Northover Projector

History of the Northover Projector

Great Britain and France declared war on Germany when they invaded Poland in 1939. However, the situation went awry when the Allied response finally proved to be against the well-trained and well-equipped German troops who perfectly executed their mythical "Blitzkrieg" doctrine. Over time, the Allies became a divided force, retreating either south to Paris or north to the shores of the Channel.

There, in the port city of Dunkirk, the famous evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Allied troops left survivors now trapped in Dunkirk at the Luftwaffe as the Germans began to concentrate southward against forces approaching Paris. the power of. While many war-weary souls were transported across the English Channel to Britain, tons of Allied military equipment were scattered across the European battlefield or abandoned in Dunkirk itself.

After the fall of Paris on June 22, 1940, the Germans could now focus on completely destroying nearby England.

In many ways, the British were left to their own devices because their allies in France and Belgium were subdued, while the United States remained neutral. The British army also lacked many of the weapons of war needed for long campaigns, losing hundreds of infantry weapons and supporting artillery in the unrest in Dunkirk.

With the German invasion of mainland England in the near future, some notable weapons were born during this desperate time, including the oft-forgotten "Northover Projector".

The

Northover Projector was designed and developed by Major Robert Harry Northover of the British Home Guard with the mission of ultimately protecting British soil from invasion. He personally contacted Prime Minister Winston Churchill, urging him to attend a demonstration of his new weapon - a weapon intended as an anti-tank measure, but with characteristics more similar to infantry support weapons such as a grenade launcher (its actual Anti-tank value is very questionable).

Northover projectors have been designed from the ground up to be as simple and cheap as possible to manufacture on a large scale, and to operate on their own with little or no training. The system relies on a simple tubular barrel attached to a cast iron quadruped support assembly that provides pivoting and lifting. Aiming is carried out with a simple iron contraption, which can be trained precisely to 100 yards and, with luck, to 300 yards.

A simple breech was mounted to the rear of the barrel, and the weapon was operated via the trigger lever operating handle. Failing to introduce a complex and expensive recoil mechanism, the Northover Projector relied on its four hollowed-out legs to absorb the impact of the projectile. In its current form, the weapon is a crude but viable weapon system. The projectile (approximately 64mm caliber) consists of standard British Army fragmentation grenades and associated rifle grenades.

However, his real ammunition turned out to be a "No. 76 special incendiary grenade", which was nothing more than a glass bottle with phosphorus-based wine. All projectiles are ignited by black powder with a primer (similar to old musket technology).

The weapon requires two standard operators to handle a third person who may be brought into the group for command and command. The total weight of the finished system is 27.2 kg (60 lb).

Churchill was convinced of the value of the Northover projector during his presentation and ordered it to be put into mass production sometime in October 1940. The main target should be the heavily armed home guard.

About 8,000 copies were released by August of the following year, and by early 1943, 18,919 copies were in stock during ongoing production.

In practice, the Northover projector is not a consistently successful or popular weapon. Its light artillery payload was virtually useless against any type of armor the Germans used, and it had a limited overall range. The glass bottle projectile easily ruptured in the breech and exploded into bizarre flames, posing an immediate danger to the crew. The use of phosphorus also meant that each shot produced a large amount of white smoke, making it easy for the enemy to identify the location of the artillery and crew.

Each unit weighs 60 pounds and is too heavy to move or transport, making it impossible to disassemble the system.

Of the various shells that could be fired, the phosphorus-based bottle grenade held the most promise against German tanks, as the flames and smoke from a direct hit could cause the crew to abandon the vehicle. However, this requires a rather lucky hit.

To address some weight issues, the "Northover Projector Mk 2" was developed back in 1941 in a lighter form. However, very few are actually made by this brand and even fewer are actually released. Over time, as the British Army provided the Home Guard with a more powerful anti-tank solution, the weapon faded away, leaving the Northover projector in the pages of history.

If the design was successful on any level, it was because of its low initial cost (?10 in 1940 money) and ease of manufacture, but that's about it. The Home Guard's custom efforts try to make their heavy-duty Northover projectors easier to transport by placing their heavy-duty Northover projectors on towing or tractor-wheel carts, or on vehicles such as trucks and motorcycles with sidecars.

A special promotional image from this period also shows a Northover projector crew pointing their short-range grenade launchers into the sky, as if to defend England from enemy planes - a role the system is wholeheartedly dedicated to , is inappropriate to say the least.

Throughout WWII, Northover projectors were never used in anger - perhaps for the better. The type was in service from 1940 to 1945, the latter marking the official end of the war. To a lesser extent, Northover projectors are said to have served with the British Army during World War II.

For obvious reasons, Northover projectors are known by the nicknames "bottle mortars" and "pipe guns".

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