Northover Projector
The Projector, 2.5 inch—more commonly known as the Northover Projector—was an ad hoc anti-tank weapon used by the British Army and Home Guard during the Second World War. The Northover Projector was designed by Home Guard officer Robert Harry Northover to act as a makeshift anti-tank weapon, and was put into production in 1940 following a demonstration to the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. The weapon consisted of a hollow metal tube attached to a tripod, with a rudimentary breech at one end.
Also recorded as 2.5in Northover Projector
Northover Projector

Malindine (Lt) War Office official photographer · This photograph H 11843 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 4700-37) · Public domain
- Name
- Northover Projector
- Field
- grenade launcher
- Period
- 1940
- Region
- United Kingdom
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
The Projector, 2.5 inch—more commonly known as the Northover Projector—was an ad hoc anti-tank weapon used by the British Army and Home Guard during the Second World War. The Northover Projector was designed by Home Guard officer Robert Harry Northover to act as a makeshift anti-tank weapon, and was put into production in 1940 following a demonstration to the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. The weapon consisted of a hollow metal tube attached to a tripod, with a rudimentary breech at one end.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Northover Projector. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q597174 · wikipedia · Northover Projector
In this article
Overview
Overview
Rounds were fired with the use of black powder ignited by a standard musket percussion cap, and it had an effective range of between 100 and 150 yards. Although it was cheap and easy to manufacture, it did have several problems; it was difficult to move and the No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenades it used as one type of ammunition had a tendency to break inside the breech, damaging the weapon and injuring the crew. Production began in late 1940, and by the beginning of 1943 nearly 19,000 were in service. Like many obsolete Home Guard weapons, it was eventually replaced by other weapons, such as the 2-pounder anti-tank gun.

Northover Projector from Military Training Pamphlet No 42 Tank Hunting and Destruction
HM Government · HM Government (1940) Military Training Pamphlet No 42: Tank Hunting and Destruction, War Office

