Cream Productions of Toronto, Canada, created a new artillery documentary program on contract to the History Channel this summer. Much of the footage was shot during the 14th annual Long Range Historic Artillery Matches at Camp Grayling (July 10-11) and will feature participants in that event.
The producers wanted to do a side-by-side firing comparison of a muzzle-loading rifled field gun and a modern field gun. Inquiries with the Michigan National Guard indicated that there was no opportunity to arrange that kind of firing during the late summer training at Camp Grayling in 2004. As an alternate, Cream Productions arranged for a firing program at the Canadian Forces artillery base (CFB) at Shilo, Manitoba, Canada. Shilo is about two hours driving time west of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Project Historian Gordon Laco of Midland, Ontario, conducted most of the negotiations for the use of the artillery ranges at CFB Shilo and researched Canadian law on the movement of the historic cannon into Canada for the program Fortunately the current Canadian law has a clear-cut exemption for bringing muzzle-loading artillery into the country. Advance notice was given to both U.S. and Canadian customs personnel on the movement of the ordnance and all went smoothly.
Two historic field guns from Michigan made the trip to Manitoba in late August. One was a 24 pdr. field howitzer owned by Matt Switlik with a crew of individuals from Loomis’ Battery, Michigan Light Artillery. The second gun, a 3-Inch Parrott owned by Norm Gibson, was crewed by members of the 1st South Carolina and Dr. John Wells of Duncansville, Pa., top gunner at the Camp Grayling competition.
The 24 pdr. field howitzer fired a wide variety of ammunition typical of smoothbore artillery in the 19th century. Much of the firing was recorded by a high-speed camera and targets were representative of tactical situations. The most unusual shot was a high-speed photo of the time fuze being lit in the howitzer.
It was done by focusing the camera on a mirror in front of the gun bore. The mirror was sacrificed to achieve a most unusual artillery image. One goal of the program was to record the use of spherical case in the howitzer. About 12 rounds were expended in this effort with interesting results.
The 10 pdr. fired at a variety of targets at several distances but its primary mission was to compare firing at 1000 meters with that done by a Canadian Forces LG1 Mark II, 105 mm light gun/howitzer.
The Parrott fired 10 rounds in this part of the program. It used five percussion shell to bracket its target then switched to five solid shot and got five hits on the plywood target.
The LG1, 105mm gun fired a total of about 10 rounds HE with very dramatic effect. The 1,000-meter distance is the minimum permitted for that gun system and with its lowest propelling charge, muzzle velocity is much less than the Civil War piece. Actual point fire in this situation is less accurate than the Parrott, but of course its ammunition is far more potent so target area fragment saturation is much greater .
The high-speed camera was also used to record canister projectile impacts and various shot effects on a timber wall 200 yards out. The camera was capable of 6,000 frames per second, but at that speed its recording time available was less than a half second so careful calculations had to be made about projectile flight time and the camera start delayed until projectiles were en route
Focus of the program is on artillery technology, not living history. Although film footage taken at Camp Grayling during the regular match will show gun crews in their usual period uniforms, the footage taken at CFB Shilo has the muzzle-loading gun crews presented as technicians in ordinary work clothes. This interpretation was a requirement of the production company.
Participants in the program were very pleased with the hospitality of the Canadian Forces. CFB Shilo is the home base for Canadian Artillery and home of its artillery museum. The museum is an excellent facility which is currently undergoing expansion and is well worth a visit by any artillery buff with an interest in field artillery of the 19th century and later.
The museum is working on a unique interactive display which will feature a World War I British 13 pdr. firing position and permit visitor participation in a simulated firing mission.
At the time of this writing, the documentary is nearing delivery to the History Channel and it is expected to be aired sometime in the mid-winter.