Arty Drills??

[Blunt Object]

I was watching a  video of some Arty in Iraq and a few other places and every time they fired a shell the "hatch" at the back was immedately opened, it almost seemed like they were rushing to get to it. Do they do this just so they can load another shell quickly or is there another reason for it? (Ex. may fuse the door shut from the heat.)

 

[SHELLDRAKE!!]

The faster you get another round up the spout, the faster the gun delivers it to your target.

 

[thorbahn]

Even if another round is not being immediately loaded, you want to get ready of the empty casing so when it does come time to load you don't have to worry about it.

 

[Goober]

The 'Hatch' at the back is called the breech. And if you open it before the gun finishes recoiling back to battery, it increases your chances of standing a casing up on its end on the ground, and your number 1 owing you some beer

 

[Colin Parkinson]

When he said "hatch" I though he had been watching a M109 in action.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

"hatch!, HATCH !"?..........Lad, assume the position and start counting 'em out!!!!! ushup:

 

[Blunt Object]

Thanks for the explanation.
My bad for calling the breech a hatch..."permission to recover Master Bombadier??  ;D

 

[[MoDawg]]

Negative on the recovery soldier, now you can adopt the fifth point of flight procedure, and stay there until someone finds the HATCH....lol.

 

[Arty God]

Hay Bruce ytep Sept 83 Petawawa were you there

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

I was in "D" bty from 78-86. [with a short stop at the end in the Regt CP]

 

[1feral1]

When he said "hatch" I though he had been watching a M109 in action.

So did I, and thought of Israel vs Hezbollah.

Cheers,

Wes

 

[Rhibwolf]

I too watched that with interest. It is the Crew Commander's hatch he is talking about, and the No 1 stays in it while firing. It appears as if he pops down to fire, and then pops up when the blast has cleared.
not a lot of pics out there, but ....
No 1 is in the hatch here, http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/Israelul-lanseaza-atacuri-de-artilerie-in-fasia-Gaza-2.jpg
nice big pic here, http://www.imi-israel.com/SIP_STORAGE/FILES/3/103.jpg

 

[time expired]

A little off thread but not too far,at the 110 th anniversary  cellebrations 1 RCHA in Lahr, 82 I
believe ,our NATO allies each sent a gun ,the US a M109 ,the Germans a short barreled M109
and the British sent what I believe was a British version of the FH 70 towed by strange looking
wheeled tractor.Both the Germans and the US just spectated but the Brit. No.1 ,a Bombadier
put on a very impressive display of gun drill.First from a roll with the gun hooked to the tractor
the crew did a crash action an had the gun in action in 11 sec. and as a encore the No.1 ,with
the gun stowed but not hooked to the tractor ,put the gun in action alone in 18sec. Most impressive.
              Greetings to all former comrades from 1RCHA
                              Regards

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I had some Brits from the RA working with us, bloody good gunners, although they cleaned out our grub box!!!

Never before had I seen a peanut butter sandwhich 4" thick. Watching a British soldier eat is an impressive thing, they are like starved rats.