Pages

Wednesday 13 June 2012

The old Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich

Many years ago, whilst the Royal Artillery Museum was still sited at the Rotunda, Woolwich, my wife and I paid it a visit, and we re-discovered the photographs we took during the recent sort-out of my toy/wargames room.

I don't remember what type of pre-digital camera we used, but we did our best, and some of the results are shown below.

A general view of some of the artillery 'parked' outside the main Rotunda Building.

A self-propelled 25-pounder Field Gun ... better known as a 'Sexton'.

A self-propelled 105mm Filed Howitzer ... better know as a 'Priest'.

Various artillery pieces from the 1970s.

A 'Green Mace' Automatic Anti-aircraft Gun. It has a calibre of 5 inches (12.7cm) and is larger than a London Bus. The tiny person in the background is me!

A prototype 155mm self-propelled gun. The chassis is the same as that used on the German 'Leopard' tank.

A Russian 152mm Gun.

A side view of the Russian 152mm Gun.

A 32-pounder Anti-tank Gun.

An example of a German 88mm FLAK Gun.

Examples of a mobile and a static 3.7-inch Anti-aircraft gun.

The breech and ready-use rack of a Bofors 40mm Anti-aircraft Gun.

A Bofors 40mm Anti-aircraft Gun on an original Platform (or carriage).

A Bofors 40mm Anti-aircraft Gun on a Mark 2 Platform (or carriage).

8 comments:

  1. I think I may have some photos from the time you and I went there - I'll have a look. BTW, the 155 on Leopard 1 hull is an 'SP-70' - one of the many bits of kit we didn't buy in the '70s. There is one (maybe even the same one?) at Shrivenham now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Saw an M110 there (8 inch SP)
    worked on that beast for a few years, great range but no cover
    from the elements! So what ever
    the color of the terrain was, so
    were you ...lol

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great pictures.
    I had never heard of the Green Mace project. A quick google found: http://www.skomer.u-net.com/projects/greenmace.htm A 5" high velocity gun with two 14 round mags capable of firing Dart (APFSDS?) rounds

    The mind boggles...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tim Gow,

    We must try another visit sometime.

    The SP70! That brings back a few memories! Thanks for identifying it for me.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  5. Don M,

    Natural camouflage! Nothing can beat it ... and it can be quickly removed with a hose down and stiff brush. I understand the same technique works on the gun as well!

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pat G,

    It was basically a 5-inch calibre machine gun ... that ran out of ammunition very, very quickly!

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  7. John Curry,

    The museum is now in the Old Arsenal in Woolwich and can be easily reached by bus, rail, and river.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. Please note that any comments that are spam or contain phishing messages or that come from Google Accounts that are 'Unknown' will be deleted.