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17PDR ANTI-TANK GUN

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Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
The Ordnance Q.F. 17Pdr, to give it its proper title, was an acknowledgement of the need for a bigger & better Allied gun.

In fact, as early as 1941, the British Government had set out a requirement for a 3 inch anti-tank weapon. The 17Pdr was the result of that request. It was turned around very quickly, with the first deliveries being made in August 1942.

With a calibre of 3 inches or 76.2mm, it was a potent artillery piece with a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute. The shot weight was 17lbs, hence the name “17 Pounder”. It could penetrate 130mm of armour at 1000 yards (914 metres).

It was large & cumbersome, requiring a big gun crew to operate it efficiently. When it first appeared, it was urgently rushed to the desert to help the Brits take on the German heavier tanks, including the Tiger, which was beginning to appear. It was such a stop-gap measure, that the large & complex carriage wasn’t quite ready, so the new guns were added to older 25Pdr carriages. In this configuration, it was unofficially called the 17Pdr MkII Pheasant, whilst the original dedicated gun-carriage was known as the MkI – even though it appeared later. The MKIIs were eventually phased out in favour of the intended gun carriage.

It wasn’t just an anti-tank gun, but could also be used as a conventional artillery piece for bombardments & indirect fire. This was due to the gun’s useful HE shell which carried a 15.4lb charge.

Of course, the 17Pdr equipped several other vehicles, most famously the Sherman Firefly – a converted British version of the US Sherman M4 Medium Tank which rotated the gun through 90 degrees to get it to squeeze into the turret. An armoured metal box was welded to the back of the turret to accommodate the radio & allow for the gun's massive recoil. You can also see the weapon on the British Archer SPG & the Cromwell-derived Challenger.

Why not take a tour of the MVTF collection's own gun?

Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
Ordnance 17pdr Q.F. Gun Walkaround
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