[Tsgtbob]

Okay.
This is sitting in front of a local Legion post. I thought I knew a lot about towed guns, but this one's got me stumped!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/bobsmj/gun.jpg

Here's another view, looking a the gun shield. It's only 1/4 plate, and cracked to boot!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/bobsmj/gun2.jpg

There is still a data plate on it, that is stamped "Bethlehem Steel, Aug 1917"

Was this an early anti-tank gun?

[Avenger]

Looks German to me, most of the British, French and American small guns used screw thread breaches, not blocks. I took a look through my old "Ballantine History of Conflict" book on artillery, "The Guns, 1914-1918" and I don't see anything that looks exactly like that. Lots of stuff that is similar though.
Is the axle just resting on the wheel hubs? There's no way in hell it's gonna roll anywhere like that.

[Jim K]

I can't find anything in the books like it, either. It looks almost like a prototype or a training gun.

There is a group that preserves info about Bethlehem Steel, and maybe someone would know if there are any records of that production. Also, maybe the Legion post historian would have some record of where the gun came from.

The Bethlehem Steel group is at

http://www.saveoursteel.org/

Jim

[Tsgtbob]

Avenger, Jim, thanks for looking, I'll have to get some more detailed shots of it.
I havn't talked to the Post Historian yet, some of the old timers (WWII vets) have tole me that the gun was at the old Post when they were kids, so, it's been in their possesion for a LONG time.

The bar through the spokes is some sort of lock, or firing brake, the hubs are indeed on the axles.

The brass plate on the spades (still there, thank God) is where the Bethlehem info comes from. I just wonder if it is not some sort of prototype anti-tank gun, it seems too small to be an effective cannon on "hardened" positions.

I'll let younz know if I find anything out locally.

The whole reason I found it, is I'm doing a project at work on the various Veteran's Memorials and "stuffed and mounted" hardware around Somerset County Pa.

Seems no one knows exactally what's out there. There is a memorial to a B-52 crew that bailed out when their bomber broke up back in the mid-60s, several of the crew were killed by exposure before they could be found.

Yes, it is that remote up here!

[Jim K]

See if you can measure the bore. It looks like it might be a 3-pounder (1.85") but I can't be sure. Of course, the fact that it was made by Bethlehem Steel doesn't mean it was U.S. issue; they made thousands of guns for the British. The plate might give the full nomenclature and include an inspection/property mark. It resembles a 3-pounder Hotchkiss, but those have the recoil cylinder on the right, not on top.

Jim

[Kruzr]

Take a look here: http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/ARTILLERY3.htm

Scroll down to 75K/17 Bethlehem (or Betelhem as it's spelled there) and see if it leads anywhere.

Could be a trainer version of that gun.

[Avenger]

I keep looking at that carriage, and thinking it looks a LOT like the French 75 carriages modified in the late 20s/early30s for use with pneumatic tires. They basically bolted two new half axles underneath the original, the lower axle kept the ground clearance the same with the smaller diameter wheels. This looks a lot like that, with the old wheels simply placed on the wrong axle. The rim design on those pneumatic conversion had a long hub that spaced the assembly out past the original axle.
HOWEVER, those carriages were a box trail design, and this uses twin tubes. Which is another thing that I can't seem to find as a design feature. Usually, if the piece used a tube trail, it was either a single, or if it did have twin tubes, then they were a split trail design, where the tubes could be spread apart for greater stability.

MORE PICTURES PLEASE!:) :) :)

[Tsgtbob]

Avenger, I will get more shots later this week.
FYI, the gun is sitting in front of the VFW in Hooversville Pa.
This is just outside Johnstown Pa. a former Bethlehem Steel town, which may explain where the gun came from.

Indeed, I initially thought that this was a French gun, but the Bethlehem data plate threw me a curve!

(edited to add this!)
I knew I took a pic of that blasted data plate!!!
Here it is!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/bobsmj/hooversvillegunplate.jpg

Hope this helps a little more!

[Avenger]

I can't find anything that exactly matches at all. The barrell and recuperator/recoil assembly look like the British 75, until you get to that block breech. I'm wondering if this was some sort of experimental/development gun, or something built for a foreign country from before the war. There was a lot of work going into field artillery back in the early teens.

[Jim K]

Not much help there, but that "P" is sure a U.S. military proof mark. I hate to think we had to make do with such a primitive looking piece, but it really isn't surprising - we are never prepared for war.

I wonder how well those flimsy wheels would have stood up in field use; they look like they came off a hay rake.

Jim