Birch gun

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Birch Gun Mk II
General Characteristics
General characteristics
Crew	6
Length	5.80 m
Width	2.40 m
Height	2.30 m
Weight	12,100 kg (26,500 lb)
Armour and armament
Armour	6 mm (0.24 inch) Steel
Main armament	1 x 75 mm (2.95 inch) Gun
Secondary armament	n/a
Mobility
Power plant	1 x Armstrong Siddeley 8 cylinder petrol engine 90 hp (67 kW)
Suspension	Bogie
Road speed	45 km/h
Power/weight	?
Range	192 km (119 miles)

The Birch Gun was the world's first really practical self-propelled artillery gun, built at the Woolwich Arsenal in 1925. The gun was never highly regarded by the British High Command, purely for prejudicial beliefs and political pressure rather than any real lack of ability. Named after General Sir Noel Birch, who was Master General of Ordnance at the time, the Birch gun had real potential. It was built upon a Vickers medium tank chassis and mated originally with an 83.8 mm then with a 75 mm field gun. The project was abandoned in 1928 after political pressure killed off any plans to complete the third version of this weapon.

[edit] Armament

The armament for the original Birch Gun consisted of a 83.8 mm (3.3 inch) field gun, later changed to the 75 mm gun on the Birch gun Mk II and from then on was able to be fired either at ground targets or in the air-defence role, being given a much higher rate of elevation to be fired at enemy aircraft.

[edit] Powerplant

The Armstrong Siddeley engine was modestly powerful being only 8 cylinders it could manage 90 hp for a mild 45 km/h top-speed however, for its time (late 1920's) it was quite fast.

[edit] Use

The Birch gun was tested as part of the Experimental Mechanised Force in the 1920s. The Force undertook various experiments in mechanized warfare combining tanks and infantry with their own transport.

The composition of the force was: