Top Gun: Maverick recently had its production assistance agreement with the Navy regarding OPSEC security-related requirements for sensitive and classified information drop and circulate on the interwebs.
For reference:
And if you are in the dark about what Top Gun Maverick is:
The future aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy’s (CVN 79) recently had the final deck piece, the upper bow, installed at Newport News. It was the 447th and final super-lift section to be installed.
The 100,000-ton+ behemoth is the second in the Ford-class and is expected to take to the water later this year at launching. Commissioning is set for 2024, which hopefully is enough time to get the bugs worked out of the class.
The Alamo’s early 19th Century Spanish 16-pounder was the largest artillery piece at the 1836 siege. After the iconic Texan last stand, it was spiked by the Mexican Army and buried rather than taken away as a trophy. Fast forward to 1852 and the Maverick family purchased land around the former mission and, in the process of clearing the grounds, unearthed the old iron cannon and returned to the Alamo during the early 1900s. There, it sat for another century, described incorrectly as an 18-pounder.
Recently restored, it was mounted on a new carriage and installed outside the Long Barrack last week.
Below is an interview with Dr. Bruce Winders and Texas A&M’s Dr. Jim Jobling about the conservation process on the gun, which involved lengthy soaking it in sodium hydroxide to remove decades worth of corrosion and protect the original iron. Then the whole cannon gets boiled in a rinse and coated in tannic acid– in effect rebluing the gun. Then comes industrial paint to protect it.
Sterling Price was an interesting figure in U.S. military history. Born in Virginia in 1809, he studied law before moving to the Missouri Territory at age 22. Soon becoming a prominent man there, he led militia during that territory’s Mormon War in 1838, was thrice elected to the state legislature and finally, to Congress in 1845.
When the war with Mexico kicked off the next year, he resigned his seat on Capitol Hill to take command of a volunteer Missouri cavalry regiment he raised and headed to what is now New Mexico where he fought in a series of small actions that cumulated with the skirmish at Cruz de Rosales, Chihuahua, in 1848– which was technically after the war had concluded, a fact he was informed of by the local Mexican commander prior to the battle.
Nonetheless, Price finished his campaigning as a Brevet Maj. Gen. (of Volunteers) with the laurels of a hero, which led to his easy win in a later gubernatorial race to head the Show-Me State.
Price, via the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Fast forward to early 1861 and, although he never led a force larger than 400 men during the previous conflict, Price was made a Maj. Gen. (of Missouri state volunteers) and given command of the nominally Corps-sized Missouri State Guard.
Although he gave a good account of himself in early scrapes against bluecoats at Carthage and Wilson’s Creek, he later suffered a string of often humiliating defeats such as at Pea Ridge (although Van Dorn was in overall command there) and in his pretty ineffective 1,400-mile 1864 raid across Missouri and Kansas.
Price’s Missouri Raid in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, 1864, (red line to the left) via National Park Service
Price ended the war by skipping over the southern border and offering his services to Maximillian, which were declined. He died in 1867.
Perhaps the general’s greatest claim to fame in modern times is the fact his name was reused for the fictional one-eyed lawman Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn’s alcoholic cat. As Cogburn had ridden as a kid with Missouri bushwacker partisan ranger leader William Quantrill during Price’s Raid– during which he lost his eye– the choice makes sense.
Which brings us to a revolver in the news this week.
In 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, Sterling “Ol Pap” Price bought a fine Model 1849 .31 caliber Colt pocket model, and it, along with a lap desk and accessories, are up for grabs at an upcoming auction conducted by Milestone Auctions in Ohio this month. It is engraved on the backstrap “Gen. Sterling Price C.S.”
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1946 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday, July 31, 2019: 80 Sen
NHHC Collection Photo # NH 83034
Here we see a crooked image from the files of the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, likely a quick snapshot taken from the deck of a rented junk, showing the coastal defense ship (formerly classified as an armored cruiser, or junjokan) Nisshin of the Imperial Japanese Navy as she sat at a Hong Kong mooring buoy, in October 1920. Note the Emperor’s chrysanthemum marking on the bow, and inquisitive members of her crew on the side– likely wondering just who was in the approaching small boat with the camera. You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but this ship had once gone toe-to-toe with a much larger opponent and come out on top, although with the scars to show it.
If you like that photo, how about another two taken the same day, with her crew’s laundry drying and a picturesque junk added for Hong Kong flavor:
NH 83032
NH 83033
Anywho, you didn’t come here for Hong Kong laundry stories.
