Jump Jets in the Jungle

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One of the first expeditionary deployments for the RAF’s early Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1As was in 1975 when the Crown colony of Belize– the last continental possession of the United Kingdom in the Americas– was threatened by events in neighboring Guatemala. In response, a six-pack of Harriers from No. 1 Squadron was sent to Belize international airport at Ladyville in November 1975, from where they operated for six months before returning to Europe.

A Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1A of No. 1 Sqn in the very muddy conditions at Ladyville in November 1975. This real-world deployment was only six years after No. 1 became the world’s first operator of a V/STOL combat aircraft. (RAF photo).

The half-dozen Harriers returned in July 1977, escorted from the UK with the support of ten Victor tankers, along with 1st Bn, Queen’s Regiment for ground support.

This, from the AP archive, shows Harrier hides at the time.

The Harriers would remain there for the next 16 years until 1993, first as HarDetBelize and then after 1980 as No. 1417 (Tactical Ground Attack) Flight RAF, upgrading to GR3s and GR5s over time. This occurred even as Belize gained its independence in 1981 and the Harrier had its baptism of fire the next year in the Falklands– also in the Americas. 

Six aircraft strong, the Belize Harriers would alternate locations between 10 prepared and dispersed camouflaged hides, numbered Alfa through Juliet in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

Royal Air Force Harrier GR3 of No. 1417 Flight RAF at Golf hide revetment, RAF Belize 1990

Two crashed while deployed to Belize while one, GR.3 No ZD669, endures there on display at Ladyville.

Speaking of jump jets on display, I was ecstatic to find possibly the best collection of Harriers in the world last week at Pima, where I saw just about the whole history of the type lined up.

They have an early Navy Hawker Siddeley XV-6A Kestrel (64-18264), USMC TAV-8A (Bu. No. 159382), a VMA-513 (USS Tarawa) marked USMC AV-8C (Bu. No. 159241), a Royal Navy FAA 899 Squadron-marked Sea Harrier FA.2 (ZH810), an RAF 233 Operational Conversion Unit-marked GR.5 (ZD353), and an RAF No. 4 Squadron-marked GR.3 (XV804).

With less than 900 of all types produced, a single Harrier in any condition is a rare bird indeed, much less a whole line of them!

All they are missing is a rare P.1127 prototype and an AV-8B, which may be changed once the Marines retire the type.

On FN’s new 510 10mm…

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I was on hand in 2017 when FN debuted the new FN 509 pistol, the product of more than 1 million rounds of testing and an offshoot of the gunmaker’s submission to the Army’s Modular Handgun System competition.

Based on its much-liked FNS Compact platform, that 9mm 17+1 capacity handgun was significantly beefed up to meet rigorous military requirements. Note the 24+1 round extendo

Then a year later came the announcement of the FN 509 Tactical, which was both suppressor and optics-ready with suppressor-height iron sights that co-witness with several MRDs on the market and was augmented with an extended 24-round magazine, as seen above.

Now, FN 509 Tactical has essentially grown to a full centimeter, so to speak, and has hit the market in the form of the 10mm FN 510, with all the same features but in the more commanding caliber.

Besides being suppressor and optics-ready, when it comes to the mags themselves, the FN 510 Tactical ships to most states with a standard flush-fit 15+1 round magazine and an extended 22+1 round mag. Those living in restricted areas have to make do with 10+1 round compliant capacity mags until they can repeal local prohibitions.

I’ve been kicking one around for the past couple of months and have a report in my column at Guns.com.

Interested in a Curious Film-Used Mauser?

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From time to time, large movie and TV productions leave a mark on firearms history and the market for such items. For instance, trailer loads of resin (heavy dense rubber or plastic) M1 Garand/Carbine, M1918 BARs, MP40 SMGs, and 98K rifle prop guns manufactured for Tom Hanks’ epic Saving Private Ryan, have been sold and resold over the past two decades– some even going on to cause heartburn at airports. This is in addition to a handful of live-fire capable “hero” guns used in close-ups.

Well, it seems that some movie flotsam in the form of stacks of original antique Mauser Infanterie-Gewehr 71/84 rifles in the original 11x60mm (.43 Mauser) are now up for grabs after serving some extra time in the movies.

