Browning Machine Gun

[owenv]

Crashed Spitfires Browning Machine Gun Fires Again After 70 Years In The Ground.

John Browning, the man.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4e7_1346280929

 

[DrMike]

Fascinating. It appears to be working flawlessly.

 

[FOTIS]

He was a genius!

 

[Mortis]

And people wonder why they have lasted as long as they have in service.....

A Ma-Deuce is a blast to shoot (pun intended). It'll give ya real workout when ground mounted..

 

[Guy Miner]

Mortis - spoken like the Jarhead's voice of experience. We called that 65 pound receiver "The Humbler" when it had to be man-packed.

Only once did we displace the M2 while it was still locked in the tripod. Something like 130 pounds all up. Dang. That was a lot of work.

Great guns though - and a cool video owenv.

 

[duckcreekdick]

A Browning design, for sure, but this is not a "ma deuce". The little rimmed .303 cartridges instead of the cigar-length .50BMG ammo is a dead giveaway. Reminds me of all the nights I spent on top of a sandbagged Conex container back in 67-68 with the old M-2.
The well preserved condition of the guns is probably attributed to being buried in a bog. Executed criminals from the middle ages have been recovered from English bogs that are in a remarkable condition of preservation.

 

[Mortis]

A Browning design, for sure, but this is not a "ma deuce". The little rimmed .303 cartridges instead of the cigar-length .50BMG ammo is a dead giveaway. Reminds me of all the nights I spent on top of a sandbagged Conex container back in 67-68 with the old M-2.
The well preserved condition of the guns is probably attributed to being buried in a bog. Executed criminals from the middle ages have been recovered from English bogs that are in a remarkable condition of preservation.

Point well taken concerning Model. In retrospect, what we were viewing was a modification of the M-1919.

Thanks for the correction..... :mrgreen:

 

[CatskillCrawler]

A Browning design, for sure, but this is not a "ma deuce". The little rimmed .303 cartridges instead of the cigar-length .50BMG ammo is a dead giveaway. Reminds me of all the nights I spent on top of a sandbagged Conex container back in 67-68 with the old M-2.
The well preserved condition of the guns is probably attributed to being buried in a bog. Executed criminals from the middle ages have been recovered from English bogs that are in a remarkable condition of preservation.

Point well taken concerning Model. In retrospect, what we were viewing was a modification of the M-1919.

Thanks for the correction..... :mrgreen:

Correct. The Spifires never carried .50cal MGs. They used 8 .303 MGs in the early versions and 4 20mm Bofors cannon in later versions. It was one of two weaknesses that the Spitfires had when they were configured with the .303s. Lack of range was their other shortfall.

 

[Guy Miner]

Yup. Saw that earlier - but had to comment on the big ol' M2 .50 cal anyway... What a gun!

Amazing story behind that Spitfire and those .303 guns...

 

[duckcreekdick]

Can someone explain to me why the pilot was locked up for two years in an Irish prison? Payback for the Irish potato famine perhaps? Erin Go Bragh!!
I guess those guys knew best, but I've got my doubts about that backhoe archaeology method. It looked like there were a lot of well preserved items destroyed and bent up during the dig. That Merlin engine would be something to see!

 

[Mortis]

Can someone explain to me why the pilot was locked up for two years in an Irish prison? !

As I remember Modern European History, altho Ireland claimed neutrality, they came close to siding with the Germans due to political confilicts with the British.

Wisely they stayed neutral, but like the Swiss, detained any Allied Servcemen that had the misfortune of finding themselves in Ireland during the war.

I'm sure others can expound on this more. Especially ones who do not have nearly 30 years since their last college history course under their belts.

 

[CatskillCrawler]

You explained the situation perfectly Mortis.

 

[JD338]

John Browning was a man ahead of his time.

JD338

 

[Guy Miner]

Or the right man, at the right time.

 

[Too Tall]

Think of all the designs he had, and did for others.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Sein Fein was going to allow German U-Boot's to be stationed in Ireland in order to torpedo and sink British shipping in the Irish Sea. Sein Fein was training the IRA as spies against the Brits and was going to support a Wehrmacht invasion of England, based in Ireland. They also were allowing German spies to operate freely out of Ireland against England and limit Ireland's effectiveness as a British ally in WWII. Sein Fein set off a terrorist bomb which killed several innocents in a churchyard in Ireland and public opinion turned for good against their brutality towards their own people. Several Sein Fein were arrested for violence and treason against the state and never got mobilized again.

Sein Fein depended heavily on money from US anti war and Nazi sympathizers to their cause after the Church yard bombing that money supply dried up and their leaders went to prison. Joseph Kennedy was threatened with being shot as a Nazi spy by Winston Churchill for being an espionage agent against England and was quietly recalled to the US by Roosevelt from his position as Ambassador to the Court of Saint James. He was involved in an anti-English, Nazi spy ring scandel which would have gotten him shot had he stayed in England!

 

[SJB358]

He was a genius!

Still the heavy machine gun to really finish a gunfight! Nothing sounds quite as nice as a M2 working over your enemy!

 

[duckcreekdick]

I found a dusty old photo which all you Browning machine gun admirers might enjoy. You can't see much of the gun, just the ominous end of the flash hider peeking over the rim of the sandbags.

 

[duckcreekdick]

Here's one more photo of the big .50 taken apart for cleaning and without her clothes on. As has been said, old John M. Browning was a design genius! And they talk about how long the M-16 platform has lasted with our military? Compared to the M-2, the M-16 is just old enough to shave.

 

[Mortis]

I had a cousin at Bien Hoa about that same time..... I think he was with the 4th ID.... but not sure.