Built around the turn of the Century by Gio. Ansaldo & C shipbuilders, Genoa, Italy, as an updated version of the Giuseppe Garibaldi armored cruiser class, Nisshin (or Nissin, a name that roughly translates to “Japan”) was designed by Italian naval architect Edoardo Masdea as a vessel only smaller than a 1st-rate (pre-dreadnought) battleship of the era, yet larger and stronger than most cruisers that could oppose it.
The Garibaldi class was innovative (for 1894,) with a 344-foot long/7,200-ton hull capable of making 20-knots and sustaining a range of more than 7,000 nm at 12 when stuffed with enough coal. Although made in Italy, she was almost all-British from her Armstrong batteries to her Bellville boilers, Whitehead torpedoes, and Harvey armor.
Armored with a belt that ran up-to 5.9-inches thick, Garibaldi could take hits from faster cruisers and gunboats while being able to dish out punishment from a pair of Elswick (Armstrong) 10-inch guns that no ship smaller than her could absorb. Capable of outrunning larger ships, she also had a quartet of casemate-mounted torpedo tubes and extensive rapid-fire secondary batteries to make life hard on the enemy’s small ships and merchantmen.
These cruisers were designed for power projection on a budget and the Argentine Navy, facing a quiet arms race between Brazil and Chile on each side, needed modern ships. They, therefore, scooped up not only the Garibaldi (commissioned in 1895) but also the follow-on sister-ships General Belgrano and General San Martín (built by Orlando of Livorno in 1896) and Genoa-made Pueyrredón (1898) to make a quartet of powerful cruisers. These ships, coupled with a pair of battleships ordered later in the U.S., helped make the Argentine navy for about two decades the eighth most powerful in the world (after the big five European powers, Japan, and the United States), and the largest in Latin America.
The design was well-liked, with Spain moving to buy two (but only taking delivery of one in the end, the ill-fated Cristóbal Colón, which was sunk at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish American War) and Italy electing to purchase five further examples of the type.
Why all the talk about Argentina and Italy?
Well, because Nisshin and her sistership Kasuga were originally ordered by the Italians in 1900 as Mitra (Yard #130) and Roca (#129), respectively, but then sold while still on the ways to Argentina to further flesh out the fleet of that South American country’s naval forces, who dutifully renamed them Mariano Moreno and Rivadavia.
At some 8,500-tons (full), these final Garibaldis were 364-feet long overall and were roughly the same speed and carried the same armor plan (with Terni plate) as their predecessors.
However, they differed in armament, with Mitra/Rivadavia/Kasuga carrying a single 10-inch EOC gun forward and twin 8″/45s aft, while Roca/Moreno/Nisshin carried the twin 8-inchers both forward and aft.
Stern 8″/45 (20.3 cm) turret on armored cruiser Nisshin on 24 October 1908. Ship’s officers with USN officers from USS Missouri (B-11) during “Great White Fleet” around the world cruise. Note the landing guns on the upper platform. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 82511.
[Of note, the same 8-inch EOC guns were also used on other British-built Japanese armored cruisers (Adzuma, Asama, Iwate, Izumo, Tokiwa, and Yakumo) so they weren’t too out of place when Japan took delivery of these ships in 1904 instead of Argentina.]
Both Mitra/Rivadavia/Kasuga and Roca/Moreno/Nisshin were launched, fitted out and ran builders’ trials in Italy under the Argentine flag.
Armada Argentina crucero acorazado ARA Moreno, at 1903 launch. Note Italian and Argentine flags. Colorized photo by Atsushi Yamashita/Monochrome Specter http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/
Nisshin Running trials under the Argentine flag, probably in late 1903, just before her purchase by the Japanese NH 58664
Running trials under the Argentine flag, probably in late 1903, just before her purchase by the Japanese. Photo credited to her builder Ansaldo. NH 58665
With the Japanese and Imperial Russia circling each other tensely in late 1903, and Argentina not really wanting to take final delivery of these new cruisers, Buenos Aries shopped them to the Tsar’s kopeck-pinching Admiralty only to be rebuffed over sticker shock, leaving the Tokyo to pick them up for £760,000 each– considered a high price at the time but a bargain that the Russians would likely later regret. The Argentines would later reuse the briefly-issued Moreno and Rivadavia names for their matching pair of Massachusetts-built battleships in 1911.
