Mystery Gun Truck

I believe it was the M15 40mm Bofors GMC. Here is the pic:


Or was the M15 the halftrack mounted version?

I know there was at least one half track with a Bofors gun--I remember an old FSM article about making one from the Tamiya M21. But I don't have my references with me. I googled "M15 40mm Bofors GMC" and M15 by itsel, and found up only various types of half track, no trucks.

I did notice that the company that makes the conversion is French, and the built-up model has a tricolor flag on it. Maybe this truck was something the French did?


M.

HeavyArty, that's an awesome truck! Is it one of your builds?

The M15 is the half-track version. I believe the truck is the GMC CCKW-353 2.5 ton 6x6...the deuce and a half...



That's from this page on Tanxheaven...
http://tanxheaven.com/ludob/GMC-CCKW-353lb/gmccckw353lb.htm

More specifically, it does look like there's a French connection. Check out this pic...



That looks like it to me. It and a bunch of other great pics are on this page, along with lots of information...in French....

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jp2k/2db/materiels_gmc_bofors.html

Using an automated translator, this is what it has to say about the vehicle...

The 22e Colonial Group of Force Terrestrial Air (the DCA of 2e dB) being gradually equipped in the trucks GMC, it is on November 24 1943 which the first GMC (6x6 of 2,5 tons CCKW registered 415920) is equipped with one piece of artillery of 40 mm Bofors (Mk1 or Mk2). It is with the field of fire of Aïn Diab then on the field of fire of Mediouna that the first shootings were carried out. Following several expertises and controls, it is decided on January 12, 1944 of the transformation of 16 Bofors of the groupen, out of self-propelled guns.

According to the tactical letter, this GMC Bofors would be the reproduction of the GMC Lucifer of the Sergeant Wonder. It acts of the 3e part of the 1ere section of shooting (the latter gave names of the hell to its vehicles.) belonging to the 2e battery of shooting.

This reproduction is not free from errors. The registration of Lucifer was 417404 and not 417386 like sight on the photographs. As well as the American flag on the corner of share-breaks... The site of the letters tactiques..etc.

Lucifer sounds like a good name for it.

Oh here's one more pic from the French site...



And a great looking build I found on a Russian page...



That one and more pics here...

http://vif2ne.ru/smf/forum/2/gallery/Megas/000009C005213A4D/get

Oh, and there was one more interesting one I saw...one with armor used in the French Indochina War...



http://indochine.net.co.nr/cefeo/afvs.html

Looks like an interesting kit.

Karl

My lord! That is one awesome looking piece of machine! Gonna have to put on my "wanna-wanna list"!

Thanks for the great add-on info, colo_artist!

The pic in my above post is from the site MarianLH posted. It is on a CCKW 353 chasis, but I have seen other referances to it as a standard model numbered vehicle. Maybe I am mistaken and it was only a post-war French version.

Mystery solved! Thanks!

According to Google, Aïn Diab is in Morocco, and is "a short taxi ride" from Casablanca. A pity that web site doesn't go into their actual combat use. Lot of nice close-up pictures, though.

EDIT: There're only two Google hits for "22nd Colonial Artillery group", and both refer to the French Indochina war. I've read that a number of French Colonial units from Morocco and Tunisia went on to fight in Italy, though, and maybe these trucks went there.


M.

The vehicle was used solely by the French in North Africa and then in NW Europe at the end of WWII. No one else used it. I think some of them were sent to Vietnam by the French after the war, but don't quote me on that.

In clarification the French Indochina war was Viet Nam, it was an (unsucessful) attempt to hang on to the colonies in SE Asia.

So, the models shown are kitbashes, correct?

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fish-Head Aric So, the models shown are kitbashes, correct?

The one listed at this link: http://www.rjproducts.com/Catalogs/Masters_Productions/Masters_Productions.html
and in the photo I listed are resin conversion kits that you can buy and convert a standard CCKW into the French Bofors guntruck with. Not really a kitbash, but a conversion kit with all the parts to build the truck.

Although you could consider the original to be a 1:1 scale kitbash.

Speaking of the half tracks, according to Squadron/Signal's M3 Half-Track In Action the Combination Gun Motor Carriage T28E1/M15/M15A1 series featured a 37mm cannon and twin .50 caliber machien guns in various combinations.

Various attempts were made to mount a 40mm Bofors AA gun on half track chassis, but most were unsuccessful and the idea never received a formal designation. One field modification by the Australian 99th Ordnance Depot was put into general use, with several M3s converted. It featured a open-topped box turret similar to the one developed for the M15. This is the vehicle I remember from that old FSM article.

One 40mm prototype was referred to as the "M15 Special". I surmise that this, along with the similar turrets, is where the confusion regarding the designation comes from. Several models of the Australian 40mm conversion are incorrectly referred to as M15s.


M.

Good Job Anon! I hope everyone realizes half tracks were originally converted trucks which were an attempt to make the trucks more mobile since they tended to get stuck frequently.

So if you do find a truck with a 40 mm on it, odds are it was a prototype.

Actually the half-track concept predates the heavy truck. Its origins in this country were the Linn gas engine half-track tractors who had their origin in the Lombard steam half-track tractors. Both of these were used for logging in the north woods of New England and New York in the early 1900s. The half-tracks of world war II were purpose built vehicles and not the conversion of trucks. The concept for the WW II half-track can be credited to Chevrolet, Ford,GMC, Linn Tractor, and Marmon Herrington with the final design worked out by White Motor Co. Ultimately the half-tracks were purpose built vehicles manufactured by White, Autocar, Diamond T, and International Harvester.

Holy dead thread revival!  The original thread is over 12 years old!!  By the way, Anonymous is the name the system assigns when the member leaves the site.   The original poster, "Anonymous", hasn't been active here since Nov '05.

Since then, Hobby Boss has released a kit of the Free French Forces CCKW w/40mm Bofors truck mount.