lot more but not had time to photograph it. Amongst it: Full webbing set, including marching order. 1907 Bayonet, as used early ww2 Mk F telephone set and field exchange. Leather jerkin ATS leather jerkin a few more respirators a mk2 bren with tripod full crate of unissued bren mags, still in greased paper pack fillers, foot powder soap tin etc.. Also have a repro BD and wife has a ATS BD. Latest addition is a WD issue duffle coat. My ultimate goal at the moment is to get a 25 pounder with limber and Morris quad, but that is a few years away yet.
That is a great bren. Is the AA mount original? As for a 25 pounder I wonder if the TA would notice if the one sitting on Whiteladies was "borrowed"?
The AA mount is original, the 2 piece extension leg fits inside 2 of the tripod main legs. The fitting for it is the same as a SMLE bayonet mount, that was done so that if you lost the extension leg you could mount a SMLE as the leg. That gun has been sat outside for years hasn't it? Probably needs some attention now. Went to see one a while back but price v condition was bad.
The gun has been there as long as I can remember (5 or 6 years since I moved here), without it having been moved or anuthing. Though it does look like it's just received a new lick of paint (I've just walked past it 20 minutes ago but can't get a decent picture because of all the fencing and the cars). I'd never heard of that about the use of the SMLE - would be fantastic to find a picture of that set-up
When i get chance i'll grab a piccy of the SMLE fitted to the Bren Tripod. Whats that Bren setup, looks like an aircraft turret? I really want one of the 100 round Bren drum mags to complete my AA gear. They are the proverbial hens teeth, last one i spotted went for around £700 for an empty mag. Would love to have a live Bren for displays, alas no chance with FAC regs on auto weapons. 25pdr on the other hand is acceptable, go figure:noidea:
It's a twin Bren gun anti-aircraft mounting at RAF Duxford - picture from wiki. Yes, I've heard that the drum mags cost more than the gun. Would look good though: I suppose their logic is that one can't hold up a bank with a 25 pounder (would be fun trying though)
Interesting, not seen a Bren AA set up like that before, thanks for the piccy. The drum mag would be great but way to expensive. Last year the guy i got my Mk1 from had a full set of 4 drum mags in original wooden box, with loading tool, mag fitting clamp and all accessories, a measly £1750. I suppose if you did want to hold up a bank with a 25pdr you wouldn't need to leave your garden!
I forgot to put the link for the above drum-Bren: Bren Gun - www.canadiansoldiers.com It certainly makes more sense to use the drum for the AA role, with it's higher capacity.
Yes, but i think in practice the Bren was a victim of it's own success. To accurate for AA fire. Interestingly, with the drum mag fitted the sights can't be used. The drum mag had a tracer every fourth round, this was to show line of fire and help get on target.
The standard mag also used tracer though the only picture I could find was on the IWM site in it's standard configuration: As for the accuracy issue, I can understand why that was a problem for infantry role (not enough spread to inflict wide damage) but I'd have thought accuracy was good for AA roles.
I think in theory you are right, but that leaves less margin so the gunner would have to be very good. Hvae you seen the images taken from Spitfire gun cams, you can see the rounds spiralling towards the target, giving a greater chance of hitting (if that makes sense?).
Yes, aircraft guns did have a spread but they number of counter-factors meant that accuracy had to be built in as much as possible. The convergance point of fighter guns had to be shortened at the beginning of the war, especially on the Spit/Hurri .303s because the spread was too great and didn't inflict enough damage. Added to that was the necessity of accuracy to compensate for aircraft vibration, speed and deflection. On the other hand, the MG42 seemed to suffer from the opposite of the Bren - so much vibration and such a high rate of fire, that there was a lot of spread