Nisshin photographed at Genoa, Italy in January 1904. This ship was built in Italy by Ansaldo of Genoa and competed on January 17, 1904. Courtesy of Mr. Tom Stribling, 1987. NH 101923
With a scratch British/Italian contract delivery crew, Kasuga and Nisshin (their names are taken from Meiji-period steam warships of the 1860s) set sail immediately for the Far East and were already outbound of Singapore by the time the balloon finally went up between the Russians and Japanese in February 1904. The sisters were soon in the gun line off Russian-held Port Arthur, lending their fine British-made batteries to reducing that fortress, and took part in both the ineffective Battle of the Yellow Sea in August 1904 (where Nisshin was lightly damaged) and the much more epic Battle of Tsushima in May 1905.
Carrying the flag of VADM Baron Misu Sotarō, Nisshin fired something on the order of 180 heavy shells during Tsushima, exchanging heavy damage with the 15,000-ton Russian battleship Oslyabya and others– taking several 12-inch hits to show for it. The Japanese cruiser had three of her four 8-inch guns sliced off and a number of her crew, to include a young Ensign Isoroku Yamamoto, wounded. The future commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II had the index and middle fingers on his left hand shorn off by a splinter, earning him the wardrobe nickname “80 sen” as a manicure cost 10 sen per digit at the time.
The forward gun turret and superstructure of the Japanese armored cruiser Nisshin following the Battle of Tsushima, showing 8-inch guns severed by Russian 12-inch shells
From a different angle
Another view
Aft turret of Armored Cruiser Nisshin damaged in the Battle of Tsushima
Starboard 12-pound gun of Armored Cruiser Nisshin damaged in the Battle of Tsushima
Oslyabya, in turn, was ultimately lost in the course of the battle, taking the Russian Squadron’s second-in-command, Capt. Vladimir Ber, and half of her crew with her to the bottom of the Korea Strait.
Armoured Cruiser Kasuga pictured post the Battle of Tsushima at Sasebo in May 1905
Japanese cruiser Nisshin, listed as June 24, 1905, at Kure, which is just a month after Tsushima and may be an incorrect date as she looks almost brand new. Colorized photo by Atsushi Yamashita/Monochrome Specter http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/
For both Kasuga and Nisshin, Tsushima was their brightest moment under the Rising Sun.
Greatly modified later with Japanese-made Kampon boilers replacing their Italian ones, along with a host of other improvements, Kasuga went on to serve as a destroyer squadron flagship in World War I looking out for German surface raiders and escorting Allied shipping between Australia and Singapore. She later took Imperial troops to Vladivostok in 1918 as part of the Allied Intervention into the Russian Civil War.
Nisshin during WWI. Colorized photo by Atsushi Yamashita/Monochrome Specter http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/
As for Nisshin, she also spent her time as a destroyer squadron leader on the lookout for the Kaiser’s wolves and was later dispatched to the Mediterranean as part of the Japanese 2nd Special Squadron (Suma-class cruiser Akashi, the cruiser Izumo, 8 Kaba-class destroyers and 4 Momo-class destroyers). Deployed in late 1917, the squadron was tasked with riding shotgun over Allied troopships steaming between Malta and Salonica and from Alexandria to Taranto and Marseille.
Photographed at Port Said, Egypt, on October 27, 1917. The early French mixed battery pre-dreadnought Jauréguiberry (1893-1934) can be seen at left background. Courtesy of Mr. Tom Stribling, 1987. NH 101922
In all, the force escorted nearly 800 ships and engaged German and Austrian subs something like 40 times (although without sinking any).
After the Armistice, selected crews from the Squadron marched in the 1919 victory parades in Paris and London.
To close out Japan’s involvement in the Great War, Nisshin returned home with seven captured German U-boats, (U-46, U-55, U-125, UC-90, UC-99, UB-125, and UB-143) after stops in Malta and other friendly ports along the way from England to Yokosuka, arriving there in June 1919. The former German boats went on to an uninteresting life of their own under the Kyokujitsu-ki, used for testing, salvage exercises and floating jetties. While most of these submarines were low-mileage vessels of little notoriety, U-46 (Hillebrand) and U-55 (Blue Max winner Willy Werner) were very successful during the war, accounting for 116 Allied vessels of some 273,000 tons between them.
IJN Nissin at Malta with captured German UC-90 U-boat, via IWM
Nisshin, photographed March 1919, with the ex-German submarines O-4 (ex-UC-90) and O-5 (ex-UC-99) alongside. NH 58666
Nisshin, photographed in March 1919, with the ex-German submarines O-4 (ex-UC-90) and O-5 (ex-UC-99) alongside. NH 58667
Japanese Cruiser Nisshin U-boats escorting surrendered German submarines allocated to Japan, March 1919, Malta, by Frank Henry Algernon Mason, via the IWM
Disarmed and largely relegated to training tasks, Nisshin and Kasuga were put on the sidelines after the Great War, replaced by much better ships in the Japanese battle line.
