BL 4.5 inch Medium Field Gun
| BL 4.5 inch Medium Gun | |
|---|---|
Gun at Imperial War Museum Duxford
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| Type | Medium gun |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| Used by | United Kingdom, Canada |
| Wars | World War 2 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 12,879.4 lb (5,842.0 kg) |
| Barrel length | 4.69 m (15 ft 5 in) 41 calibres |
| Crew | 10 |
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| Shell | 55 lb (25 kg) HE |
| Calibre | 4.5 inch (114 mm) |
| Breech | Welin breech and Asbury mechanism |
| Elevation | 60-pr carriage: 0–42 degrees, 4.5/5.5-inch gun carriage: -5–45 degrees |
| Muzzle velocity | 2,250 ft/s (686 m/s) |
| Maximum firing range | 20,500 yards (18 km) |
| Sights | calibrating and reciprocating |
The BL 4.5 inch Medium Gun was a British gun used by field artillery in the Second World War. It had nothing in common with the QF 4.5 inch Howitzer or the QF 4.5 inch AA Gun.
The BL 4.5 inch gun was designed as a replacement for the 60-pounder and was a long range medium gun designed for counter-battery fire. The gun was in use throughout the Second World War and it equipped a number of medium regiments, including half the Canadian ones.
The Mk 1 ordnance was designed to be mounted on the 60-pounder carriage. The Mk 2 was on a new carriage that was also used with the BL 5.5 inch gun that replaced the 6-inch howitzer. There were slight differences in the Mk 1 and Mk 2 equipments but maximum range was almost identical.
The Mk 1 gun was first issued in 1938 and equipped one or two regiments of the British Expeditionary Force. They also equipped at least one regiment in the North Africa campaign and some were lost in Greece. The 4.5 inch Mk 1 is sometimes mistaken for the 60-pounder. Both Mks were normally towed by the AEC Matador 4 × 4 medium artillery tractor.
Issues of the Mk 2 ordnance on the common carriage started in 1941 and served in North Africa, Italy and North West Europe. It was withdrawn from field service in 1945, relegated to training purposes and finally declared obsolete in 1959.
The US 4.5 inch gun M1 used the same shell design, Mk 1D in UK service with a 6/10 crh. This design was noted for its small amount of HE (3.9 lb (1.8 kg) in a 55 lb (25 kg) shell) but the larger fragments that resulted were suited to its counter-battery role. Apart from HE the only other type of shell was flare used to indicate targets for air attack. It had propellant in charges 1, 2 and 3. Intense rate of fire was 2 rounds per minute, Normal rate was one round, Gunfire was 2 to 3 rounds per minute.
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