Omaha Beach LCT (5) Landing Craft Assault

I am an artist working on a WWII drawing of a man’s father who was a US Navy sailor aboard LCT(5) 207 on D-Day. This sailor was firing a Browning 50 Caliber machine gun from the LCT when he was wounded in the arm.

Regarding the LCT(5), I have not been able to find any good information or photographs of the ship’s armament. I’m pretty sure these 50 caliber machine guns would have been mounted on the rear of the ship next to the wheelhouse, but from what I have researched this was where 20mm Oerlikon guns were. I also need to know exactly what kind of mount they would have been on.

Any information you can fill me in on with the LCT(5), and more specifically LCT 207, to depict it as accurately as possible would be greatly appreciated. I have attached some images of the LCT(5) I need info on. Thanks!

 

Thank you. Yeah, I have emailed that site so we'll see what they say. Doesn't necessarily need to be about LCT 207, just details on the LCT(5) model in general.

 

Michael, My brother was a Gunners Mate on LCT (5) 221. He never mentioned a .50 caliber but always talked about firing the 20mm. Said one time he was leading a German plane and wasn't paying attention and almost shot the mast. The aft two gun stations (on his boat) were 20mm.
They may have put additional .50's on some vessels, probably in the two bow stations.. The link is for the official LCT website. There is a lot of information, but need to do some searching (not too user friendly). world war ii lcts
Nice model- I did one for my brother. I don't have anything for a size reference, but yours appears to be larger.

 

Your best bet would be the Action Report of LCT(5)-207, which was written 25 June. Unfortunately it is not the Fold3 collection, so you would have to go to NARA for a copy.

 

How do I do that?

 

That is interesting, thanks for the info. Unfortunately the sailor is dead and did not give much info on the whole thing to his son. The guy told me his dad called the gun "the fifty" but it is possible he was actually firing a 20mm Oerlikon gun and for whatever reason thought it was a 50 cal. I am also curious if it were a M2 Browning instead of a Oerlikon gun, would it have been the standard variant or Naval variant with the water jacket?

 

Michael, I believe Lou's post was what you need to go with "* Armament varied depending on theater of operation".
They may have changed out the 20's for .50's because of availability of ammunition. I have never fired either but the 20mm is definitely a larger gun--I'm sure they would know the difference.