British Z Battery Anti-Aircraft Rockets

[stug3]

I never knew these existed.


Anti-aircraft rockets or Z Battery manned by the Home Guard on Merseyside, 6 July 1942.

Home Guard soldiers load an anti-aircraft rocket at a Z Battery on Merseyside.

Anti-aircraft rockets (known as a Z Battery) at Bootle, Liverpool, January 1942.

 

[Capt. Vick]

What the...man you really learn something new everyday here don't you! Great! Any confirmed kills?

 

[stug3]

Not really sure Capt. Vick, these pics are the first Ive ever seen of these things. From this account of a 1943 bombing raid they may have been in somewhat common usage.

...the radio went off at about 8pm. My mother and father told my aunt, who was living with us in Old Ford Road, to go to the shelter. My aunt and I were walking along Old Ford Road when the searchlight came on, it went on to an aircraft and that is when anti-aircraft guns started firing. The rocket guns in Victoria Park also fired.

Alf Morris

 

[Capt. Vick]

Victoria Park? Is that in London? This is so wild!

 

[stug3]

Yes, London. I would guess they were'nt very effective.

 

[Capt. Vick]

I can't believe none of our English cousins have chimed in yet!

 

[michaelmaltby]

Although I had never heard about this until now, it doesn't surprise me, given this:

Congreve rocket - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"... and the rockets' red glare
the bombs bursting mid air
gave proof ...."

MM

 

[Shortround6]

I can't believe none of our English cousins have chimed in yet!

Perhaps because they would like to pretend it didn't exist?

Another example of British Weaponry of the weird and wonderful variety.

 

[Capt. Vick]

 

[stug3]

http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/Z-Battery

Z Battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Home Guard single projectile launchers

Royal Artillerymen load a mobile multiple launcher, June 1941

 

[yulzari]

If you want to look up more Home Guard weaponry try Googling Blacker Bombard, Smith Gun, Northover Projector, Sticky Bomb or Auxilliary Units. Also fougasse and punt guns were part of my grandfather's Home Guard defence plan.

Z batteries were commonplace to bulk up AA fire and were manned by Home Guard who had spent the day working unless they were young enough to be at school or old enough to be retired.

You can still see mounts for many of these still in place today just as you can pillboxes and anti tank defence works.

 

[Shortround6]

One of my favorites is the "Holman projector" a steam powered grenade thrower for AA use.

Holman Projector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I can't find any pictures of the "Bates 8 barreled bottle thrower" though.

 

[stona]

Victoria Park? Is that in London? This is so wild!

There is a Victoria Park in London,but also very many other British cities. It's sort of like Trafalgar Road,Albert Street or Cambrai Drive,we often name streets or roads (or pubs,how many Lord Nelsons are there?) all over the country after an event or person to be celebrated.

The raid referred to may well have been on London,but that is not a given

A battery could fire a salvo of 128 unrotated projectiles (UPs). Each carried an 18 or 22 pound warhead, depending which reference you believe.

Problems with accuracy are evident in the photo above,shortly after the rockets have cleared their launchers.The rocket batteries were judged to be less effective than conventional anti aircraft artillery and were not deployed in large numbers. Whether they ever shot anything down or not I know not.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Shortround6]

The AA rockets were supposed to use a "warhead" that consisted of " fin-stabilized 7 inches (18 cm) diameter rocket out of the tube to a distance of about 1,000 feet (300 m) where it exploded and released an 8.4 ounces (240 g) mine attached to three parachutes by 400 feet (120 m) of wire. The idea was that an aeroplane hitting the wire would draw the mine towards itself where it would detonate".

While the wires certainly increased the target area the parachutes could cause the "Mine" to drift to unexpected locations.

 

[yulzari]

Shades of the Long Aerial Mine. When the Handley Page Harrow went to war in 1940/1941.

 

[stona]

The AA rockets were supposed to use a "warhead" that consisted of " fin-stabilized 7 inches (18 cm) diameter rocket out of the tube to a distance of about 1,000 feet (300 m) where it exploded and released an 8.4 ounces (240 g) mine attached to three parachutes by 400 feet (120 m) of wire. The idea was that an aeroplane hitting the wire would draw the mine towards itself where it would detonate".

While the wires certainly increased the target area the parachutes could cause the "Mine" to drift to unexpected locations.

That's a different system isn't it?

It sounds similar to the parachute and cable system fired in nine round salvoes which used 480 feet of cable and initially deployed one parachute at the top of the wire. When an aircraft struck the wire the shock caused another parachute at the lower end to open,the combined drag being enough to cause the aircraft to stall. No explosives were used (apart from the launch rocket) in this system.

The UPs fired in salvos by the Z batterys had an effective maximum altitude of 19,000 feet,according to the British anyway.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Mike Dyson]

Secret Scotland - Z-Battery

Z Battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Home Guard single projectile launchers
View attachment 434767


Royal Artillerymen load a mobile multiple launcher, June 1941
View attachment 434768

I am trying to research the AA batteries around Sheffield, nothing much left on the ground and only a few pics. Two pics at Shirecliffe on a stand. Out of print 1948 book. I wonder how they set the fuses? Not a lot of detail out there.

 

[pbehn]

Victoria Park? Is that in London? This is so wild!

That particular Victoria Park is in Bethnal Green / Tower Hamlets it was a Z battery type weapon that caused/triggered the Bethnal Green tube disaster, they worst civilian disaster in UK during the war. The reason why few know anything about it maybe because it kept secret as a weapon and as a disaster until after the war ended.
Bethnal Green - Wikipedia

Bethnal Green tube disaster[edit]

Plaque to the 1943 disaster

On 3 March 1943, the air-raid Civil defence siren sounded at 8:17 pm, causing a flow of people down the staircase which had no lights on from the street level into the incomplete Bethnal Green tube station, which had been requisitioned in 1940 by the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green under the supervision of the Regional Commissioners. The panic itself began at 8:27 coinciding with the sound of an anti-aircraft battery (possibly the recently installed Z battery) being fired at nearby Victoria Park. In the wet, dark conditions the crowd was surging forward towards the shelter when a woman tripped on the stairs, causing many others to fall. Within a few seconds 300 people were crushed into the tiny stairwell, resulting in the deaths of 173 people (most of whom were women and children) who were crushed and asphyxiated. Although a report was filed by Eric Linden with the Daily Mail, who witnessed it, it was never published. Very little information was provided at the time.[38][39][40] The results of the official investigation were not released until 1946.[41]

 

[Capt. Vick]

 

[pbehn]

It was a battery of these or similar that played a part in the biggest single civilian loss of life in UK in WW2.

Bethnal Green Tube Disaster: 'I tried to black it out'

The Bethnal Green Tube Disaster of 1943, in which 173 people were crushed to death, was the UK's largest single loss of civilian life during World War II. Dr Joan Martin MBE had been qualified for just one year when she led the hospital team treating the casualties.

www.bbc.co.uk

Names of 172 Bethnal Green tube disaster victims remembered in 70th anniversary memorial ceremony – Eastlondonlines

www.eastlondonlines.co.uk