Olive Drab Bofors (by the Tens of Thousands)
With all the talk of the 40mm Bofors in naval applications during WWII in last week’s Warship Wednesday (The Dutch Avenger), this image came to mind of the gun in unsung use with a U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery unit in Northwestern France in 1944.
(U.S. Air Force Number 56270AC) National Archives Identifier 204889544
While the Navy used them to shoot down 742.5 enemy aircraft in WWII, the Army bought just an ungodly amount of stripped-down, single-barreled towed models (40mm Automatic Gun M1) with the first specimens delivered in April 1941, a full year before the USN got theirs.
Chrysler alone made 30,095 gun mechanisms and 51,684 gun tubes for the land-based 40mm M1. Keep in mind that the Army had 781 AAA battalions that stood up in WWII, many of which were 40mm units.
Talk about Detroit Muscle.
NOV 08, 1943 – Chrysler Corporation ~ Life Magazine “Boss a Bofors 40mm.”