Category Archives: weapons

Lady Lex still has one of the most amazing airwings in the world

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Paul Allen keeps doing it. This time, his research ship, Petrel, has located the final resting place of USS Lexington (CV-2), the nation’s first real fleet carrier.

“On March 5th 2018, the research vessel RV Petrel, led by billionaire Paul Allen, discovered the wreck of Lexington during an expedition to the Coral Sea. She lies at nearly 2 miles below the surface and 500 miles off the coast of Eastern Australia. An ROV confirmed the identity of the wreck by finding her nameplate on her stern. She lies in three sections. The main section lies upright. A mile to the west, the bow and stern sections lie across from each other, with the bridge lying by itself between the three sections. Further to the west, a concentration of aircraft consisting of seven Douglas TBD-1 Devastators, three Douglas SBD Dauntlesses, and a single Grumman F4F Wildcat was also located.”

Note the lifeboat panel behind the cockpit has popped free

 

The F4F-3 of Ens. Dale W. Peterson and later Lt Albert Butch Vorse. Fox-5 was a VF-2 ship, transferred in from VF-3, and the deck crews did not have time to over-paint Felix during the Battle of the Coral Sea..

More on the importance of this particular F4F from NHHC here.

TBD Tare-3 of Vt-2 flown by Ensign N. A. Sterrie USNR who claimed a hit on the carrier Shoho during second attack. Tare-4 flown by Lt. R. F. Farrington USN who claimed a hit during first attack. This is amazing as there are only four known TBDs in existance anywhere in the world– all crashed. Only 130 were made and 35 lost at Midway alone

TBD Tare-5. Dig the meatball.

Here are a list of the Aircraft that went down with Lexington:

TBD-1 271 VT-2
TBD-1 273 VT-2
TBD-1 275 VT-2
TBD-1 290 VT-2
TBD-1 291 VT-2
TBD-1 300 VT-2
TBD-1 313 VT-2
TBD-1 320 VT-2
TBD-1 339 VT-2
TBD-1 346 VT-2
TBD-1 1514 VT-2
TBD-1 1516 VT-2
SBD-2 2104 VB-2
SBD-2 2113 VB-2
SBD-2 2115 VB-2
SBD-2 2116 VB-2
SBD-2 2121 VB-2
SBD-2 2127 VB-2
SBD-2 2143 VB-2
SBD-2 2157 VB-2
SBD-2 2163 VB-2
SBD-2 2176 VB-2
SBD-2 2186 VB-2
SBD-2 2188 VB-2
F4F-3A 3964 VF-3
F4F-3 3976 VF-3
F4F-3 3978 VF-3
F4F-3 3979 VF-3
F4F-3 3981 VF-3
F4F-3 3982 VF-3
F4F-3 3986 VF-3
F4F-3 3987 VF-3
F4F-3 3993 VF-3
F4F-3 4003 VF-3
F4F-3 4005 VF-3
F4F-3 4016 VF-3
F4F-3 4021 VF-3
F4F-3 4035 VF-3
SBD-3 4534 VS-2
SBD-3 4537 VS-2
SBD-3 4557 VS-2
SBD-3 4623 VS-2
SBD-3 4631 VS-2
SBD-3 4632 VS-2
SBD-3 4633 VS-2
SBD-3 4638 VS-2
SBD-3 4641 VS-2
SBD-3 4655 VB-2

Update, four years later, by Mickeen Hogan (thanks, Mickeen!)

Dear LastStandZombieIsland,

I really like all you do for the military. However, I believe there are some errors in your post about the Lexington Aircraft. Here is the information I have:

  1. F-5 that was found near Lexington was not the plane Dale Peterson flew on Feb 20 1942. The Wildcat Peterson flew on Feb 20 1942 is BuNo. 4009 F-5 on Feb 20 1942, that was Onia “Burt” Stanley’s assigned aircraft (info via Stanley’s Logbook). On March 14, 1942 BuNo 4009 was “sold” to VF-42 on USS Yorktown. However, it had an engine failure and ditched on the way to Yorktown, pilot Walt Haas was ok. Burt Stanley thought the accident was caused by the plane being “offended” by the VF-42 pilot (source Capt. Stanley’s Diary).

