I mainly do aircraft; so, if the following sounds dumb, I apoloaize in advance. I have a colour photo of an 88mm round. It has a gloss black shell, with a white band at the point were the shell meets the casing, and a white primer tip. Are these the correct colour codes for AA?? What are the correct colours for AA? What are the correct colours for HE and AP rounds.
Tks Doug Moffatt IPMS/USA 34925
The best reference I have for German artillery and their ammunition is German Artillery of World War Two by Ian Hogg
The shell being black indicates that it is an armour piercing shot or shell. Depending where the white band is on the shell relative to the driving bands it is likely specifying the type of driving band that is copper or bimetallic .... I am not certain what area you mean by primer tip. Do you mean the nose? There is no record of a white nose.
As for the casing. Is it black? If so then it would likely be a steel body with a brass base.
The book also covers the various markings like manufacturer. Shell identification.
The correct shell colour for AA would be yellow for an AA HE shell or red and blue for AA incendiary shrapnel shell. Olive green, olive drab or field grey for HE, anti-concrete, smoke, chemical or hollow charge.
Hope this helps
Sam
damn good book. used that and his gas book for college papers. got a's. thank you mr hogg. he's also really funny. did you read his account about finding a lost costal gun?
Was that the one where they followed an old spur line and found a complete gun neatly tucked away? I can't remember, was there someone taking care of it or simply good storage?
Remember that one. The pensioner kept drawing his allowance so long as that gun was still on the books. He had no reason to ask and the War Office never wised up to it. Sounds too much like an urban legend though. A WWI or even a WWII gun in that good a condition would have been a precious find and would have found its way into a museum.
yes, an old farmer came puffin up asking if they didn't know it was there? the gov sent him a check to keep it shiny and forgot about it.
no, this is a true story and it was in 1940, when the invasion threat was very real. i re-read it and mr hogg is a very honest man.
This story about the finding of two 9.2 inch railway guns in pristine shape in two sheds is also included as APPENDIX C of George Blacburn's WHERE THE HELL ARE THE GUNS? about the 4th Field Regiment RCA. Two other volumes of the trilogy are THE GHUNS OF NORMANDY and THE GUNS OF VICTORY. They are great reading and have a plethoria of ideas for dioramas.
very cool, i only knew of the one he mentions in the big guns book.
This may or may not have happened. A specific quote from Hogg, from "THE GUNS, 1939-45", Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II, Weapons Book 11:
"[Two Britiah Army officers, dispatched to reconnoiter the countryside for logical staging posts for available coast defense guns in the summer of 1940, discovered a small valley with a disused rail spur leading into it. The spur split and ended in two large sheds] Feeling that here was a fine place to park a pair of guns, they broke the lock on one door and entered the gloom. Before them was a gleaming 9.2 inch railroad gun; the other shed proved to hold another one. At this juncture, they were disturbed by a posse of police and troops, alerted by a suspicious shepherd?and with them came an elderly pensioner who turned out to be the caretaker of the guns. Yes, they were fully serviceable; yes, they'd been there since 1918, and he was paid every week through the local Post Office to keep them clean and greased, and so he had, and bless me, sir, d'you tell me as you didn't know they was there? Well, it's a nice story; and anything could happen in England in
1940." (The Guns, p.120)PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.