Artillery in Canada: QF 3.7-inch Anti-aircraft Gun

QF 3.7-inch Anti-aircraft Gun

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233363)

Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun being maneuvered out of the mud.

The QF 3.7-inch AA gun was roughly the equivalent of the German Flak 8.8-cm and American 90-mm AA guns, but with a slightly larger calibre of 3.7 inches, approximately 94-mm. Production began in 1937 and it was used throughout the Second World War in all theatres except the Eastern Front. It remained in use after the war until AA guns were replaced by guided missiles beginning in 1957.The gun was produced in two versions, one mobile and another fixed. The fixed mounting allowed more powerful ammunition, Mk. VI, which gave vastly increased performance. Six variants of the two designs were introduced. (Wikipedia)

 (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607529)

Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun manned by 2nd Canadian Heavy AA Regiment.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233368)

Ordnance QF 3.7-inch gun crew firing on Dunkirk, 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607609)

Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun manned by 2nd Canadian Heavy AA Regiment.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607610)

3.7-inch HAA Gun in tow position.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225276)

Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun being cleaned at RCAF Station Goose Bay, Labrador, May 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, 'MIKAN No. 3211345)

Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun, 2nd Heavy AA Regt, RCA.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233960)

Artillery ranging equipment with Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun Battery, 1st Canadian Division, UK, ca 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4234049)

Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun, Picton, Ontario, c1950s.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3196436)

Ordnance QF 3.7 AA gun being fired at Valcartier, Feb 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3196437)

Ordnance QF 3.7 AA gun being fired at Valcartier, Feb 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3196440)

Ordnance QF 3.7 AA gun being fired at Valcartier, Feb 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3224507)

Ordnance QF 3.7 AA gun, May 1943.

(IWM Photo, A 26878)

Sea forts in the Thames Estuary: The fort in position and ready for action. Air is still seen escaping from th sea cocks as further consolidating water ballast enters the pontoon base. One of the forts was actually in action half an hour after being put into position. These secret forts of the Thames Estuary were an effective defence against attacks by sea and air on the estuary. Visible on the very top of the fort is a Searchlight Control radar, a medium-accuracy system used to help aim a searchlight which would then be used to illuminate the target for conventional optical aiming. The large guns on either side of the fort are 3.7-inch AA. Just left of center, at the "back" of the fort from this position, is a Bofors 40mm gun. The barrel of a second Bofors can be made out just right of center.

(IWM Photo)

Three of the seven linked Maunsell Forts in the Thames Estuary, which guard British shipping lanes against mines and mine-laying aircraft. Photo taken in September 1945. Primarily erected as first-line invasion defenses, each tower was armed with a 3.7 AA gun. The forts were constructed ashore, towed out to sea, sunk on sandbanks and then joined together with catwalks.

The Maunsell Forts are towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They were operated as army and navy forts, and named for their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned during the late 1950s and later used for other activities including pirate radio broadcasting. One of the forts is managed by the unrecognised Principality of Sealand; boats visit the remaining forts occasionally, and a consortium named Project Redsands is planning to conserve the fort situated at Red Sands. Forts had been built in river mouths and similar locations to defend against ships, such as the Grain Tower Battery at the mouth of the Medway dating from 1855, Plymouth Breakwater Fort, completed 1865, the four Spithead Forts: Horse Sand Fort, No Mans Land and St Helens Forts which were built 1865–1880 and Spitbank Fort, built during the 1880s, the Humber Forts on Bull & Haile Sands, completed in late 1919, and the Nab Tower, intended as part of a World War I anti-submarine defense but only set in place in 1920. (Wikipedia)