Vintage Vindy

Posted on by Leave a comment

Here we see, some 85 years ago this month, a spick and span SB2U-3 Vindicator, on 25 April 1941. Note the “meatball” national insignia and the aircraft’s ribs showing through its fabric fuselage. The Navy’s first monoplane scout-bomber, the Vindicator, entered squadron service with the VB-3 High Hats (now the VFA-14 Tophatters) in 1937, but was soon replaced by the better SBD Dauntless.

U.S. Navy picture via the NARA 80-G-3042

The above new production SB2U-3 (BuNo 2050) was delivered to Marine Scouting Squadron Two (VMS-2) on 14 March 1941, part of just 57 such aircraft ordered for the USMC in 1939.

On 1 July 1941, VMS-2 was redesignated Marine Scout-Bombing Squadron 231 (VMSB-231).

BuNo 2050 was later destroyed on the ground with six other “spare” Vindicators of the squadron when the Japanese attacked Ewa Marine Corps Air Station on 7 December 1941, the rest of the unit being sent aboard USS Lexington (CV-2) during the first week of December to reinforce some place few had heard of, far off Midway Atoll.

231’s sister Vindy squadron, VMSB-241, would give its best during the battle.

Obsolete fabric-covered SB2U-3 dive bombers of Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 241 taking off to attack the Japanese fleet striking force on the morning of 4 June 1942, during the battle of Midway. Part of Marine Aircraft Group 22 (MAG-22), they would earn a Presidential Unit Citation for their role in the epic naval clash.

The next time VMSB-231 met the Japanese in 1942, it would be from SBD Dauntless dive bombers, as the Corps was busy divesting itself of the old Vindy. No Marine SB2U-3 remains in existence, with only a sole Navy Vindicator, SB2U-2 BuNo 1383, on display at the NNAM in Pensacola.

Now in its 107th year of service, the “Ace of Spades” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMA) 231 is still around today, transitioning from AV-8Bs to F-35s.

A Big Cat Returns to Familiar Stomping Grounds

Posted on by Leave a comment

The Bundeswehr has been showcasing modernized Kampfpanzer Leopard 1 A5s, revisiting the home team’s military training grounds.

Ausbildung ukrainischer Soldaten durch deutsche Streitkräfte am Kampfpanzer Leopard 1A5, auf dem Truppenübungsplatz Klietz, am 24.03.2026.

Ausbildung ukrainischer Soldaten durch deutsche Streitkräfte am Kampfpanzer Leopard 1A5, auf dem Truppenübungsplatz Klietz, am 24.03.2026.

Although the Cold War-era type ended production in 1984 and was decommissioned by the Germans in 2003, Ukrainian volunteers and conscripts are being trained on the vintage hull by soldiers of the Europäischen Ausbildungsmission (European Training Mission), or EUMAM UA.

Ausbildung ukrainischer Soldaten durch deutsche Streitkräfte am Kampfpanzer Leopard 1A5, auf dem Truppenübungsplatz Klietz, am 24.03.2026.

Ausbildung ukrainischer Soldaten durch deutsche Streitkräfte am Kampfpanzer Leopard 1A5, auf dem Truppenübungsplatz Klietz, am 24.03.2026.

Ausbildung ukrainischer Soldaten durch deutsche Streitkräfte am Kampfpanzer Leopard 1A5, auf dem Truppenübungsplatz Klietz, am 24.03.2026.

If the tanks look great, keep in mind that they had been well-maintained by their previous owners as investments, and when retired, were transferred to Rheinmetall and FFG to keep in controlled storage for potential future resale.

Instead of heading to Third World users, upwards of 200 such vehicles have been pledged to the Ukrainians from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Ukraine has received around 100 upgraded Leopard 1 A5 DK tanks from Denmark alone, which have been retrofitted with composite armor, laser rangefinders, thermal imaging optics, better commo, and modern night vision devices.

