Whanganui’s famous artillery gun almost ready to return to view after 12 years

Queen's Park's 25-pound gun was removed in 2010. Photo / NZME

The artillery gun that stood at Pukenamu Queen’s Park for more than three decades isn’t far off returning to the spotlight.

It was removed in 2010 for restoration and currently resides with Geoff Lawson, of the Whanganui Antiquities Trust, who restored the 1892 Krupp Gun on display in the Whanganui War Memorial Centre’s foyer.

“Basically, it’s almost finished,” Lawson said.

“I just need to get the shield put back on and the whole thing repainted with a couple of coats, then it’s pretty much go.”

The gun had a lot of corroded surfaces by the time it was removed from the park, he said.

“I chopped pieces out of it and welded new bits in, that kind of thing, and made new parts and pieces for it.

“These guns are rather simplistic things, like giant Tonka toys really.”

Initially, he thought he would have to replace the whole rear end of the gun where the trail sides came together.

That would have involved a lot of engineering.

“I hit it with an acetylene torch and made it pop and bang, then gave it multiple coats of fish oil,” Lawson said.

The gun should live indoors once it's restored, Geoff Lawson says. Photo / NZME

“It hasn’t given any trouble since. It’s all looking pretty good.”

He said that model of gun was created in 1939 and he believed Whanganui’s was built in 1942.

The 25-pound Vickers Armstrong Mk2 /1 is owned by the Whanganui Regional Museum and was placed at Pukenamu Queen’s Park in 1969.

Because of the 1938 Munich Agreement, a settlement between Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, the British government thought World War II had been averted, Lawson said.

“The British army realised that the politicians had got it all wrong and that they had better upgrade their army pretty bloody quick,” Lawson said.

“They took all their type-34 18-pounders and thought about how to improve them.

“A barrel with a bigger bore was fitted along with a few other modifications and they turned it into the type-39.”

Lawson said all the guns were lost when they arrived in France.

They fell into the hands of Germany, with “mountains of ammunition”.

“The Germans tested them to find out how good they were and liked them so much that they kept them until the end of the war.

“When they ran out of British-made ammunition they made their own.

“It was the first ‘do-all’ artillery gun - a tank buster, a howitzer and a light artillery gun all rolled into one.”

The one he was restoring probably did not take part in any action, Lawson said.

He had contacted the New Zealand Army to find out but could not get any additional information.

“Apparently, the RSA brought it to Whanganui in 1968 but there was nowhere out the front [of their premises] to put it. From there, I suspect it was gifted to the museum.”

Lawson said he had no idea where the gun would end up when it was finished but he hoped it would not be returned to its former spot.

“It won’t last very long if it goes back up there again.

“The gun needs to be under cover. It’s too old to be left sitting out in the weather all the time.

“One thing is for sure, this will be my last project. I won’t be doing another one.”