The Wildcat labeled F-5 is Albert “Scoop” Vorse’s assigned plane, but has Noel Gayler’s name on it, it means this was formerly Gayler’s assigned plane, BuNo. 3986 side number “F-13” when VF-3 was aboard Lexington in Feb 1942 (it was flown by John Thach on Feb 20 1942). When VF-2 came back aboard Lexington in Mid-April VF-3 transferred 3986 to VF-2 and VF-2 renumbered it from F-13 to F-5, note the overpainted 13 is faintly visible. They didn’t have time to personalize it for Vorse or overpaint Felix. This info is in John Lundstrom’s First Team. A lot of people also incorrectly said its former number was F-1 because Gayler flew F-1, however F-1 was Thach’s assigned plane not Gayler’s, meaning F-1 would have Thach’s name on it. Since this plane has Gayler’s name on it, it would be the former F-13.

  1. Of the 8 VF-2 Wildcats that sank the deck of Lexington, the only known one is 3986 “F-5”. Of the 21 Wildcats, 1 was lost May 7 in aerial combat, another 5 were lost in aerial combat on May 8, and another one disappeared on May 8, all of these crews (Baker, Rinehart, Mason, Peterson, Clark, Rowell, and Bull) were KIA or MIA. Six of the Wildcats (one BuNo 4031 the aircraft Butch O’Hare flew on his Bomber a Minute Mission) landed on Yorktown and survived. It is unknown (aside from 3986) which BuNos sank with Lexington. All of the BuNos lost in the air are unknown. A better idea to arrange it would be to put F4F 3986 “F-5” as confirmed and put the rest as having possibly sank with Lexington.

A Yorktown Wildcat (BuNo 2531) also sank with Lexington.

TBD 0345, not 0346 is in VT-2 for Coral Sea. See history card for 0345 received by VT-2 October 3 1941.TBD 0273 “T10” ditched (see below in document). Its crew Thornhill, Heldoorn and Glover got into their raft but are still MIA. The TBD T4 is on is T9 not T3. It fooled me until I looked closely.

SBD-2 2188 “B-13” crashed overboard at 1133 hours, log from the Air Operation officer included below. Go to “Report Of Air Operations Officer Dated May 13 1942”.  https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/CV/cv2-Coral.html#pageC1

For Scouting 2 I included a document I made below, the people who gave me this information used the actual Scouting 2 report. One error though does appear to be in the report, it says Ault and Butler disappeared in SBD-3 4531 “S-11”, the discovery of the Lexington showed SBD 4531 as sunk with Lexington.

Reason why a lot of the internet says things like SBD 2188 sank with Lexington is a book that used the Master’s USN Overseas Loss document, this document is full of errors and cannot be trusted. I have a Fold3 account and can pull some records if you want some.

All the best,

Mickeen

The Russians never throw anything away

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You know the 100th anniversary this month of the “glorious Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army” would showcase a bunch of vintage Soviet hardware, still in remarkable condition. The Russian Ministry of Defense has been releasing a bunch of images a military parade in Severomorsk in honor of the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Red Army.

Severomorsk is a small town in the frozen Kola Peninsula near the main base of the Red Banner Northern Fleet, and, according to Izvestia, the state-run news organ, those participating were active soldiers and sailors from the local base’s units marching on the orders of one Admiral Nikolai Evmenov and not a group of reenactors. Makes you wonder what is in storage elsewhere in the Motherland!

More in my column at Guns.com.

One of Lawrence of Arabia’s hoglegs surfaces

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The UK’s National Army Museum recently announced they have received a historic revolver tied to an iconic British adventurer from World War I.

The revolver, which looks to be an early Smith & Wesson 1st Model Hand Ejector in .44 — the company’s first N-frame– is engraved with the name of Ashraf Bey.

Who? More in my column at Guns.com

Looking for an odd big bore Mosin rifle, that isn’t?

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Russian arms maker Molot has released a bunch of info on their VPO-220 bolt action rifle that isn’t– the Lancaster-bore 9.6x53mm (ballistically between the old .350 Rem Mag and the newer .376 Steyr)– designed to skin a gun control cat.

