Northover Projector

The Northover Projector, officially the Projector, 2.5 inch, was an improvised anti-tank weapon used by the British Army and the Home Guard during the Second World War. After the defeat in the Battle of France made a German invasion of Britain seem likely, modern weapons went to the regular army and the Home Guard was left short, so Home Guard officer Robert Harry Northover designed a cheap, easily made weapon and had it put into production in 1940 after a demonstration to Winston Churchill. It was a hollow metal tube on a tripod with a rudimentary breech, fired with black powder ignited by a musket percussion cap, and effective at roughly 100 to 150 yards. It was hard to move, and the No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenades it fired could break inside the breech, damaging the weapon and injuring the crew. Nearly 19,000 were in service by the start of 1943, and it was later replaced by weapons such as the 2-pounder anti-tank gun.