USA

6-inch Newton Mortar

By May 1916 the British Army decided to standardise its mortars into three types: the 3-inch Stokes ("Light"), the 2-inch Medium and the 9.45-inch Heavy ("Flying Pig"). In 1917 the 2-inch Medium was replaced by the 6-inch Newton Mortar.   The 6-inch Newton was a pretty simple mortar, mounted upon a wooden base held together by an angle iron frame. It had no bipod but was supported by three adjustable guys, one for elevation, the other two for traverse. It was dug in, with the bed often weighted with sandbags and/or secured with pickets to ensure its steadiness when fired. The Newton 6-inch mortar fired snub-nosed, fin-stabilised bombs weighing 27kg filled with high explosive - both primer and propellant charge being accommodated in the fins. It could use either the type 105 time fuse or the new type 110 percussion fuse, that was very efefctive against wire. Firing was by fixed striker in the breech. Maximum elevation was 77, minimum 45°; ranges achieved being 90 meters and 1300 meters respectively. By the end of the war, there were 12 medium mortars assigned to each British Army division. It was also used by a number of other Allied armies, including the American, Australian and Canadian.   My model is made from the one that comes with HÄT's WW1 American Infantry set - a quick build. The basic shape is OK, but it needs detailing (as always with HÄT models). I have given it a proper base-plate, including lifting-handles, and the guys supporting the barrel has been replaced. The crew comes from the same HÄT set. Click on the thumbnails to see more pics of this model.

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