The Vintovka Mosina VPO-220 (ВПО-220) looks like a classic Mosin M91 rifle, a longarm familiar to Russia for more than 120 years and typically chambered in 7.62x54R. However, to comply with regulations in Russia since the time of the Bolsheviks, the gun is not “legally” a rifle, but uses a Lancaster oval-bore system instead to impart spin.

The oval squeeze to the barrel is elliptical, turning to give the desired twist without traditional lands and grooves. Why? Because owning a legal rifle in Russia is tough….

More in my column at Guns.com

The record setting Betty Jo at 71

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Here we see P-82B (F-82B) Twin Mustang # 44-65168 “Betty Jo” during a test flight.

This plane, powered by a pair of Rolls Royce Merlin engines, made history when she flew nonstop from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii to La Guardia Airport in New York over the course of Feb. 27-28, 1947, without refueling, an amazing distance of 5,051 miles in 14 hr 32 min.

Betty, named for command pilot, Colonel Robert E. Thacker‘s wife, averaged 347.5 miles per hour. The aircraft carried a full internal fuel tank of 576 US gallons, augmented by four 310 US gallon tanks for a total of 1,816 US gallons. Also, Col. Thacker neglected to drop three of his external tanks when their fuel was expended, which would have reduced drag and made the flight shorter/faster.

Still, the feat remains the longest nonstop flight ever made by a propeller-driven fighter, and the fastest such a distance has ever been covered in a piston-engined aircraft.

Betty-Jo came to the Air Force museum in 1957 and is currently on display.

As for Thacker, he flew in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, earning two Silver Stars, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, 10 Air Medals and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm as well as induction into the Academy of Model Aeronautics Hall of Fame.

New Jersey gets her barrels back

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New Jersey just received three of her historic 16-inch gun barrels that have been stored at Norfolk for more than a half-century.

The 16-inch/50-caliber Mark 7 guns, each weighing 237,000-pounds, were first installed on the USS New Jersey when she was built at the  Philadelphia Navy Yard in the 1940s. While she used them to good effect in the Pacific and off Korea, the worn barrels were replaced by new tubes, which the battleship still has, and the old wartime vintage barrels placed in storage at Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s St. Juliens Creek Annex for the past 60 years. Now, after a $200,000 fundraiser to move three of the 66-foot long guns from Virginia to Camden, New Jersey, the old battleship has some of her original teeth back.

Kuwait picking up 15 fast patrol boats

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Depending on Congressional approval, the Kuwaitis are set to acquire 15 “fast patrol boats” from Kvichak Marine Industries of Kent, Washington, and 36 M2 .50 caliber heavy machine guns for the same in a FMS contract worth $100 million. Odds are the craft will be a modified version of the Coast Guard’s new 45-foot Response Boat-Mediums, which can make 42~ knots on diesel-powered waterjets.

A new 45-foot response boat medium (RB-M) passes by the Washington Monument on the Potomac River during a capabilities demonstration. This boat was the first model put into testing and is currently assigned to Station Little Creek, Va. U.S. Coast Guard photo by PA1 Adam Eggers

In USCG service, RB-M’s mount a pair of M240s on pintels, which it looks like the Kuwaitis will upgrade to .50 cals.

Kvichak was one of two primary contractors for 174 44.5’ X 13.7’ RB-Ms for the USCG at about $3.3 million a pop. The company has also made sales of modified versions of the RB-M to Jordon, the LA County Sheriff’s department, and the NYPD (who operate five).

Sure, it wouldn’t seem that it would cost $100 million to pull it off, but the contract includes “support equipment, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistical and program support” as well as having two of Kvichak’s people live in Kuwait for two years for contractor support.

Here’s something to chew on

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From Fort Bowie National Historic Site, near Wilcox, Arizona.

“In the mid-1800s, Apache warriors were procuring muskets but correct size ammunition was hard to find. To alleviate that problem, the Apaches would find lead ingots or lead bullets, shave them down, and then hammer or chew them into the shape of round ball.

