I am working on a figure who is operating a 50cal on an AA tripod (tall tripod making it easy to stand and point the 50cal air-ward).
I have a vision of a ring (3/4 ring) or sandbags around this emplacement.
My question is - are there guidelines for building such a sandbag encased AA emplacement in the PTO?
Thoughts, pictures, references are greatly appreciated. Thanks

Slodster,

I am seeing pictures from the movie midway here. I would have a large "trench" or hole dug, flat at the bottom. The put sand bags around it. Build them up maybe 3 or 4 high. That would look kind of real.

~Chip

I dont think there are any rules, but i may be wrong. It would be a simple rule really that fits with all sandbagged emplacements the thicker the better, obviously you would not wantto build any OHP (overhead protection) if your doing a full 360, however that would be something worth considering if you only wanted a 180 arc, may have been done incase the bombardment was too heavy but considering you want it as an AA emplacement I would think it doubtfull as it sort of defeats the aim of having an AA emplacement with protection to take cover from the air and not be able to use your weapons.

Martin,

There are guidelines for EVERYTHING the military does. :-)

Scott,

I don't have the specifics for a PTO AA pit, but I can tell you that a 81mm mortar pit is 8' inside diameter by 2'-3' minimum depth. The 'floor' slopes 1"-4" towards a drainage sump at the entrance to an 18" wide 'lazy L" connecting trench (at the 6 o'clock posit) to the ammo pit. Within the 8' diameter are two grenade sumps (at roughly the 8 and 2 o'clock positions) that run underneath the sandbagged walls. There is a ready ammo niche running from about the 3 to the 5 o'clock positions that extends outbound of the 8' diameter, but obviously is accessable from inside the pit. The earth parapet is (for the above dimensions) 20" high x 36" wide minimum. The direction of fire is at the 12 o'clock posit, but this arrangement will give you a full 360 degree field of fire. The inside dimensions are large enough for two mortar crewmen... the gunner and the loader.

I'm going to do one of these for my next M29A1, 81mm mortar, at least to a partial trench, and it'll fit on a 5" diameter base comfortably.

Hope that this helps some, you could adjust as required. Might be close enough for what you're looking to do.

If you want, PM me your email and I can get a scan of this off to you. BTW, this comes from "MCI 03.22H The 81mm Mortar Crewman" (Marine Corps Institute)

Keep us posted.

Check out the old WW2 movie about Wake island, I think they made the flic near the same time so you might get a eral good feel on ways they did it

This is very true for the US army, but I can assure you that not all armies are organised like that. (I remember the sink in my hotel room at the USAF Ramstein AFB in Germany that said "turn tap clockwise to run water, turn counterclockwise to close" or something like that. I still wish I had made a picture of that !

And there may be RULES for everything, but the heat of the action, lack of materials, suitability of the location and other variables often result in makeshift solutions, at least in wartime situations. I wouldn't worry too much here.

Having said this, it is always interesting for modelers to first READ the rules. Even if you allow some changes to make nicer dioramas, you still know what you're doing and what you're supposed to do. And you know the general reasonging behind what you do, the techniques, etc... No matter what you finally do, your dio can only benefit if you know the rules before you start bending them.

The 'book' is a guideline if you have the time and materials available but, basically, that's the way it is to be done...otherwise you improvise and you are allowed to do so.

I have seen and had my share of the 'Chicken $hit' too Jan.

I am building exactly the same thing, except in the ETO sited by an airfield. I plan on placing it in a dugout surrounded by sandbags.

Good luck and enjoy!