That, combined with the Leo’s stabilized 105mm L7A3 L/52 gun and well-trained crews, can make the old cat a bruiser against just about any Russian tank or armored vehicle encountered.

Despite the heavy drone-vs-drone nature of the fight in Ukraine, there is still plenty of room for armored forces.

With that being said, I would be remiss if I didn’t also note that work is simultaneously being done by John Cockerill Defence in Belgium to make remotely operated Leo 1s for Ukraine as well…

German Cold War-era Leopard 1 tank equipped with a modern Belgian remote-control turret, shown with a Ukrainian flag. This image is of a test vehicle modified by the Belgian turret specialist company John Cockerill Defence. (Image published by the Telegram channel BPMD, the official channel of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, on March 16)

Czech attic finds

Posted on by Leave a comment

Spotted among recent turn-ins by the public to the Czech police, all surely hiding out since the 1940s– through the entire Warsaw Pact era:

A CZ vz. 27 with an extended barrel and an Arado suppressor, along with a 2.7mm Kolibri (hummingbird) pistol

A Czech RG F-1 and RG Cv5 grenade

ZB 26

Who doesn’t love a Luger?

“Uncle Petya’s old PPShk”

The guns are part of a public amnesty that has seen 680 guns, 65,000 rounds of ammunition, 3.5kg of explosive, and a “Soviet self-propelled gun” turned in.

All kept “just in case,” I’m sure.

Some background on the vz.27/Arado:

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Posted on by Leave a comment

Some 80 years ago this week. Off Istanbul, Turkey, on 5 April 1946.

Here we see the famed Iowa-class fast battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) moored in the Bosporus. She had just brought home for burial the body of the late Turkish Ambassador to the U.S., Mehmet Munir Ertegun. This visit was also aimed at influencing Russian Middle East policy. The Gearing-class destroyer USS Power (DD-839) is at left.

Note that Missouri is wearing a more peacetime solid-blue hull (Measure 22) over her wartime Measure 32/22d camouflage, which she wore through the end of WWII, just seven months prior.  National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-702557

At right is the infamous Turkish Moltke-class battle cruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim (ex-SMS Goeben), some 36 years old at the time.

When Missouri, the light cruiser Providence (CL-82), and Power had entered the straits on 5 April, Missouri and Yavuz exchanged 19-gun salutes, two great bookends in battlewagon history.

A better look at Missouri on this cruise. Note the Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk floatplane on her catapult. Official caption: “Mediterranean Cruise 1946 of USS Missouri (BB 63). USS Missouri (BB 63) anchored in the harbor of Piraeus, Greece.” 80-GK-9343

Off Istanbul, Turkey, 5-9 April 1946. Missouri center. She had brought the body of the Late Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Mehmet Munir Ertegun, home for burial, on a mission that was also made to influence Soviet Middle East policy. USS Power (DD-839) is at left, and the Turkish Battlecruiser Yavuz (formerly the German Goeben) is at right. The Dolmabahce Mosque is in the foreground. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-366179

The camouflaged Yavuz (Turkish Battlecruiser, 1911, formerly the German Goeben). Off Istanbul, Turkey, in April 1946, during USS Missouri’s visit there. Photographed by Lieutenant Commander Dewey Wrigley. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-376888

Still somewhat capable of at least scratching the paint of a Soviet battleship or providing NGFS against land forces trying to close the strait, when Turkey joined NATO in 1952, Yavuz picked up a B-series hull number (B70) before she was decommissioned in 1954 after 42 years of service (40 of those to the Turks). Even while laid up, she continued to be used as a stationary headquarters for the Battle Fleet until 1960.

Offered as a museum ship to West Germany, and unable to preserve the historic 25,000-ton vessel themselves, Goeben/Yavuz was instead sold by the Turks for scrap to M.K.E. Seyman in 1971, although several relics were preserved.

Check out this great original color clip of the old girl in 1973 as she was preparing for tow to the breakers:

Farewell, MC, we slept right through thee

Posted on by Leave a comment

Mossberg is known for their shotguns, but actually started off in 1919 making pistols, the .22LR Brownie pistol.

