Toggle the table of contents

M45 Quadmount
The M45 Quadmount was a towed anti-aircraft gun
M45 Quadmount
consisting of four .50 caliber M2 Browning machine
guns mounted in pairs on either side of an armored
open-top gunner's compartment with electrical laying.
It was developed by the W. L. Maxson Corporation to
replace the earlier M33 twin mount (also from
Maxson).[2] Although designed as an anti-aircraft
weapon, it was also used against ground targets, where
it earned the nicknames "meat chopper" and
"Krautmower"[2] Introduced in 1944, it saw service as
late as the Vietnam War.

History
M45 on an M20 trailer in the Musée des
In order to develop a mobile anti-aircraft weapon, Blindés
several 0.5 inch (12.7  mm) twin machine gun mounts Type Anti-aircraft gun
were tested on the chassis of the M2 half-track
Heavy machine gun
including Bendix, Martin Aircraft Company, and
Maxson. The Maxson M33 turret mount was preferred Place of origin United States
and—on the larger M3 half-track (T1E2)—was Service history
accepted for service in 1942 as the M13 Multiple Gun
Wars World War II
Motor Carriage. The mount was also used on the
First Indochina War
similar M5 half track as the M14 Multiple Gun Motor
Korean War
Carriage.[3][4][5]
Vietnam War
Experimentally, the Quadmount was also tested in Portuguese Colonial
1942 on a M3 Light Tank in place of the tank's turret War
but the project was terminated.[6] Indo-Pakistani War
of 1965
Even as production of the two MGMC vehicles was
Nicaraguan
underway, there was work to increase the firepower.
Revolution
Re-working the M33 to take four machine guns
produced the M45 mounting. Specifications
Mass 2,396 lb (1,087 kg)
The M45 Quadmount was the principal weapon (along
with the 37mm gun) of highly mobile anti-aircraft Barrel length 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m)
artillery battalions deployed in the European Theater L/50[1]
during World War II. These battalions provided
invaluable air defense to much larger units, particularly Shell .50 BMG
field artillery. The M45 Quadmount units served as a
(12.7×99mm NATO)
very strong deterrent to strafing runs by enemy
warplanes as, in addition to their gross firepower, its Shell weight 21 oz (.6 kg)
quartet of Browning M2HB "heavy barrel" .50 caliber Caliber 0.50 in (12.7 mm)
guns were capable of being "tuned" to converge upon
a single point at distances which could be reset while in Action Short recoil-
use. Multiple-gun mounts were developed for the M2 operated
Browning because the M2's rate of fire (450–550
Elevation -5° to +90°
rounds per minute) for a single gun was too low for
anti-aircraft use.[2] Traverse 360°[1]
Rate of fire 575 x 4 = 2,300 rpm
The M45 found use throughout the war as a land-based
weapon, particularly during the Battle of the Bulge. Muzzle velocity 2,900 ft/s (890 m/s)
Although the Allies achieved air supremacy by the Effective firing range 4,900 ft (1.5 km)
invasion of Normandy in June 1944, German attack (effective AA)
runs were still a threat. German Jabo fighter-bombers 15,000 ft (4.5 km)
could approach and attack at low altitude and then
(maximum AA)
quickly retreat to avoid Allied fighters. The Luftwaffe
also mustered a large number of planes for Operation Maximum firing range 1.1 mi (1.8 km)
Bodenplatte that took place on New Year's Day 1945. (horizontal)
1.6 mi (2.5 km)
It was also tested by the US Navy as a solution for the (maximum)
Kamikaze attacks that started in late 1944. Two Essex
class aircraft carriers received six mounts each for Feed system Belt-fed (M2 or M9
operational testing starting with CV-16 Lexington in links)[1]
May 1945. The guns were too light and ineffective
against the high speeds that the diving Kamikaze aircraft possessed.[7]

The M45 Quadmount was ineffective against the new, fast-flying planes of the Jet Age. However, it was
used against infantry targets in US post-war service. In Vietnam they were pressed into service to defend
bases and to ride escort convoys along Viet Cong roads.[8]

The French Army also used M45s in combat. M45 Quad Mounts were placed in trucks to deal with
ambushes and four M45s were used during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.[9]

TCM-20

The TCM-20 was a postwar Israeli development of the M45 mount, equipped with two 20mm Hispano-
Suiza HS.404 cannons in lieu of machine guns. In frontline Israeli service, it was replaced by the M163
Vulcan Air Defense System in the 1970s, but some reserve units still used TCM-20s into the 1980s. The
weapon was also exported to several third-world countries.

Mountings
During World War II, the M45 turret was mounted on two specific systems; the M16 Multiple Gun Motor
Carriage and the M51 Multiple Machine Gun Carriage. When mounted on the M20 trailer, it was known as
the M55 Machine Gun Trailer Mount, but this system had not finished testing before the cessation of
hostilities. M51s were withdrawn from service by the end of World War II in favor of the M55.