Men of 'E' Company, 20th (Sevenoaks) Home Guard with a Northover Projector at Chelsfield in Kent.
War Office official photographer: Puttnam (Lt) · This photograph H 12238 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Northover Projector • Origin — United Kingdom • Type — Grenade launcher • Is Ranged — yes • Is Artillery — yes • Is Uk — yes • Service — 1940–1945 • Used By — British Army, Home Guard • Wars — Second World War • Designer — Major Robert Harry Northover • Design Date — 1940 • Unit Cost — £10 (1940) • Variants — Northover Mk 2 • Weight — 27.2 kilograms • Part Length — 914 mm • Caliber — 2.5 inch • Velocity — 60m/sec (200ft/sec) • Range — 251 m • Elevation — free • Traverse — free
Development
Development
With the end of the Battle of France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain seemed likely. However, the British Army was not well-equipped to defend the country in such an event; in the weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation it could field only twenty-seven divisions. The Army was particularly short of anti-tank guns, 840 of which had been left behind in France, leaving only 167 available in Britain; ammunition was so scarce for the remaining guns that regulations forbade even a single round being used for training purposes. Given these shortcomings, any modern weapons that were available were allocated to the British Army, and the Home Guard was forced to supplement the meagre amount of outdated weapons and ammunition they had with ad hoc weapons. One such weapon was the Northover Projector, the invention of Major Robert Harry Northover. Northover, an officer in the Home Guard, designed it to be an easily manufactured and cheap anti-tank weapon, costing just under £10 to produce, excluding the required tripod. The Major wrote directly to the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, with his design and arranged for Churchill to attend a demonstration of the Northover Projector. The Prime Minister approved of the weapon and gave it his personal endorsement, ordering in October 1940 that the weapon be mass-produced on a scale of one for every Home Guard platoon.
Design
Design
• Illustration — Practice ammunition for the Northover Projector • Illustration — Northover Projector diagram. Key: 1: Base 2: Pivot 3: Spades 4: Leg sockets 5: Breech ring 6: Breech locking lever 7: Breech block handle 8: Firing hammer 9: Barrel clip 10: Barrel 11: Trigger bar 12: Operating handle 13: Legs 14: Primer The Northover Projector—which was officially labelled the "Projector, 2.5 inch" by the War Office —was formed of a hollow metal tube, resembling a drain pipe, mounted on top of a cast-iron tripod. It weighed approximately 27.2 kilograms. A simple breech was attached to one end of the tube, and rounds were fired from the Projector with a small quantity of black powder ignited by a "top hat" copper cap as used in muzzle loading rifles; any recoil from the weapon was absorbed by the legs of the tripod, which were also hollow. It had a maximum range of approximately 300 yards but was accurate only to between 100 and 150 yards Home Guard units often added their own modifications to the weapon, which included mounting it on carriages or even the sidecars of motorcycles. It was served by a crew of three. Ammunition for the weapon consisted of the No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenade, a glass bottle "containing a phosphorus mixture which burst into livid flames, giving off quantities of suffocating smoke upon exposure to the air", as well as normal hand and rifle grenades. The Projector had a number of defects. It was difficult to move, the tripod had the tendency to damage itself if it was dropped, and its discharge pressure has been described as "feeble." The phosphorus grenades exhibited a number of faults when used in the Projector; they could often explode inside the weapon if too much black powder were added, or fall short if too little were used, or even fail to explode. They could also break inside the barrel when fired which often led to the weapon being damaged and its crew injured. Even when fired properly, the Projector gave off a large cloud of smoke which could take up to a minute to clear and revealed the weapon's position. Bishop argues that its anti-tank abilities would have been 'doubtful' when it fired hand and rifle grenades, although he considers that the phosphorus grenades might have been more successful. To make handling easier, a lighter version of the weapon, the Northover Projector Mk 2 was developed in 1941, but few were produced.
Operational history
Operational history
• Illustration — A Home Guard unit in Kent with their Northover Projector. The Northover Projector was issued to both Home Guard and regular British Army units, and by August, 1941 over 8,000 Northover Projectors were in service. This number had increased to 18,919 by the beginning of 1943. Initial reactions to the Northover Projector were varied, with a number of Home Guard volunteers uncertain about the weapon's unusual design, and some officers never accepted that it could be useful. However, most Home Guard units came to accept the weapon and have confidence in it, aided by large amounts of what Mackenzie terms "War Office propaganda" which cited the positive qualities of the weapon, such as its simplicity of use, ease of manufacture and low maintenance requirements. It was, as one Home Guard volunteer put it, "something to be accepted gratefully until something better arrived." Like many of the obsolete weapons designed for the Home Guard, the Northover Projector was only taken out of service when it could be replaced with "marginally less ineffective" weapons provided by the Army, such as the 2-pounder anti-tank gun.
Identity
Identity
Northover Projector is classified as a grenade launcher. Associated with United Kingdom. Recorded from 1940.
Chronology
Dated record
Chronology
The full dated record · 2 entries
1940
Northover Projector first recorded.
1940
Northover Projector is recorded from 1940.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United Kingdom
Official documents
*
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Mackenzie, p. 20
- 2.Lampe, p. 3
- 3.Mackenzie, pp. 90–91
- 4.Obituary - Major H. R. Northover. 21 February 1952.
- 5.Mackenzie, p. 94
- 6.Lowry, p. 21
- 7.Mackenzie, p. 93
- 8.Longmate, p. 79
- 9.Bishop, p. 212
- 10.Mackenzie, p. 121
- 11.Mackenzie, p. 135
Bibliography printed in the source article · 7
- cite book
- Hogg, Ian. Twentieth-Century Artillery. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000. Pg.143
- cite book
- cite book
- cite book
- cite book
- cite book
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Northover Projector is connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Militaria
6,095 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Norinco JW-103Terminology
- Norinco Type 86STerminology
- North American RTV-A-3 NATIVTerminology
- North China type 19Terminology
- Norwegian battle axeTerminology
- NOTS-EV-1 PilotTerminology
- Novator KS-172Terminology
- NSV machine gunTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Northover Projector?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.