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The Holman Projector was an anti-aircraft weapon used by the Royal Navy during the Second World War, primarily between early 1940 and late 1941. The weapon was proposed and designed by Holmans, a machine tool manufacturer based at Camborne, Cornwall. A number of models were produced during the war years, but all worked on the principle of a Pneumatic weapon, using compressed air or high pressure steam to fire an explosive projectile at enemy aircraft.Lambert et al., 1990, p191
Intended as a stop-gap weapon for British merchant ships, which had been suffering many losses from Luftwaffe aircraft, the low altitude at which such strikes often took place (such as during Aerial torpedo attacks by Heinkel He 111s or Skip bombing attacks by Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor) meant that a weapon of such limited range and velocity could throw up an effective screen of fire over a vessel, even if only to create a distracting or deterrent effect, obliging the enemy to bomb from greater heights which reduced bombing accuracy. While ineffective against normal bombing attacks from higher altitudes, the weapon was far cheaper, easier to build and install in great numbers than conventional anti-aircraft artillery.
Holmans specialised in producing and pneumatic equipment, its owner, Treve Holman, conceived a way that his firm could aid in the war effort beyond the production of tools. Recalling the First World War-era Stokes Mortar and its successor, the Ordnance ML 3 inch Mortar, Holman believed that it would be possible to produce a version powered by compressed air. Preliminary tests showed that the idea was feasible, with an early prototype throwing an eighteen-pound steel weight nearly .
An official trial of the Mk I Projector took place in February 1940 with resounding success. An order was placed by the Royal Navy for 1,000 of the Mk I models and the weapons proved just as successful in action; the first confirmed success was reported only three weeks after the initial batch was sent out when a Heinkel aircraft was damaged. While direct hits were rare, the bombs fired by the projector displayed an unexpected property — the explosion would leave a large puff of black smoke, absent from ground-based explosions of similar grenades. Firing a large number in quick succession gave the impression to incoming Luftwaffe pilots that the target vessel was armed with something far more deadly than the Holman Projector, deterring or disrupting attacks, or convincing the aircraft's crew that an attack at greater range would be prudent, with a commensurate decrease in accuracy.
The new version was fitted to a wide variety of ships, from to minesweepers and motor gun boats: to demonstrate the weapon's versatility, a trial was arranged in Aldershot before the Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
No Mills rounds were brought, as it was assumed that some form of ammunition would be provided by the British Army, who were overseeing the trials but these were overlooked and the trial was set to be delayed until one officer thought to bring out the Beer bottle that were to have been served at lunch: the smooth bore of the Projector allowed even these irregular projectiles to be fired, with all striking the target with an explosion of glass and foam. The Prime Minister commented on the weapon afterwards, describing it as "A very good idea, this weapon of yours. It will save our cordite".
(This was prophetic: while possibly apocryphal, stories of projectors mounted on trawlers being used to fire 'spuds' (potatoes) at low-flying German aircraft for the want of Mills bombs led to the nickname 'potato thrower'. 'spud gun' etc.) Regardless of the successful trial results, the Mk II proved to be highly inaccurate when fired at distant moving targets: only a dozen or so aircraft were confirmed to have been downed by the weapon in its first year of service. It did succeed in convincing many more aircrews that the target vessel was better equipped with more effective weapons, a fact confirmed by the large number of reports were made about Luftwaffe aircraft turning away from an attack after salvos from ship-mounted Holman Projectors. Within the Admiralty, the perception was that the Projector was a useful stop-gap weapon in the early years of the war, when other more effective anti aircraft weaponry, such as the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, were in short supply.
Plans were drawn up for a Mk IV to fill this niche more readily, with a shorter barrel and swivel base but when these were ready the war had progressed, more advanced weaponry was available that made the Projector obsolete. A number of the earlier model Projectors remained in service and discouraged attacks in the Mediterranean by some smaller , and a few were adapted to fire for commando cliff assaults. Around 4,500 Holman Projectors were put into service during the war and several can still be found in in the United Kingdom.
==Ammunition==
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