Interesting comments, Phantom. I have wondered about that notch, too. And thanks again for your efforts in uncovering the mounting site of the elusive pom-pom!
Here's some more SWAGGING. Consider the following snapshots from the 1942 Japanese newsreel. The first begins by looking slightly N/NE down the little hill. I think we can identify some of the structures seen, but will leave that alone for now. The Japanese photographer, as will soon become apparent, is standing with the overturned pom-pom to his immediate left.
Now the photographer has swung his camera slightly to the left. It is pointing almost north. I'm trying to get a full "pan" here.
A little further to the left, and we begin to see the pom-pom:
Further still, we can see the right hand control wheel on the gun:
Next...
Finally, note the damage to the cooling jacket on the far right barrel:
Next, the
Philippine Expeditionary Force photo of the overturned pom-pom:
Here the far left barrel has the damage, which is what we would expect viewing the gun from the opposite side. The photographer is standing on the north side of the overturned weapon, with the southern ridge of the hill behind it. I know, this is all pretty obvious, I'm just thinking of the newbies and "nuggets" here (a good old USN term) before I make the SWAG...
The bottom of the overturned pom-pom is facing roughly NE, while the top of it is facing roughly SW.
If the gun was blown over by an explosion, it would seem reasonable to expect that the explosion came from NE of the gun, causing it to turn over. But in the first snapshots above, the structures seen immediately north of the pom-pom, made of corrugated metal and held up by posts, are upright and intact. Yes, there is debris scattered over the ground, but there are even trees and bushes with branches still attached, too. It is hard for me to accept that an explosion powerful enough to overturn a heavy
unbolted pom-pom (more on that later) would not flatten these structures. But not even a roof is blown off.
A devil's advocate might suggest that these structures were hastily rebuilt under heavy gunfire after the pom-pom was taken out of action on 4/29. But the three 75mm's were hit, too, so why bother? There were no serviceable weapons left on top of Malinta Hill. I suspect these stuctures survived as they are seen until the surrender on 5/6.
Now for the matter of the two concrete pieces that were found (only half of the original concrete, I'm sure):
(photo courtesy fots2)
The concrete pieces fit very nicely over the steel ring, apparently even covering the bolt holes on the pad. But, if you look at the bolt holes in the bottom of the pom-pom's base ring and assume that they should align with the bolt holes in the steel ring on the pad, the gun's base ring could not have fit over the concrete pieces. Put together, they are too wide. The concrete pieces must have belonged somewhere above the gun's base ring. My guess is between the base ring and the next, wider, metal ring above. Maybe the concrete served as a makeshift jury-rigged spacer that dampened vibration, a common problem in the early 1.1's. Or maybe it substituted for a missing or damaged part.
All this leads me to believe that the pom-pom must have been bolted down through the steel ring into the concrete pad. I just can't imagine that a heavy, revolving, automatic weapon with recoil and a known vibration problem would not be securely mounted. It would have required such little additional effort to do so. Especially in an exposed position where bombardment would be expected. And after all the effort required to haul it up on top of Malinta Hill.
Next point...
If the pom-pom was indeed bolted down, it
could not have been blown over by an explosion. There is no damage to the steel ring in the concrete pad. There are no broken bolts in it. As far as I can see, there is no damage to the base ring on the pom-pom itself, either.
The only explanation for all this that I can think of is that the pom-pom was being
dismantled by the Japanese. And why? For scrap?
The newsreel has a number of scenes of US POWs. This snapshot shows the 92nd Garage area:
As we know, the POWs at the 92nd garage were transferred out on 5/23. It therefore seems reasonable to assume that the newsreel was filmed somewhere between 5/6 and 5/23. Question: were the Japanese in such dire need of scrap metal in May 1942 that they would disassemble a captured example of the US Navy's newest (though flawed) AA gun, in order to scrap it? I think not-
There are a number of Japanese
Naval officers seen in the newsreel.
While these IJN officers may have been present in order to attend a grand victory ceremony, I cannot help but think that they would have had a keen interest in the USN AA specimen that was now in their country's possession. I read somewhere, a couple of years ago, that the captured Corregidor 1.1 inch pom-pom was sent back to Japan, evaluated, and eventually scrapped. That was on a website that I have, unfortunately, been unable to locate again. It was bookmarked on my previous computer that literally met a blazing end while I was away, during a thunderstorm where lightening struck a tree in the back yard...and fried several of our electronic gizmos.
Ok, the latest SWAG is over, and I'm outta here