These guns were originally sold by Navy Arms’ President, Val Forgett III, to Motion Picture Weapons, the company that supplied the prop guns for the Tom Cruise movie “The Last Samurai” and whose owner, Robert “Rock” Galotti, served as Weapons Master on the film, Mr. Galotti recently sold back these guns to Navy Arms and has also supplied letters of authentication, by serial number, for each rifle.

The I.G. 71 was the first bolt-action breechloader ever built by the Mauser brothers and later upgraded to the 71/84 standard that included an 8-round tubular magazine designed by Alfred von Kropatschek, becoming the German Army’s (and Mauser’s) first repeating rifle.

Jager of the Imperial German Army in 1875 By Auguste Legras from the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, note his Mauser 71 rifle

Besides being used by Germany until the Mauser 98 came along to replace the 8x57mm Gewehr 88 rifle in front-line service, the basic Mauser 71 and its later 71/84 would be exported throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, seeing the elephant in any number of more local dust-ups from the Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916 to defending Ethiopia from Mussolini in the 1930s, with some German Volkssturm units still issued these antiques as late as 1945.

Now the 71/84s used in The Last Samurai are, sadly, not 100 percent correct, having been modded to appear as the more (and brand new) period-appropriate I.G. 71 for the film, complete with new stocks made for the movie including the identical cartouches to the originals and a new black leather sling.

After all, it would have seemed funny had the Emperor’s new model troops been carrying guns with already-worn furniture. However, all metal parts are original.

Navy Arms apparently is selling these in two grades via their Old West Scrounger sister company including a $995 Grade I (shows wear, dents, and scratches, but does not have cracked stocks), an $895 Grade II (which comes complete with a cracked stock).

Being made in the 1880s, you can purchase these rifles and have them shipped directly to your door, as antiques they do not require any paperwork or shipping to an FFL. Plus, you get a rifle that is both a legit warhorse with its own pre-Tom Cruise martial history and a tiny slice of movie magic.

They also have $399 screen used replicas made from solid rubber and painted to have the look and feel of the originals (but the bolts do not move, etc).

One last laugh with Billy Waugh

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You may have previously heard that ARSOF legend, Retired SGM Billy Waugh, recently packed his duffle for the last time at the age of 93. His military career spanned 30 years from Korea to Vietnam, joining the Army in 1948 (after an unsuccessful attempt to join the Marines at 15 during WWII to make the final push on Japan).

Once retired, in 1977 he joined the CIA’s paramilitary guys and, among other places, took part in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom– in his 70s. While most of his agency work is lost to history, he for sure took part in operations against Quadaffi’s Libya, the Soviets, and in chasing Carlos the Jackal.

In noting his death, the 1st Special Forces Command said Waugh had “inspired a generation of special operations.”

There are three services planned:

12 May: Fairview Cemetery, Bastrop, Texas: There will be a small, private, gathering of family and close friends to spread a small amount of BIlly’s ashes at the Waugh family plot. Billy’s parents, infant brother, and sister are buried there.

27 June: A large memorial, organized by SOCOM, will be held at MacDill AFB. Location and time not provided yet.

22 July, 11:00: Jumping of the ashes. Billy requested that his ashes be HALO jumped and scattered by the HALO team. The time is not known yet, but it will be at Raeford Drop Zone, Raeford, North Carolina.

Sub $1M Freedom Fighter Up for Grabs

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Just going to come out and say it: if you are ever in Arizona, you have to check out the Pima Air & Space Museum, which has some 400 aircraft on display. I spent two days there, filming shorts for GDC, with a concentration on aviation gunnery, and one of the planes I spent some time with is the somewhat unsung F-5 Freedom Fighter, which is still in somewhat limited service around the globe despite the fact that the youngest one is still well over 30.

I mean, just look at it:

Two seater F-5B-50-NO, SN 72-0441, is dressed in the colors of the 425th TFTS which she flew with until 1989, including conversion to a GF-5B. Chris Eger photo

In related news, I saw last night where Code 1 Aviation in Illinois just listed a circa 1968 Northrop F-5A (SN 1009, FAA Reg N685TC) for sale, at a cool $950K.

Code 1 photo

Code 1 photo

She had been built originally for the Royal Norwegian AF as 89108 and later came to the States, being registered with the FAA in 1990. Of interest, the Norwegians, who fielded no less than 108 of the type, kept their F-5s flying as late as 2007.

