https://www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/tech/2018829/german-ww1-cannon-canada-western-front/ 4,000 miles worth! BTW that is some serious recoil right there!
For decades there's been a WW1 field gun parked on the lawn at the courthouse in my home county. I never gave it a close look and from the street it appeared to be a French/US M1897 75mm. A few years ago, I visited the courthouse again after completion of a major renovation and took a closer look at the gun (which had also been restored--when I was a kid it was literally painted silver ) and found that it's actually a German field piece, though not the same model as the one in that story.
This: described as "The Major General Charles Ott Memorial Gun. A World War II M1897A5 Field Gun," stands at the top of the stairs to the West Los Angeles Armory. It's aimed straight down the route I used to take to my doctor's office. Not sure of its range, but I used to live about a mile and a half straight down that street. I mean, ya never know when the City of Santa Monica might rise up in rebellion.
a couple of nights ago on Pawn Stars they had a tiny functioning cannon (a scaled down replica of an actual cannon) and it was only worth about a hundred bucks because they are pretty common. If I had my own property out in the country I'd buy one - it would great fun to shoot an actual cannon.
That's the updated version (hence the -A5) version of the gun I thought was on display at our courthouse. Tires instead of the original wagon-type wheels. It's a National Guard armory. They've almost always got something like that on display. The one I used to be assigned to in the early 90s now has a decomissioned main battle tank parked next to it. During my time there they had one of these in the lobby.
down the street from me is Fort York, a relic of the war of 1812. THey fire a cannon every weekend during the summer. What's REALLY kick ass though, is up the highway in Kingston where they do the same, but it's a full on stone fort with parapets and multiple volleys rather than one 4lb field gun. Some serious parades/tattoos in cooperation with various reg'ts from Ft Drum, too... If you ever make it up this way, definitely worth seeing.
The original, which was the namesake for the French 75 cocktail. I've never looked into what those protrusions are on the end of the barrel (which were removed in later models of the piece).
Grew up not too far from this beastie: (That's the Verrazano Bridge, of Saturday Night Fever fame, in the background.) History: https://www.heyridge.com/2018/10/the-full-epic-history-of-cannonball-park/ We used to climb on it when we were kids. Parks Department had to plug it with concrete to keep idiots from throwing trash and firecrackers in it. Urban legend has it a little kid got stuck in it once, but it's not that big.
I googled the protrusions but drew a blank. I probably phrased it wrong but I'l keep at it. In the meantime, I came across this cool link. 4 US weapons that have been declared illegal by enemies - We Are The Mighty
If I was forced to guess I'd say that they were there to protect the muzzle if it came into contact with the ground while the piece was being unlimbered, but I'd probably be wrong.
The only vehicle I've seen on display at a VFW around here is an M60 in a neighboring town. It was looking really sad until a couple of years ago when some volunteers got together and gave it a new paint job. All the rest of the VFWs I've seen have towed artillery if they have anything at all, with M1 antitank guns being most common. Somebody stole one over the summer, though it was recovered at a storage facility the following day.
Well, let me put it this way. I would assume they're de-milled. Knowing our local Guardsmen, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they just drove it onto a concrete pad and tacked the hatches closed.
If it's in a public park, TACOM gave its okay (and still retains ownership, BTW) so at a minimum the breech block would've been removed from the tank's gun and fluids drained from both vehicles, assuming they didn't remove the powerpacks altogether. If I saw a photo of the tank I might be able to tell if it's still got its engine.
Sorry. I misread your original post. In that case the Guard still has custody of the tank and probably removed the breech block and welded the hatches shut. Might've drained fluids from the engine after parking it. What's the address? I'm curious what model it is. Most gate guard M48s are slicks or A1s, which are really old vehicles.