A four-shot break-action pocket gun with a rotating firing pin, some 32,000 of the little Brownies were cranked out before 1932, when Mossberg closed out the classic popgun and moved on to bigger and better things.

Fast forward to 2019 and, in celebrating the company’s 100th anniversary, Mossberg reintroduced a handgun, the 9mm MC1sc subcompact.

Front and rear slide serrations, an optional manual safety, 7+1 9mm capacity. The MC1sc had a lot going on

Offered in four models with an ask of between $425 and $526, it was slow going for the MC1sc, which was not surprising.

The company revamped the design with the double-stacked MC2c the next year, with a price between $490 to $595, depending on the model.

While it reviewed well, Mossberg never put in the effort to really advertise it, and it remained a sleeper option with a tough uphill climb against arguably better (or at least more recognizable) pistols that had a cheaper acquisition point.

So, it should surprise no one that the MC line disappeared from Mossberg’s site altogether around January, leaving only a few parts and magazines available for purchase.

I even kinda called it back in 2019, saying:

The problem is, with so much market share already invested deep in the Ruger LC9/EC9, S&W Sheild, HK VP9SK, and the G43, I feel like this pistol will get about as much love as the Taurus AR15 or Remington R51.

Maybe an MC3c is inbound? Probably not. The polymer-framed handgun market is swamped.

Either way, it looks like you can widely pick up a new-in-box MC2c for around $325, and used models for less, which probably aren’t that bad of a buy– just be advised you will likely be on your own for support.

Time Slippin with the S-62

Posted on by Leave a comment

The late, great, Japanese martial artist/actor/director Shin’ichi “Sonny” Chiba is best known to younger audiences as Hattori Hanzō from Kill Bill, but to an older generation, he was remembered for his 1970s Street Fighter films.

One forgotten gem, 1979’s G.I. Samurai (aka Time Slip and Sengoku Self Defense Force) has just gotten a re-release via 4K Blu-ray restoration.

If you are a fan of 1980’s The Final Countdown, which sees USS Nimitz go back to Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941, you will “get” the premise of G.I. Samurai, which sees a group of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers time-warped back to 16th century Sengoku period Japan– with their weapons to include lots of M-3 Grease guns, Howa Type 64 battle rifles, a mocked up “Type 61” tank, and a Sea King that isn’t.

I say “mocked up” because the Japanese military disavowed the film and provided no support, leaving Toho to make their own tank– which doesn’t look half bad– turn to its armory of small arms left over from assorted Godzilla films, including some actual M-3s and Type 64s, and lease a helicopter that was sort of military.

The trailer:

The chopper is a Sikorsky S-62.

The company’s first amphibious helicopter, the S-62, entered service in 1958, beating the larger, more prolific, and much more familiar S-61 (which became the Sea King) by three years.

Sikorsky S-62 prototype CN 62-001, dom 1958, civil registration N880

Sikorsky S-62A prototype getting its water landing on…

Some 99 were delivered to the USCG, which flew the type as the HH-52A Seaguard (as 1352-1379, 1382-1413, 1415-1429, 1439-1450, and 1455-1466) until replaced by the decidedly non-amphibious HH-65 Dolphin (SA-365).

HH-52A 1357 Lake Ponchartrain September 23, 1964 NNAM No. 1993.501.073.231

All told, just 175 S-62s were constructed on both sides of the pond.

Some 25 Mitsubishi-built Sikorsky-licensed S-62Js were made for Japanese service, where they were nicknamed Raicho (Ptarmigan).

This included nine that served with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), another nine that served with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s 51 Kokutai out of Atsugi Kaigun-hikōjō, and assorted SAR dets around the country from 1965 into the mid-1980s when replaced by UH-60s.

S-62J 8922

S-62J 8928

The Japanese Maritime Safety Agency (MSA), a coast guard unit, flew another eight U.S.-built S-62As, while at least eight other S-62A 10-seater commercial models flew with Japanese domestic airlines in the 1960s and 70s.

