FV432 in Aden

[uk 75]

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detai...fv432-armoured-personnel-news-photo/564709555An unusual photo of an FV432 in 1967 in Aden. It is fitted with a Browning instead of the usual GPMG.
I had always assumed 432s only served in BAOR, Berlin and training units in UK and Canada. Anyone know more?

 

[Fluff]

http://www.flat222.org/gallery3/index.php/brian/army/Aden-Sharjah/Aden/432-APC-after-MINE
http://www.flat222.org/gallery3/index.php/brian/army/Aden-Sharjah/Aden/Z432-APC-before-MINE
http://www.flat222.org/gallery3/index.php/brian/army/Aden-Sharjah/Aden/aden0433
http://www.flat222.org/gallery3/index.php/brian/army/Aden-Sharjah/Aden/aden0432
Probably more in the folder - 400 photos.

 

[uk 75]

Interesting stuff. Were the 432/3 only used by the REME,/fitters? The Infantry had Ferrets, Saracens and Saladins?

 

[riggerrob]

The turret in that last photo reminds us of the Browning turrets installed on Ferrets and Saracen APCs.
The British Army had many thousands WW2-vintage Browning MGs still in stock.

 

[Foo Fighter]

There were Brownings around for a long time, we used the fifty as a ranging gun when I first trained in Chieftain gunnery and there were still thirties around in the armouries then.

 

[SeaslugMk2]

Interesting to see two different types of helmet being worn by the guys in the back.

SRJ.

 

[JohnR]

Was the Browning rechambered for .30 NATO standard ammo at this time?

 

[uk 75]

https://hmvf.co.uk/topic/25480-ferrets-in-aden-new-service-pics/thread from.2013 has another pic of the unturreted 432.
Thanks to Fluff above we now know that the two were REME fitters vehicles

 

[Foo Fighter]

Looks like a Ferret turret.

 

[JohnR]

Is the turret on the commanders hatch?? That seems a more sensible solution to the one adopted with the Peak Engineering turret on the central hatch.

 

[Foo Fighter]

That's the only place left for it, over the passenger/load space would reduce access and usability. Easier to do also.

 

[Tony Williams]

Was the Browning rechambered for .30 NATO standard ammo at this time?

I assume you mean 7.62mm (Cal. .30 was not a NATO round).

Not as far as I know, although I'm open to correction. Some countries converted Brownings to 7.62 mm (South Africa, IIRC) but I don't think that the UK did: they kept them in .30 until they were replaced by the GPMG.

 

[Foo Fighter]

There would be a certain amount of .3 but how much in storage that started out as .303 as that was used for a while by the RAF.

 

[Tony Williams]

There would be a certain amount of .3 but how much in storage that started out as .303 as that was used for a while by the RAF.

The RAF's rifle-calibre Brownings were all in .303, but they were to a modified design, firing from an open bolt to avoid cook-offs (to which Cordite was prone). And of course, all of the aircraft Brownings, whatever the calibre, were much faster-firing than the army guns - around 1,200 rpm rather than c.600 rpm.

Britain used Cal. .30 Brownings in WW2 mostly, I think, because a lot of US Lend-Lease AFVs came fitted with them. Presumably most of those were returned to the USA after the war.