Landships II

michael6367 · Sergeant

Road Trip - Connecticut USA - Pics 6 WW1 Field Guns

jagjetta · Brigadier

NICE additions to your site! I really enjoy looking at your Doughboy monuments around NYC.

I couldn't find the URL to Dick Pope's site, though. That one sounds like an interesting list. Can you post that as well?

Thank you so much for your work on Doughboys of New York City.

John A-G
in the hinterlands of Missouri.

28juni14 · Hero

John & All,

Dick Pope is a long-time friend who, over the past few decades, �has been�gathering information on known�WW1 artillery locations within the USA & Canada.

Thus far, he has identifed some 1,400+ pieces displayed in the North America.

If you are interested in obtaining a listing,� and receiving addendums,� he can be contacted only by mail:

Dick Pope
1705 Greenwyche Road S.E.
Huntsville, AL
35801� USA

Though this is a long time hobby of his,� copying and mailing is expensive when addressing some 300 members.�� With that in mind,� please include a donation to help him along.�� He will never ask any of us,� but I know it gets costly.

Guns1418 · Sergeant

Hi All

Michael, nice post again !

I just sent a letter to Dick Pope, and if he agrees to send me the list back, I'll go and check guns in PA, DE, DC and VA

For your information, on the Great War Forum, two 'unknown' 210 mm M 1910 have been 'discovered', in North Ireland and in North Carolina.

See there : http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=120770

Bernard

PS : on Landships, there are two 210's whose location is not given. The 'drowning' one in NJ (courtesy of Mike Casales) , and the M16 (with long barrel) all painted in light green.

Does anyone know where these guns are located ?

Thanks !

Guns1418 · Sergeant

Hi Mikael

just some precisions on your pictures :

- The impressive 21cm Mortar is a 1916 version, that you can recognize by its long barrel (14.6 calibres for 12 calibres in the 1910 version)

- The 15cm sFH? in Derby, CT, is a 15cm sFH13 "lang", whode barrel was also longer (17 calibres) than the usual 15cm sFH13 (14 calibres)

- The Bridgeport minenwerfer caliber is perhaps not a 25cm, unless you effectively measured it. I am doubting it because of the visible change in diameter one can see in the tube. If I am right, that minen could be a 17cm mMW n/A

Any other idea ?

Bernard

michael6367 · Sergeant

Thanks for the comments�!

First off I checked Dick Popes list and I counted 11 21 cm morsers located in the United States. I saw your post above and I believe the Hickory NC is not on Dicks list so that might make it 13 for the US. The twelveth� one is the Waterbury CT gun which i recenlty photographed. I dont have Dicks list hear or else i would check it now. My Pope list is a couple years old so a current one may have even more listed. The rusting Morser that I have photo of with me standing in front of on my doughboys site is located in Kennedy Park in Fall River, Massachusetts. I learned of that before I heard of Mr Pope. I found the following active link below several years ago which i suggest you check out. Its an admitted not comprehensive list of artillery found in the New England states and thats where I learned of the Fall River�Morser. This guy has some pics on the site which include a German WW1 Howitzer in Southboro Mass. I also learned of the 17cm and 25cm Minenwerfers in Rhode Island thru the NE site, which i photographed in 2003 and are on my�doughboy site�and I was the one who updated Dick on them. Definlately check it out. I like to go to Newport Rhode Island and Fall River is very close by. The other Morser I recently visited in Waterbury CT is not on my Dick Pope list. I learned of it via a site called waymarking.com. I included a link from waymarking to another 21cm found in Illinois which I posted below. Notice the WW1 tank in the background of one of the Morser shots. Dick has included the IL. gun in Bloomington on his list.

http://www.geocities.com/~jmgould/neart.html�� - New England Artillery

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM138N� - Krupp in Bloomington IL

I have a photo of another Morser thats in Lowell Mass that someone sent me. I will be posting it soon. I saw your great war forum link and off the top of my head I know there are 2 in Virginia (Harrisburg and somewhere else) , 2 at Fort Meade Maryland so they might be close by for you to visit. Many of the others are in the midwest.

In regards to the Bridgeport CT mortar its not a 17cm gun. It may not technically be a 25cm or 24.5 but I have seen a live 17cm in Rhode Island and and a number of 25's and it definately not a 17cm. Its too big.

I will hopefully be posting again soon with several more NY and NJ artillery pieces.

Bernard - if you (or somebody on landships) want the photos that I have taken of some of these guns to use on your site LMK. Its a bit of a shame to have to shrink them down to fit a bunch on my website pages and for many of the ones I have photographed I only use one or two out of several interesting photos. The K04 up in Bristol was in stunning condition, the Morser too. Others like the Locust Valley NY C96 are a train wreck. The Locust Valley 77mm by the way has a really interesting Kaiser Wilhelm? crown on the top of the barrel.

michael6367 · Sergeant

Here are the following 21cm's in the USA that are known in addition to the one photographed in North Carolina on the forum site.