The GI Samurai S-62 looks like a commercial model mocked up in olive camo with “Ground Defense Force” written on the side, although the Japanese army never used the type. It also carries a five-digit civil number. Seen in one of the above images, her 005 tail number could be that of JA9005, an aircraft that flew with the Nakanihon Air Service, a general aviation company that is still around.

Note what looks like curtains visible in the window.

Other international users of the S-62 included the Philippine Air Force, the Royal Thai Police, the Indian Air Force, and the Icelandic Coast Guard.

Either way, you gotta love the time warp gimmick.

Does anyone know what watch that is?

Neptune’s Short-Lived Kingfisher

Posted on by Leave a comment

70 years ago today, 3 April 1956, off Virginia.

Official period caption:

The U.S. Navy’s Air-to-Surface Guided Missile Petrel is shown suspended from the wings of a P2V Neptune aircraft. Petrel was designed primarily for use against enemy ships at sea and can be launched by patrol aircraft well outside the range of the target’s air defense. The missile attacks at high speed and with devastating effect. Petrel is one of the more complex missiles, electronically and dynamically, since it has an intricate “electronic brain,” which enables it to “think” its evasive way to the target.

Photo 330-PS-7783 (USN 687384)

The Fairchild AUM-N-2 Petrel, also known as Kingfisher C and AUM-2, entered service in 1956 and was only in arsenal for three years before being withdrawn and repurposed, sans warhead, as a target drone.

A hefty boy, at some 3,800 pounds, Petrel ran 24 feet long and had a 13-foot wingspan when deployed. Powered by a Fairchild J44-R-24 turbojet, the warhead was a Mk 41 homing torpedo for use against surface targets, and the missile had a 20~nm range.

Literally a torpedo with a rocket and wings…

Seen with a Naval Aviation Ordnance Test Station (NAOTS) Chincoteague Neptune in the above images, Petrel was only operational with VP-834, a USNR unit out of Floyd Bennett Field.

At least one engine was floating around on Facebook Marketplace in Wisconsin a while ago for $3,500.

The Everlasting Talon

Posted on by Leave a comment

Living in the area code 228 green/dark space triangle between a series of Army (Fort Rucker), Navy (Pensacola, Meridian and Whiting Field NAS, plus Belle Chase NAS JRB), USAF (Keesler, Columbus and Eglin AFB), ANG (Gulfport), and AANG (Camp Shelby) training bases, it gets loud around here fairly often and there are school birds (T-38s, T-45s, TH-73s, T-6As, etc.) in the air up and down the beach and overhead almost every (mostly) sunny day.

I grew up with T-28s, T-34s, TH-57s, T-37s, and the lumbering old T-2 Buckeye, all common sights.

Take these Cold War classic warbirds into account, posed in front of ANG Gulfport’s circa-1942 USAAF “meatball” hangar during Sentry South 26 just a few weeks ago.

Six U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon aircraft assigned to the 14th Flying Training Wing at Columbus Air Force Base are parked on the flightline during exercise Sentry South 26-2, Gulfport, Mississippi, Feb. 25, 2026. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Dylan McCrink,102d Public Affairs Detachment  )

Of interest, the aircraft closest to the camera, with Columbus’s CB tail flash and camo scheme, is SN 66-4358, an airframe that is 60 years young this year! Constructed as a Northrop T-38A-65-NO, #358 was converted to T-38C standard at Boeing, Williams Gateway AP, Arizona in 2003, and is still trucking.

