M-16 50 cal quad in British use.

World War II British Military
#1

Hi,

I just read here:
http://www.btinternet.com/~ian.a.paterson/equipartillery.htm#M16Quad(scroll down to the M-16 page part) that by the end of WWII, 7th armoured division received some Amerikan build M-16’s.
Anybody got more info on this? Were they used by other unids as well? When did they get into service in the British army, and, are there any pictures of British M-16’s?

Cheers,
Joppe

#2

I Know the Kiwis used M16 quadmounts. There is one in a Museum here.
Of note is that the “The Longest Day” film has the quadmounts masquerading as German 20mm flak mountings on the Atlantic Wall.

From admittedly vague memory, the Brits started taking delivery of M16 halftracks circa May 1944. Being honest about it, I don’t recall either US forces or Brit forces having M16 Halftracks as more than about 10 or 12 % of vehicles by about October’44, in Europe.

I should add that both the twin gun and four-gun turrets for the M3 halftrack were labelled as Maxson turrets, because that company had much to do with the development of them. Either turret was very useful, in Anti-Aircraft or Anti-personnel roles.

Wiser heads than mine may have more accurate figures/data.

Regards, Uyraell.

#3

There’s some info about British use here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=sXcXL08ZhpUC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=maxson+m14+50+cal&source=bl&ots=5VxV66G5Fm&sig=otuktFeDAZaxJlm0yX02laL6pV0&hl=en&ei=HcrISf31GIOMtgfbosSSAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result#PPA38,M1

Sounds like the British received 1600 M14s, but most were converted to APCs. I guess the Luftwaffe weren’t as large a threat any longer, and there was a greater need for APCs.

cheers,
Saxon

#4

Alright… Intresting…

Cheers,
Joppe

#5

Look at this, and scroll down to the decal options.
http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/dragon/dr6381.html
As Dragon is known to have historical correct markings, it seems 1st Polish armoured division had some too.

Was ‘73’ the AoS of an light anti air regiment of an armoured division? I thought that that was ‘78’?

Also, it seems from another Dragon kit, the same unid had Sherman IIA’s (M4A1 76mm (W)) at some point of the war, while most Sherman II A’s were sent to the Mediteranian Theatre.

Cheers,
Joppe

#6

Sorry, I forgot the link, didn’t I? Well, it’s fixed now, as you can see in the above post :oops:

Cheers,
Joppe

#7

The LAA Regiment of the Guards Armoured Division also received some M16s in April 1945. By that point its towed Bofors guns had been disbanded to provide infantry replacements, so the M16s replaced Troop of C9B self-propelled Bofors in each LAA Battery.

#8

Thanks! Cool info!

Cheers,
Joppe