Clakamas - Oregon
Waterbury - Connecticut
Lowell - Massachusetts
Fall River - Massachusetts
New Port News - Virigina (Virginia War Museum)
2 Morsers - Fort Meade Maryland Musuem
Columbus - Kansas
Harrisonburg - Virginia
New Castle - Indiana
Victoria - Virginia
Seattle - Washington

michael6367 · Sergeant

And Bloomington - Illinois

michael6367 · Sergeant

Here is the pic someone sent me of the Lowell, Massachusetts Morser.

michael6367 · Sergeant

If you click on the link below you can see a photo of the 21cm Morser in Klakamas Oregon in front of the state military museum

http://17thdivision.tripod.com/id43.html

michael6367 · Sergeant

4�more US Morsers - the color photo of the single one against the wall is located on one side of the�Virginia War Museum in Newport News Va. The other shot of the 2 Morsers are the ones located at the Fort George C. Meade Museum in Maryland. Last time I was there I didnt even have a digital camera but I managed to find in my folders a picture I must have pulled off from somewhere. The last shot is a b&w of a morser located on Governors Island in New York Harbor. The photo is a 1920's era postcard not a recent pic. I toured the Island in 2001 and never saw it. When they open the island to the public maybe it can be seen but its very likely that this gun has been moved or went south during the scrap drives of WWII.

michael6367 · Sergeant

Close up of the 21cm barrel markings - Waterbury CT

Bernard- I am actually going to be sending to Dick Pope for a new list myself. My list is almost 4 years old.� I printed out a couple pics of guns that are not on the old list - like the Waterbury CT and the Cornwall NY 77mm. Do you live in Philly now? If im not mistaken thats where your place of origin lists on the great war forum site. You have 2 guns close by according to Dicks list. Both are FK16's, one is in Chester PA which is a little south of philly and the 2nd FK lists�in the city of�Philadelphia itself. I usually go to philly like once every 2 years or so for a weekend trip. Good place to visit. Ive never seriously looked for it but when I drive around I have found myself scanning around whenver I think im passing a spot that it might be. When I write to Dick there are a few guns (like the philly FK16) that i am going to ask if he has any other site info on. I usually just find them on my own but�Philly is a big town, it could be anywhere in the suburbs where I dont go. Another gun is the 10cm on Rohr Wagon in Easton PA. If its there I couldnt find it. Delaware doesnt list any guns nor does New Jersey in the areas around Philly. Western PA has some including the big howitzer in Verona. Ive seen shots of it on Flicker but I'd love to see some close ups. I think the only other gun of that type is in Gonzales Texas. Take a road trip while gas is still cheap !

michael6367 · Sergeant

Heres a previously unpublished shot of the Fall River- Massachusetts�Morser, notice the extreme rust and�the wheels�sunk into the ground. I think its dated 1916. It probably occupied a nice spot in the city as a war memorial at one time but new construction probably led to it being dragged off and left next to a city maintenance shed. A couple years ago some people from Belgium wrote to me about the gun. I told them where it was and they said they would write to the city and express an interest in buying the gun for preservation in some museum. I wonder if they ever got replied to ?

Guns1418 · Sergeant

Hi Michael,

I'll find the time to go and look for these PA guns !

Friendly

Bernard

Michael Luke · Private

Here are pics of the 21 cm Mrs in Bloomington, Illinois.� For the tank buffs, there is a US 6 Ton tanks displayed�in Miller Park, as well.

I have contributed�a few�entries to Dick Pope's list.��There are still "unknown" artillery pieces out there, so keep looking!�

Guns1418 · Sergeant

Hi Mike

wonderful picture - very nice item !

Would you accept me to include this, with your name as a�contributor, �in the database mentionned above ?

Friendly

Bernard

Michael Luke · Private

Bernard - Please feel free to use the photo on your database.��

Regards, Michael Luke�

michael6367 · Sergeant

Mike, yes great shot, thanks. I was hoping these postings would�motivate some of the US readers of this great site to take a road trip and send in some shots of some local guns in their neck of the woods.