From the ad:

This is a beautifully-restored, well-equipped example of Northrop’s versatile, lightweight, supersonic fighter thats still serving in several nations. With a maximum speed of over 700 knots, a maximum climb rate of over 30,000 feet per minute, and a ceiling of 51,000 feet, the F-5 is not for the faint of heart. But it is a surprisingly simple, reliable jet that can be your ticket to the rarified world of the fighter pilot.

Too bad the gun compartment is missing its twin Ford-built M39A2 20mm revolver cannons– but it does give the owner a potential cargo/baggage compartment. Code 1 Photo

Introduced in 1953, the M39 was the standard gun armament of the F-86H model Sabre, the F-100 Super Sabre, the F-101A/C Voodoo, and the F-5 series, effectively bridging the gap between the .50 cal M2/M3 guns of WWII and Korea and the subsequent M61 Vulcan. 

It was dubbed a revolver system as, although it was a single barrel, it used a chute-fed five-chamber cylinder to up the rate of fire to 1,500 rpm while allowing for better heat dissipation and less potential for a cook-off. Meanwhile, the Colt Mk 12 20mm cannons used at the same time by the Navy and Marine Corps on the F4D Skyray, F3H Demon, A-4 Skyhawk, F-8 Crusader, F-11 Tiger, and early A-7 Corsairs, were less reliable as its feeding mechanism was prone to jam under G-loading during high-speed dogfighting maneuvers. Chris Eger photo

G-Town 87s and TPSBs

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Took my dogs for a sunset walk around Jones Park in Gulfport the day or so before leaving for my latest Guns.com filming trip to Arizona, and grabbed a couple of snapshots.

Of course, you have the replica Ship Island Lighthouse, which doesn’t look that bad at night.

Then, looking at the boatshed at Station Gulfport, a pair of 87-foot Maritime Protector-type patrol boats: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Moray (WPB 87331) out of Grand Isle and the USCGC Tiger Shark (WPB 87359), right before the latter shoved off for a patrol through the Chandeliers.

Also note the six-pack of 32-foot transportable port security boats, complete with .50 cals and M240s mounted. These gray sharks are used by the USCG’s eight port security units, and the USCGR’s PSU 308 is stationed on land in the Kiln and often uses Station Gulfport for their sea-going home during training evolutions.

Form 1 Assist Update

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Sorry about missing Warship Wednesday, yesterday, guys, as I am on the road with work and it is proving more time-consuming than I had expected. So much for my plan to write a WW while at the hotel at night. 

However, I have an update on those Form 1 SBR-making applications through Silencer Shop. The cut-off by SiShp was supposed to be 26 April, but they have just extended their eForms engine deadline to start a new form for another 20 days, through 17 May.

Not saying you need to register anything, we are all big boys and girls here. But if you did, and didn’t feel good about doing eForms alone, SiShp is an option for the next few weeks.

How a John Wayne Movie Sparked Modern Suppressors

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I’ve been in the gun industry off and on for some 25 years, spanning from working the counter at a small-town FFL in my early 20s to full-time writing and editing. In that time, I’ve met some really smart and pioneering guys in the gun world, such as Mark Serbu and Jim Tertin.

However, probably the biggest brain guy in the gun industry in terms of suppressors is Dr. Phil Dater, MD, founder of Gemtech and a man considered by many in our industry to be the modern-day godfather of silencers.

Dater back in the day

Jake Kunsky, who developed quiet products for NEMO Arms, Gemtech Suppressors, Smith & Wesson, and Maxim Defense and now runs JK Armarment, recently sat down with the gun world’s “Dr. Phil” — now 86– and talked about a wide range of subjects for an hour.

Topics include

  • Where Gemtech got its name?
  • How Dr. Dater, a Radiologist by training, brought silencers out of nearly a century of obscurity?
  • How a microphone’s diaphragm affects decibel measurement?
  • What arguably the most experienced man in the industry thinks about various methods of measuring silencer performance?
  • How military and consumer requirements for a silencer differ?
  • Why the ATF Form 4 approval process took only a few weeks back in the 70s?
  • How John Wayne inspired the modern silencer renaissance?

If you have an hour and are interested at all in gun culture or suppressor history, check it out.

