Blacker Bombard

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29 mm Spigot Mortar (Blacker Bombard)

Type	Anti-tank Mortar
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1941-1944
Used by	British Army, Home Guard
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Blacker
Designed	1940
Number built	c. 22,000
Specifications
Weight	156 kilograms (344 lb)
Crew	Three

Calibre	29 millimetres (1 in) (nominal calibre - diameter of spigot)
Rate of fire	12-15 rounds per minute
Effective range	100 yards (91 m)–500 yards (457 m)

The Blacker Bombard was a cheap anti-tank weapon devised by Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Blacker in the early years of the Second World War. Although intended for use by the regular units of the British Army it was quickly replaced by the PIAT and was issued to the British Home Guard for their use instead.

[edit] Design

In 1940, Blacker, who was a private inventor of weapons, drew up the Bombard based on the spigot discharger. The official designation was 29 mm Spigot Mortar (Blacker Bombard).

The unit consisted of a thin metal "barrel" (just sufficient to contain the propelling blast away from the operator) with the spigot in the centre. The round was loaded by sliding it on over the spigot. A spring pushed against a 12 pound (5 kg) steel canister and rod that rode up the inside of the spigot and impacted with the rear of the round, igniting a small propulsion charge. The primary use of the heavy bolt and rod was to damp out the recoil of the round. The recoil also acted to reset the spring, meaning that the weapon only had to be cocked for firing once, by pulling up on the tube while standing on a handle mounted at the rear.

Aiming was done by turning the Bombard in the direction of the enemy then tilting back the barrel until a pointer lined up with the appropriate range marked on the gunners shield.

The anti-tank round was a 20 lb (9 kg) finned bomb full of high explosive. The propellant was black powder for economy. This was sufficient to give it a range of over 100 yards albeit with a curved trajectory. Against German tank designs of the early part of the war such a warhead would have been quite effective. There was also an anti-personnel round that weighed "only" 14 lb (about 6 kg) which could be fired out to 500 yards.

Spigot mortar emplacement (reconstructed)

The whole Bombard unit on its squat flat four-legged mount weighed around 350 lb - necessitating a large crew just to move it. In Home Guard deployments the Bombard could be set up on a more permanent position - a hole in the top of a substantial concrete block was sufficient.

Blacker Bombards were issued to some units in North Africa in mid-1942. Blacker Bombards were employed in the brief defence of Tobruk in June 1942 (where they are known to have destroyed at least one German tank), and were provided in the 4th Indian Division where the spigot mortars supplemented the anti-tank defence of the Division until mid-1943.