Thornycroft 2422 MTB

Hello Jan,

Thanks for all that info. The boat 2422 drawings, June 1939, clearly show the Bofors and the internal angle iron structure for its mounting. Placed between the port and starboard fuel tanks and right down to the keel.

The Thornycroft drawings, I think of a slightly later date but I did not take copies of those, show the configuration for the Irish Navy, M1 to M6, a configuration clearly for sub hunting equipped with sonar.

So it would seem that this boat did not fall into the hands of the RN though I would guess that to be unlikely if it actualy got built to drawing. It would after all have been a worthwhile craft if only for evaluation trials.

The info on the transmission system was most usefull, but like most of the craft it shows up the lack of experience, both 'combat experience' and mechanical. Coupling two engines is not simple, the cyclinder firing must be maintained 'in phase' otherwise torsional vibration problems arrise leading to mechanical failure. Simple clutches dont work. Even load matching the throttles is a major problem. I must admit I was puzled by the size of the gearboxes, far too big for simple forward / reverse boxes, the two speed feature explains it!

Thanks again for adding to the background history.

Now that I have finished the model I will be progressing on to the next one in Thornycrofts list of MTB designs.

Hopefully one day to have a complete set of all their WW II MTB's.