The 3 musket balls on display at Fort Bowie are covered with chew marks from Apache warriors who created the different size ammunition. We have .50 caliber, .44 caliber, and .36 caliber balls on display in the Visitor Center. ”

Maybe that’s where the expression, “mad enough to chew bullets” came from?

The fort was established by the California Volunteers in 1862, garrisoned in turn by the 5th California Infantry and 1st California Cavalry, then regular forces until it was abandoned in 1894.

A tale of two mitres

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Here we see a mitre (miter?) hat of the Newport Light Infantry, a local colonial militia unit formed on the authorization of the Rhode Island General Assembly in October 1774 as a more highly trained “minute man” style company, some 100 strong.

From the Smithsonian:

At the top of this miter is the motto “Hope.” Below is the British royal cipher or monogram, “GR” for Georgeus Rex or King George. It flanks a Rhode Island anchor. In the center of the plate is a female figure labeled “America” standing on a broken chain and a belt bearing the inscription “Patria cara, carior Libertas” or “Nation is dear, but Liberty is dearer.”

The NLI disappeared in 1776 after the British occupation of that town.

Next is the more traditional association of mitres in Colonial America, a cap belonging to the Fusilier Regiment von Knyphausen, one of the regiments of the Second Division of troops from the German principality of Hesse-Cassel used by the British as mercenaries (um, third-party military contractors) during the Revolutionary War.

There were, of course, British units that used mitres during the conflict, as it was customary to outfit grenadier companies with the pointed headdress.

Heck, there were even other American units that used them as well. I give you, the 26th Continental Regiment whose grenadier company wore the traditional grenadier’s mitre cap. One of these caps has survived in the Smithsonian collections. The Roman numerals ‘XXVI’ and the cipher ‘GW,’ for George Washington, are embroidered on the front. The regiment was referred to as the “George Washington Regiment.”

You’ve heard of a No 6 Mk I Lithgow Enfield, yes?

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In the tail end of World War II, the Australian military was crafting a shortened Enfield .303 for jungle warfare, but it never made it into full-scale production before the A-bomb ended the conflict.

Photo: Lithgow Museum

The above beauty is a rare bird and a bit of evolving gun control history all in one.

The Lithgow Small Arms Factory, which crafted Australian Lee-Enfields and bayonets from 1912 into the 1950s when they switched to making inch-pattern semi-auto FAL (L1A1SLR) rifles, had this beautiful No 6 Mk I Lithgow Enfield recently turned over to their museum from the New South Wales Police. According to the museum, it is a super low serial (XP124) and was one of just 100 of that rare model made, 50 with brass butts and 50 with rubber.

As noted by a British site on everything Enfield, the “No. 6 Australian” was that country’s domestically-made equivalent to the British No. 5 “Jungle Carbine” designed for use in the Pacific island fighting in WWII and, “Only the capitulation by Japan, which brought the conflict there to a close, precluded the Australian No.6 rifle from going into production.”

John Walter in his book Rifles of the World, notes the No. 6 Mk I rifles were shortened and lightened guns crafted on older No 1 Mk III actions with half-stocks and handguards and used 19-inch barrels, tipping the scales at 7.5-pounds. He also says some were later altered by the Royal Australian Air Force to take 7.62x51mm NATO and use 20-round box mags in the 1950s.

Here is an unconverted prototype .303 No 6 Rifle Mk. I in the collection of the Australian War Memorial, donated by a collector from Queensland:

AWM

However, the gun turned over to Lithgow is not original.

Tragically, around 1950 it was re-chambered from standard .303 British (7.7×56mmR) to the just slightly shorter 7.7x54mmR by area gunsmith Barry Cockinos to get around the new gun law passed in NSW after 1948 banning “military caliber” firearms for civilian ownership.

Photo: Lithgow Museum

Photo: Lithgow Museum

These days, even with the caliber change, is a target for lawmakers and regulators due to its magazine capacity and was likely handed in during the recent National Amnesty, or seized.

NSW police recently impounded 109 firearms from a collector, including several rare pieces, that he did not have a license to possess, so this may have been one of his…

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