CWM half track mounted 1919

XRCD011

XRCD011

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I was walking about the CWM and feeling ill at the state of some of the vehicles on display and took a look at the 1919 on the White half track and noticed its markings that look kind of interesting. I was half expecting to see the original markings to be heavily "Xd" out and see a C5 up there retroed back to looking like a old school 1919.



Was this a Brit or Aussie gun seeing it marked as a L3A1 ? and what is with the (FIXED) ?

 
^^
Agree that it would be a tank / AFV MG.

As for the Brit model number, I would suspect that it was adopted by them first (in Commonwealth armies), and we just used the same name. The 1W serial number is the same as the C1/C5 GPMG's we used, so I believe this was a Cdn issue gun.

Be interesting to see what some of the older Armd guys who used the Sherman's into the 60's have to say.
 
https://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Browning_M1919_Machine_Gun#L3A1.2FA2

[h=2]L3A1/A2[/h]The Commonwealth designation used by both the United Kingdom and Australia to designate the fixed (A1) and flexible (A2) versions of the M1919A4 in .30-06 calibre.
[h=2]L3A3/A4[/h]Sear hold-open conversion of previous L3A1s and L3A2s. The A3 is the modified version of the A1, and the A4 is the modified version of the A2.
[h=2]C1/A1 and C5/A1[/h]Canadian designation for 7.62x51mm rechambered M1919A4s for fixed (C1) and flexible (C1A1) applications. The C5 and C5A1 were product improvements of the previous C1 and C1A1 respectively.
 
You are expecting a great deal from the War Museum. Their philosophy is to get people in the doors and buying admission. If you want absolute historical accuracy, don't expect it from the displays at the War Museum.
 
I think I see a Broad Arrow stamp on it. That's British marking that goes back centuries. (The Canadian equivalent was a C with the broad arrow inside.) I don't know whether the Australians would use the same mark.
 
As a complete aside...

FYI, there's a position for an exhibit designer open at the CWM. We have some knowledgeable people, any interest? ;)

They also opened their vaults to the public last summer for a day. I'm hoping they'll do it again this year but on a Saturday...
 
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