Holman Projector

The Holman Projector was an anti-aircraft weapon used by the Royal Navy during World War II, 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 mortar, using compressed air or high pressure steam to fire an explosive projectile at enemy aircraft. The device was intended primarily as a stop-gap defensive weapon for British merchant ships, which had been suffering heavy losses from Luftwaffe aircraft flying anti-shipping missions. The low altitude that such strikes often took place (such as during torpedo attacks by Heinkel He 111's or skip-bombing attacks by Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor) meant that even 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. Of course, its short range made it ineffective against normal bombing attacks from higher altitudes, but forcing the enemy to bomb from greater heights much reduced bombing accuracy, and the weapon was far cheaper, and easier to build and install in great numbers than conventional anti-aircraft artillery.