During the Korean War, the M55 and M16 saw extensive combat, and lessons learned in Korea led to the
conversion of an additional 1200 M3 halftracks into the M16A1 variant by adding an M45 turret. These
can be identified by the lack of fold-down armor and rear troop door on the crew compartment and were
often fitted with the roller front bumper instead of the winch bumper fitted to all M16s. In 1954 an
additional modification was made to roughly 700 M16 MGMCs, adding the rear troop door and bolting the
fold-down armor in the up position. This modification became known as the M16A2 MGMC.
The M55 received a new, more powerful generator in the 1960s and served through the Vietnam War,
usually mounted in the back of an M35 2.5 ton or M54 5-ton gun trucks.

Operation
The M45 is operated by two loaders and one gunner. The mount is capable of traversing a full 360 degrees
around, with an angle elevation between -10 and +90 degrees. Traverse and elevation are electrically
driven, powered by two rechargeable 6-volt batteries. All four guns could be fired at once, but standard
practice was to alternate between firing the upper and lower pair of guns, allowing one pair to cool while
the other was in use. This allowed for longer periods of action as overheating of the gun barrels was
lessened.[2]
The "tombstone" model M2 ammunition chests held 200 rounds each—with one ammunition chest on an
M45 system holding ten times as many rounds as each of the four twenty-round 20mm magazines of the
German Flakvierling system held (and which, on the German ordnance system, had to be changed every
six seconds on each gun of the quartet to ensure its own top 800 rpm "combined" firing rate), with each M2
ammo chest weighing 89 pounds each when full.

Gallery

CCKW-353-B2 gun Israeli TCM-20, M20 trailer mount, M17 trailer mount,
truck with M45 on Israeli Air Force 1947 1947
M20 trailer in bed. Museum, equipped
This configuration with a pair of 20mm
did not see combat Hispano-Suiza
in World War II as it HS.404 cannon
was still in testing by
the cessation of
hostilities

M16 MGMC Quadmount used for Pakistani soldiers Photographer on an

convoy security operating a M45 M45 repurposed as
along Route 9, Quadmount during camera mount at
Vietnam 1968 the 1965 conflict Lookout Mountain
with India Air Force Station

Operators
 France[9]
 United States
  Taiwan (Republic of China)

See also
List of U.S. military vehicles by supply catalog designation
DTM-4
Flakvierling 38, quadruple 20 mm autocannon-based weapon system mountable onto a
Sd.Kfz. 7/1 half-track, as just one example
Wirbelwind, quad-barrel 2 cm Flakvierling 38.
ZPU-4, quadruple 14.5mm heavy machine gun-based weapon system mountable onto
technicals, cargo trucks, and APCs.

Notes
1. Chamberlain, Peter (1975). Anti-aircraft guns. Gander, Terry. New York: Arco Pub. Co. p. 54.
ISBN 0668038187. OCLC 2000222 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2000222).
2. Rottman, Gordon L., Browning .50-Caliber Machine Guns (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=TaixfxwdCwEC&pg=PA20), Osprey Publishing (2010), ISBN 9781849083317, p. 19-20
3. Zaloga, M3 Infantry Half Track, Osprey Publishing (2004) p. 38.
4. Green (2000), p. 150.
5. Chamberlain & Ellis (1969) British and American Tanks of World War II Arco Publishing.
p191
6. Chamberlain & Ellis (1969) p89-90
7. "RAL - USS Lexington report on Service Experience with Six Caliber .50 Gun Mounts, Mark
31 Mod 0" (http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/CV16/AAReport/index.html). Archived (h
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20180924163611/http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/CV16/
AAReport/index.html) from the original on 2018-09-24. Retrieved 2017-08-17.
8. Rottman, Gordon L. (20 Sep 2011). Vietnam Gun Trucks. New Vanguard 184. Osprey
Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 9781849083553.
9. "1° Groupe d'Artillerie Antiaérienne Coloniale d'Extrême-Orient - Wehrmacht-Awards.com
Militaria Forums" (http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=764040).
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20161020040317/http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/
forums/showthread.php?t=764040) from the original on 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2016-10-19.

References
Training Manuals

TM 9-2800 Military vehicles

TM 9-2010
TM 9-1223
FM 44-57

M20 trailer

SNL G220
TM 9-789
M17 trailer

SNL G221
TM 9-881 (https://www.scribd.com/doc/173634669/TM-9-881)

External links
Scribd's Archived M45 Quadmount Manual (https://www.scribd.com/doc/28274775/Quad-50-
TM9-222-Multiple-Cal-50-MG-Mount-M45)
M45 Quadmount (http://www.robertsarmory.com/quad.htm)
Part I: The "Quad 50" Machine Gun Mount (http://www.skylighters.org/quad50/index.html)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20081222001357/http://www.skylighters.org/quad50/i
ndex.html) 2008-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
Rt66.com (https://web.archive.org/web/20081202023641/http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/Smal
lArms/50quad.htm)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=M45_Quadmount&oldid=1159331976"

Toggle limited content width