Hulked, Nisshin was eventually disposed of as part of a sinkex in the Inland Sea in 1936, then raised by Shentian Maritime Industry Co., Ltd, patched up and sunk a second time in 1942 during WWII by the new super battleship Yamato, whose 18.1″/45cal Type 94 guns likely made quick work of her.
Her immediate sister, Kasuga, used as a floating barracks at Yokosuka, was sunk by U.S. carrier aircraft in July 1945 then later raised and scrapped after the war. Incidentally, the two Japanese Garibaldis outlasted their Italian sisters, all of which were disposed of by the 1930s. Their everlasting Argentine classmates, however, lingered on until as late as 1954 with the last of their kind, ARA Pueyrredon, ironically being towed to Japan for scrapping that year.
Of note, the British 8″/45s EOCs removed from Nisshin, Kasuga and the other Japanese 1900s armored cruisers in the 1920s and 30s were recycled and used as coastal artillery, including four at Tokyo Bay, four at Tarawa (Betio) and another four at Wake Island once it was captured in 1941.
Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops mount a British-made, Vickers eight-inch naval cannon into its turret on Betio before the battle. This film was developed from a Japanese camera found in the ruins while the battle was still on. Via http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Tarawa/index.html
Destruction of one of the four Japanese eight-inch EOC guns on Betio caused by naval gunfire and airstrikes, 1943. Department of Defense photo (USMC) 63618
Nisshin’s name was reused for use on a well-armed seaplane/midget submarine carrier that saw extensive action in WWII during the Guadalcanal campaign, where she was lost. It has not been reused further.
Specs:
Jane 1914 entry, listing the class as first-class cruisers
Displacement: 7,700 t (7,578 long tons) std, 8,500 full
Length: 366 ft 7 in (o/a), 357 wl
Beam: 61 ft 5 in
Draft: 24 ft 1 in, 25.5 max
Machinery: (1904)
13,500 ihp, 2 vertical triple-expansion steam engines, 8 Ansaldo marine boilers, 2 shafts
Speed: 20 knots at 14,000 shp, although in practice were limited to 18 at full load.
Range: 5,500 nmi at 10 knots on 1316 tons of coal, typically just 650 carried
Complement: 600 as built, 568 in Japanese service.
Armor: (Terni)
Belt: 2.8–5.9 in
Deck: 0.79–1.57 in
Barbette: 3.9–5.9 in
Conning tower: 5.9 in
Armament:
(1904)
2 twin 8″/45 EOC (classified as Type 41 guns by the Japanese)
14 single QF 6″/45 Armstrong “Z” guns
10 single QF 3″/40 12-pdr Armstrong “N” guns
6 single QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns
2 Maxim machine guns
2 landing howitzers
4 × 457 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes in casemates
(1930)
4 single QF 6″/45 Armstrong “Z” guns
4 single QF 3″/40 12-pdr Armstrong “N” guns
1 single 76/40 AAA
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They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find. http://www.warship.org/membership.htm
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.
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Winchester, Kentucky’s Doublestar has introduced their new STAR10-P braced handgun, which looks just the thing for hog hunting in brush country, and surely will puff fireballs guaranteed to make you night blind for a week.
It has a little too XTREAM! look for my liking, but I am an old fart, so there is that.
Anywhoo, their presser:
The STAR10-P is designed with the power one needs for varmint control or self-defense. Built with the same billet upper and lower as the original STAR10 rifle, the STAR10-P puts that power in a very manageable package. With features like the Strongarm Pistol brace and Stronghold Pistol Grip, the STAR10-P takes AR Pistols to the next level.
The Stronghold Pistol Grip with G10 MLOK panels is a patent-pending innovative design utilizing a lightweight, anodized aluminum frame and customizable textured Stronghold G10 MLOK panels. The palm swell provides a secure but comfortable surface for the shooter’s hand, even in gloves. The high-quality US-made G10 panels round out the package with rugged style. Pair with the Stronghold G10 MLOK panels to ensure the shooter won’t drop his or her weapon when conditions are slippery.
MLOK is a great platform for mounting any accessory while keeping weight down and a low profile on your weapon’s handguard. The problem shooter’s face is what to do with the real estate that’s left uncovered, slick, and swayed by extreme temperatures. DoubleStar has the solution with its Stronghold G10 MLOK Panels. Weighing in at 0.5 ounces per panel with mounting hardware and a length of 3.25 inches, these panels are CNC machined from the highest quality G10 to provide a textured surface on any MLOK handguard.
