I drive from my home in St. Thomas,ON to my work in Aylmer, ON a number of times a week. For the past month or so, thre has been a odd sight on the north side of Highway #3 between St. Thomas and Aylmer. I know "What" it is, but I don't know exactly "What" it is, if you get my drift.
I know it is:
- a field gun of some sort
- an old field gun
- a gun with restored wheels since they look restored and are falling apart.
What I don't know is:
- What sort of field gun this is.
- What nation's arsenal it's from
- How old it is
I'd rather not know if it is in working order. I doubt it since some of the breach appears to be missing. Still it is an interesting thing to see and unusual to see one along the highway in front of an auto repair or light construction garage.
So folks... help me! Let me know what this is!
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| The gun is painted black or dark charcoal grey. It has a gun shield that only comes up to the top of the wheels. As you can see, the wheels are missing some spokes. |
Looks like an old MK1 18 pounder carriage, but the gun is off...
ReplyDeleteMartin
Actually, poking around a bit more on Wikipeida, the QF-15 pounder is a 15 pounder gun on an early 18 pounder carriage, and fits the barrel better.
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance_QF_15-pounder
I thought it was a Krupp 77mm field gun, The gun shield looks right. I don't know.
DeleteYou're probably right, I'm only going off of a picture I've seen for the first time on your blog today ;-)
DeleteOther people on Facebook where I posted a link to my blog agree that it is a Krupp 77mm M1896 field piece. One mystery solved. But the question remains: why is the thing along the side of the road near Aylmer?
ReplyDeleteMy thought was a WW1 gun of some type. Captured and brought home after the war. Was there a former Legion or local museum in the area that has since closed, perhaps? That would be the most likely provenance.
ReplyDelete