Bernard, and whoever else might be out there rading this. I received a response from Dick Pope today about a couple of US cannons I was looking for a little clarification on. The first was the British 60 pounder located in Baltimore MD. Its #131 on his list. The cannon is not in the downtown area of the city but resides several miles north in the Parkville section of Baltimore in Parwood Cemetary 3310 Taylor Ave. If im not mistaken you live in philly and this is not a long drive away. He send me a copy of the gun and it looks clean. In downtown Baltimore you have 5 german field pieces so thats a pretty good incentive and the inner harbor is nice to visit for a few hours!�You also have Aberdeen and Fort Meade in close proximity so that could be a good weekend :) The second gun was a German FK16 in Philadelphia (#591). All Dick had was an old post card of the gun and no address which he copied for me which shows the FK sitting in front of the Henry B. Houston American Legion Post in Germantown. Germantown (does anyone see the irony of a german gun being placed in germantown ?) is a short drive north/west of the city. In fact I was there in Oct 2007 to visit the Chew House which was a site of a big revolutionary war battle but thats another war! Anyway Dick doubts the place even exists anymore. I just did an exstensive google search and could not find an address. Unfortunately there are 2 other Germantown American Legions in the US which contributes alot of noise in my searches. I did find a posting in craiglist�dated 2008 of a gun who is selling the bowling alley from the post !!!! - so maybe it got dismantled. I am going to send an email to the address in the post and�well see what happens. If you do live in philly this is a quick road trip!
The next gun (#591) which is a Krupp 10cm barrel on a Rohr Wagon (theres only a handful in the US, Aberdeen has one) in Easton PA. He said 3 people have wrote to him about it but hes not sure of its exact location. He said it sounds like its in a Veterans Memorial Grove and the picture he gave me shows it with a woodsy backdrop. I just exstensively googled that and came up with no hits. The last gun was the FK16 in Brooklyn (#982). If anyone is interested its located at the corner of 2nd ave and 25th st. Ill be back in Brooklyn again sometime this year and will make an effort to photograph it.

michael6367 · Sergeant

I found something on the FK16 in Germantown PA. If you cut and paste the link below a page will come up. Click on the one black and white photo and you will see a shot of the Henry Houston American Legion Post #3 in Germantown Pennsylvania and you can see the FK16 parked in front of the building. Its the same shot that Dick Pope sent me and judging by the cars out front the shot was taken in the 1920's. It is(was) located on 47 High Street.

Also for my post above I meant to say PARKWOOD cemetetary, not parwood for the location of the 60 pounder near Baltimore.

http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/gtn/insurnce/mh_47.htm

michael6367 · Sergeant

Wow, after posting my message above I thought id spend a few minutes to try and do another search to find the 10cm Krupp tube on the Rohr wagon in Easton Pennsylvania. I just got lucky and found the link below. Its an online news article about the cannon which is located in Eastons Upper Hacket Park. The cannon was just restored and the article features a nice color pic of them moving the cannon of a truck. Ill be back thru that way later this year and post some pics.

http://blog.pennlive.com/lvbreakingnews/2007/06/easton_cannon_to_be_rededicate.html

Guns1418 · Sergeant

Michael

Thanks for all these infos. I'll try to see most of these guns in the following weeks

I have meanwhile added the pictures from your website to the database : you will see them on the googlemap
http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/Canons/CartesCanons/CarteCanonsGoogle.htm

Friendly

Bernard

michael6367 · Sergeant

Bernard, it appears the�Philadelphia/Germantown FK16 is no more. In one of my posts above I mention seeing mention of the old VFW post in a craiglist posting. I sent an email to the person selling the old bowling alley from the post and I inquired about the post's status and the FK16. It appears the gun is no more. If I were you I would still take a ride up there. Its like a 20 minute drive from downtown Philly. Here is that persons response minus his name cut and pasted below. He sounds like a real pleasant fellow. Bernard I will check out your site. I am just about to go away for the weekend. Like I said if you want I can send you the original larger size photos I took of the guns on my website and I have photos of most of the guns from several angles. Its up to you if you want them. - Mike

Response ----
They sold it to me in 1981, I am a sculptor.�
It is still standing though the American Legion did their best to demolish it, first by neglect and then by telling other people that they could demolish it after it wasn't theirs any more.
I gave the cannon away a while back.� It was a German anti tank gun and it was a bother in a number of ways.�� Wierd gun people would stop by and want to talk about it, occasionally a not wierd one� came by and I eventually gave it to one of the good ones.� The others offered me insulting amounts for it.�� People at Germantown High kept asking me why it was pointed at them (everyone thinks they are the center of the world0.

Now you...
What� is your interest?

Guns1418 · Sergeant

Hi all, hi Michael

I received Dick Pope's list, and directly went to see the most puzzling guns around Phladelphia.

A first null result in Chester, PA, then the lFH16 in Hamburg, PA, and both the '10cm on Rohr Wagon' of Easton, and the '15cm nr 4' Allemand de Topton.

The two latter ones were very good surprises, see my following messages in the forum !

I plan a trip in Virginia this Summer... as well as other PA guns from that amazing list.

Friendly

Bernard

michael6367 · Sergeant

Msg to Mike Luke who posted the pics of the Bloomington Morser. Can you post a shot of the WW1 tank thats also located in the park? Ive seen a bad picture of it once on some geo-caching site but would like to see a good color shot of you have it !