The display board has never been used and was found, with four other identical examples, in their un-opened original wooden packing cases.
It was manufactured (circa 1940) for the United States Navy’s Bureau of Ordinance by the Gardner Display Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally 50 such display boards were made and sent to Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station in SanDiego.
Used for educational purposes, primarily recognition, the board shows different types of (inert) 40 mm ammunition (armor-piercing, incendiary, etc), some sectionalised. The shells were for use with the ‘Bofors’ gun, an ‘Autocannon’ that was the US Navy’s anti-aircraft weapon of choice during WWII. This type of automatic gun remains in service today in various forms, making the ‘Bofors’ both one of the longest-serving artillery pieces of all time as well as one of the most wide spread across the militaries of the world.
Another such display board from the original group of 50 manufactured is on display at the Battleship Cove Museum in Massachusetts.
Dimensions: 91.5 cm/36 inches (width) x 91.5 cm/36 inches (height)
