Use of Thompson Sub machine gun in the British Army?

[traveller]

I am sitting here with a excess pile of Foundry Chindits armed with Tommy guns and I am thinking of in what conflicts I can use them(beside Burma of course  ). Some will get a Sikh head and spend their days fighting the Japanese on the Indian border but I wonder if the Tommy Gun could have been used after WW2? Could they serve as British in the Mau-Mau rebellion? I have only seen reference to the use of Sten guns there but the Tommy Guns from WW2 must have gone somewhere? Any advice would be highly appreciated!

[Arlequín]

I can't give you an authoritative answer, but I'd imagine that the Thompson was retired because of being .45 calibre and Britain went with 9mm. Hence post-war you see lots of Stens and eventually the Sterling. The early Israeli army used Thompsons (and anything else it could get) along with 'Australian' uniforms and in some cases wide brimmed chindit-style hats (though the 'commando' sock hat was the most popular, followed by the beret).

If you're willing to do some conversion, then this is an option, as is adding Arab headdress and fielding them as Jordanians of the same period. The biggest problem I can see is the fact that nearly all the figures have Thompsons in the first place!

[Blackwolf]

The Patchett was the first version of the Sterling,named after the designer.Small numbers were used by paratroopers at Arnhem,it could be said that the Patchett was the Sten built to peacetime standards. Sterling is the name of the company that produced it.And finally Some silenced Sterlings were used by Argentinian special forces during the Falklands war.
 The Thompson*? I shall probably be flamed here,just wasn't very good.I t was a little bit sensitive to wartime conditions and also rather expensive. Now the the Sten was not that brilliant either however the British army had loads left over........

    *GM Fraser whilst in the Chindits couldn't wait to get rid of his.

[traveller]

Thanks for your advice!

considering the big numbers of Thompsons I was hoping there would be some that went to the colonies such as Kenya. I have seen several photos where Enfield rifles (and Sten guns)were used both by British and their auxiliaries so I thought there might be other vintage weaponry around, but apparently not   

[arktos]

Turkish army used Thompson in the invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and some of them even used British WW 2 helmets.
Greece also used Thompson from 1949 but not in great numbers.
In the various African conflicts many ''exotic'' guns can be seen, including Thompson, Mauser kar98 and MP 44 !

[Arlequín]

Thanks for your advice!

considering the big numbers of Thompsons I was hoping there would be some that went to the colonies such as Kenya. I have seen several photos where Enfield rifles (and Sten guns)were used both by British and their auxiliaries so I thought there might be other vintage weaponry around, but apparently not   

I wouldn't go as far as to say not... there's a few guys on here who might be able to give a more definitive answer, so I'd hold fire for the moment.