Speaking of which, despite the slow (but somewhat steady) rollout of the T-7 Redtail, which is supposed to replace the USAF’s 437 enduring T-38Cs, this is in yesterday’s DOD/DOW Contracts:

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, was awarded a ceiling $900,000,000 program indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for T-38 Avionics sustainment and support. This contract provides for total life cycle support for the T-38C Avionics System, ensuring the system remains current, airworthy, and capable of meeting mission requirements. Work will be performed at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi; Laughlin AFB, Texas; Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Air Force Base, Texas; Sheppard AFB, Texas; Vance AFB, Oklahoma; Holloman AFB, New Mexico; Edwards AFB, California; Patuxent River, Maryland; and St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2036. This contract was a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $56,199,728 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Legacy Training Aircraft Division, Hill AFB, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8220-26-D-B002). (Awarded March 31, 2026).

George Neal takes to the water

Posted on by Leave a comment

Back in early March, I visited Pascagoula and saw Ingalls’s dry dock uncharacteristically empty and a land-locked DDG, possibly the future USS George M. Neal (DDG 131), nudging very close to the ramp behind PCU USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129). 

Then, on 26 March, the dock was filled with Neal!

(To the far left by the mud lumps between Ingalls’ West Bank and Singing River Island). Photo by Chris Eger

Now, I can report that the fourth Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built by Ingalls is waterborne, launched on 1 April (no fooling).

DDG 131 is named for AMM3 George Milton Neal, a Korean War veteran who earned the Navy Cross for his heroic actions with HU-1 while attempting to rescue a fellow service member under enemy fire.

As noted by Ingalls:

“Launching DDG 131 is a direct reflection of the hard work and dedication of our Ingalls shipbuilders,” said Chris Brown, Ingalls Shipbuilding DDG 51 program manager. “Seeing the ship reach the water for the first time is a proud moment for everyone involved and a real testament to the people who make this work possible for our U.S. Navy.”

As a Flight III Arleigh Burke‑class destroyer, DDG 131 represents the next generation of surface combatants for the U.S. Navy, featuring the Flight III AN/SPY-6 (V)1 radar system and the Aegis Baseline 10 combat system, designed to counter threats well into the 21st century.

Tin-clad porpoises

Posted on by Leave a comment

Some 75 years ago this week, IC-92646, an M8 Greyhound armored car of “Groupement Sizaire”, fords a river near Mao Khe in French Indochina, sometime between 31 March and 5 April 1951. Note on the front of the hull the anchor insignia of the French army’s colonial troops, a badge that earned such men the nickname “Marsouins” or porpoises.

ECPAD Réf. : TONK 51-37D R7

Colonel Robert Sizaire’s scratch Mobile Group (groupe de mobile, or GM) was formed in late January 1951 and was a two-battalion experimental blend of light infantry and light armor, with the former carried via halftracks and the latter built around 18-ton M-24 Chaffee (the French used  1,250 of the little “Cadillac tanks” in the 1950s-60s) and Greyhounds.

Crossing a bamboo bridge by the first elements of the “Sizaire” group armed with M24/29 FM LMG and MAS 36 rifles. Note the “Chapeau de Brousse” bush hats.

The M-24 Chaffee “Angouleme” of Group Sizaire, with riders from the 6th BPC (paras) and local Thai partisans (beret) differentiated from the bush-hatted tankers and grenadiers.

This could almost pass for Italy in 1944. However, it is the square at Sept Pagodes (now Phả Lại part of Hải Dương Province, in Vietnam’s Red River Delta) where the members of the “Sizaire” group are gathered, circa March 1951. Note six M-24 Chaffees, at least 13 M3 Half-Tracks, two Jeeps, and a GMC CCKW “Deuce-and-a-Half” 2.5-ton  6×6 truck

The Sizaire Group, combined with the 6th BPC (6th Colonial Parachute Battalion), platoon of the RICM (Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco), a company of African riflemen (from 30e Bataillon de marche de tirailleurs sénégalais), and Lt Nghiem Xuan Toan’s Tho partisan company, successfully defended the isolated Mao Khe and Ben Tam outposts on Provincial Route 18 (PR 18), between Bac Ninh and Hong Hai against a determined attack by the Viet Minh TD (Trung Doan) 36 and 209 regiments in between 29 March and 5 April– later reinforced by elements of three divisions– with the tanks being crucial in the counter-attack that broke the back of Giap’s guys.