Chassis No. 542

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Some 105 years ago today, after helping to break the British lines at Villers-Bretonneux, German A7V (Abteilung 7 Verkehrswesen) tank No. 542, better known as “Elfriede,” to the crew manning her, was overturned in harsh terrain and abandoned. This happened on 24 April 1918.

She was eventually captured and recovered

Elfriede was lost during the first recorded tank-vs-tank battle in history, where three A7Vs ((including 561, “Nixe,” and 506, “Mephisto“) faced off with three British Mark IVs (two female machine gun-armed tanks and one male with two 6-pounder guns).

Elfriede went on to become one of the most photographed of her type.

As detailed by Brooklyn Stereography:

A month later, a British unit managed to right the tank, which remarkably, was still in operational condition. After Armistice, Elfriede was put on display at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Two stereoviews of Elfriede wound up in A.O. Fasser‘s collection – though he had returned to America by the time these were taken:

Elfriede at the Place de la Concorde, sometime in late 1918 or early 1919. Stereoview on 6×13 cm glass diapositive from the Fasser Collection, courtesy of the Jordan/Ference Collection.

During its time on display, barricades were in place to prevent visitors from vandalizing Elfriede, taking souvenirs, etc. However, soon after, it was taken away and tested out. At this point it was covered in graffiti, as seen in a film taken by the French government to display the tank in motion. Its history between 1919 and 1940 is shaky – there is documentation in 1940 that mentions that it had been scrapped. But when was it scrapped? So far, no information on this is forthcoming. Most A7V tanks were scrapped in 1919 for their steel, and most historians believe that Elfriede was as well. But without documentation, it’s possible that the tank had some second life for another 21 years!

Only about 20 A7Vs were made and, while it appears that 18 of them were captured by the victorious Western allies, the only confirmed chassis remaining is, ironically, Elfriede’s old buddy from the Villers-Bretonneux tank scrap, Mephisto, which was captured by the 26th AIF Bn and is preserved in the Queensland Museum and dubbed by the Australian War Memorial, “The Rarest Tank in the World.”

 

About that Pistol Brace Form 1 thing

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Ok, guys, if you don’t have a pistol brace, skip this one.

If you are one of the estimated between 10 million and 40 million Americans that may own a large format pistol with a stabilizing brace installed– which the ATF has arbitrarily said is now an illegal unregistered short-barreled rifle– and unsure what to do next, read on.

First, you have four choices.

  1. You can remove the brace and make it to that it cannot be reinstalled.
  2. You can turn over the firearm to the ATF for destruction
  3. You can convert it to a full-on rifle, complete with a barrel at least 16 inches long, and just slap a real stock on it.
  4. You can register it in accordance with the NFA as an SBR. For the latter, the ATF has been magnanimous enough to waive the $200 making tax.

As for me, I have several of these braced pistols and, while many would advocate non-compliance, that isn’t really a thing for me as I have several articles and videos floating around going back to 2012 with me using said items. Thus, I have a much higher visibility than most when it comes to this stuff.

Not to get too personal, but I have done a mix of the above options including Nos. 1, 3, and 4.

If you are curious about just how to go about getting your “free” SBR, which comes with a raft of future restrictions and isn’t an option for those in NJ, NY, CA, RI, HI, MD (if OAL is less than 29″), DE (Wilmington only), and DC, it isn’t that complicated to pull off.

I did my amnesty Form 1s via Silencer Shop, which charges $50 per form submission, but includes the fingerprint service via their kiosks (which are everywhere, I had like 8 in my small city of 50,000 alone), review of your form prior to submission by people who do it every day, an engine that files it all via ATF’s archaic eForms GUI, and a program that automatically notifies the local CLEO. A portion of that fee also goes to 2A groups to help fight such things.

It was an easy process and I have multiple forms now pending ATF approval.

The bad news is, “Due to popular demand and to ensure all forbearance applications are successfully submitted prior to the ATF’s May 31, 2023 deadline, the last day to start a tax-exempt Form 1 through Silencer Shop will be April 26, 2023. No new tax-exempt Form 1 services will be offered after this date.”

For more info on how it’s done, check out this video:

For those who are either too late to start a form via Silencer Shop or would just rather keep the $50 fee, Fudd Busters (who is a firearms attorney but not Your firearms attorney), has a step-by-step video on how to use ATF eForms to do a Form 1 for a pistol brace/SBR.

Remember, you have until the end of May.

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