Advance of M24 Chaffee tanks from the “Sizaire Group” towards Mao Khe across the Tonkin landscape. In the foreground, the M24 Chaffee “Metz” tank, bearing the number 5 on its turret.

Mao Khe with a knocked-out Sizaire Group Greyhound after the fighting.

The fighters of Dong Trieu (these are the first elements of the “Sizaire” group), the day after a night of fighting. In the background, a damaged watchtower. Note the bush hats, MAT-49s, and M1 Carbines.

While successful, the poor road network made even light armor problematic in Indochina– a boogeyman of later suffered by American/ARVN M-48s and M-113s– and Sizaire’s unit was soon broken apart and sent its separate way.

The M24 Chaffee “Angoulême” tank (registration number IC-93003) fell into the water when the scrap metal bridge collapsed.

The column of M24 Chaffee tanks, under the command of Colonel Sizaire, is stopped in April 1951. In the foreground, an M24 Chaffee tank is stuck in the mud, seen from above; it bears the number 6 on the turret; in the background, the M24 Chaffee tank registered IC-93016 and bearing the number 12 on the turret.

Who was Sizaire?

Colonel Sizaire at the wheel of a jeep, March 1951. His passenger is General de Lattre de Tassigny, at the time the French commander in Indochina. Note that Sizaire’s cap has the colonial troops’ anchor.

Born in 1904 in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Sizaire’s father, Emile Vital Pascal Sizaire, was a literature professor in his 40s who left his position at the university to meet his death as a field officer at Verdun in 1916. Does it get any more old republic?

Our younger Sizaire went on to make the military his career. Enlisting as a volunteer in 1922, he fought against the Rif in Morocco, within a unit of Senegalese riflemen (23e RIC). Passing through Saint-Maixent in 1926, he served in a variety of positions in the colonial forces, taking his bride,  Lucienne, while stationed in Bamako (French Sudan) in 1931, before assignments in Algeria (1932) and Indochina (1935).

A junior officer during the Battle for France, leading a company of the 12th RTS (12e Regiment de Tirailleurs Senegalais), he was redeployed to Dakar and finally to Morocco under Vichy orders. Post Torch in November 1942, he cast his lot with De Gaulle and, as a battalion commander (Chef de Battalion) with colonials of the 4th RTS participated in the liberation of Corsica (Operation Vesuvius) in September 1943, the capture of the Italian island Elba in June 1944 (Operation Brassard)– his battalion capturing Monte Tambonne and the German batteries at Aquabonna– and the August 1944 Dragoon Landings which led to the liberation of Toulon and Southern France that August, picking up an American DSC in the process. After the Battle of Colmar in 1945, he finished WWII as the second in command of the 21e RIC (the old 4th RTS), standing on German soil.

It was as a colonel commanding the 21e RIC that he arrived in Indochina in April 1946, joining the fight against the Viet Minh. Once the 21e RIC was sent back “home” to Africa, Sizaire remained in-country as colonel of the newly arrived 3e RIC. Sent back to France in 1949, he flew back to Indochina to join his “Marsouins” in late January 1951, setting up his Groupement Sizaire as detailed above.

He went on to become the French commander in Laos (commandant les Forces du Laos) until January 1953.

Then came a brigadier’s star and command in Brazzaville for the next four years, where he helped stand up the army of the newly independent Congo. After serving as the commandant of the NATO Defense College in 1959, Lt. Gen. (Général de corps d’armée des troupes coloniales) Sizaire was moved to the retired list in 1964 after helping create and equip the Cameroonian Army. He held numerous decorations, including two Croix de Guerre, and was a Grand Officier of the Légion d’Honneur

He then spent a decade as mayor of Cayeux-sur-Mer. He passed in Picardy on a Saturday in the summer of 1975, aged 71, leaving behind three children and a host of grandchildren.

« Older Entries Recent Entries »