STAR10-P Specifications:
Product Weight: 8.15 lbs.
Caliber: .308
Modes of Fire: Semi-automatic
Barrel Length: 12”
Barrel Type: Heavy Barrel
Twist Rate: 1:10
Barrel Material: Stainless Steel
Barrel Features: Free Floating
Sight/Gas Block: Low Profile Gas Block
Muzzle Device: RASP Flash Hider
Handguard: Cloak MLOK Handguard 11”
Upper Receiver Type: Flattop
Upper Receiver Coating: Anodized to MIL-SPEC
Upper Receiver Features: Brass Deflector, Dust Cover
Lower Receiver Materials: Billet Aircraft 7075 T6 Aluminum
Lower Receiver Coating: Anodized to MIL-SPEC
Lower Receiver Features: Integrated Trigger Guard, Enhanced Magwell
Charging Handle: Strike Industries
Fire Control Group: CMC 3.5 lb. Flat Trigger Group
Magazine Capacity: 20 rd.
Buttstock: Strongarm Pistol Brace
Pistol Grip: Stronghold Pistol Grip with G10 Panels
Other Features: Enhanced Extraction System
Action: Direct Gas Impingement
MSRP: $2,299.99
On this day, 77 years ago– just seven months after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the proposal to establish the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) as part of the USNR into effect as Public Law 689. In all, before the service was demobilized after the conflict, over 86,000 female volunteers (including over 8,000 who served in commissioned roles) were accepted into the Navy for the duration of the war.
A number of rates, besides Yeomen, were open to the WAVES
While many simply chalk up the WAVES to performing medical, cleaning, clerical and sundry tasks (there were some assigned as florists), it should be noted that a ton of stateside Crypto work was performed by these intrepid sailors (Via Station Hypo: Many after Boot Camp were sent to radio schools at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio then to Chatham Massachusetts for duty as German naval intercept operators or to Bainbridge Island, Washington, for additional training in Japanese Kata Kana code with follow on assignment as Japanese naval intercept operators. A further 100 worked at Naval Radio Station Skaggs Island, California where they copied Japanese weather broadcast schedules.)
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Aeronautics used some 23,000 WAVES around the country as mechanics, weather forecasters, ATC, gunnery instruction, navigation training, rigging parachutes, and in various other utility roles, keeping naval air stations running like clockwork.
WAVE At War, Ships At Night.NHC Accession #: 45-127-N “WAVES were not eligible for combat duty. Their assignments remained stateside or in the territories of Hawaii and Alaska. But recruiting posters often depicted the contributions of WAVES to combat victories. Here, Falter superimposes a female enlistee over a battle scene, as though she stands for all the WAVES-parachute riggers, machinists’ mates, gunners’ mates, and others who will make this victory possible. This type of image not only brought in new recruits, but it boosted morale among the WAVES, reminding them that their work was directly impacting the war effort and strengthening the might of Navy forces.”
The below rare color photo, shows WAVES aircraft mechanics at Naval Air Station, Oakland, California, working on the port outboard engine (a Pratt & Whitney R-2000) of a Naval Air Transport Service R5D, circa mid-1945. They are (left to right): Seaman 1st Class Gene Reinhold, Seaman 1st Class Lorraine Taylor and Seaman 1st Class Mary Harrison:
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-K-5663
Slowly demobilized throughout 1946, the stand-down was brief as the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act (Public Law 625) was signed into law in 1948, allowing women to serve in the regular Army or Navy on a permanent basis.
To students of naval history, the name “Suffren” is quick to jog memories.
An homage to Admiral Comte Pierre André de Suffren, an 18th-century hero who doggedly fought the Royal Navy from the East Indies to the West Indies and off the coast of North America during the Seven Years War and later the American Revolution, more than a half-dozen French ships have carried his name.
These included the 74-gun ship of the line that tangled with HMS Victory directly at Trafalgar, an event that led to Nelson’s death; the early and somewhat innovative central battery ironclad of the late 19th Century; a Great War-era République-class pre-dreadnought that covered the withdrawal from the Dardanelles in 1915 with her 12-inch guns only to be sunk by a German U-boat the next winter; the lead-ship of a four-vessel class of heavy cruisers that saw combat in WWII; and the lead ship of a class of guided-missile destroyers that served during the Cold War.
The WWII-era Suffren, a handsome 12,000-ton CA, survived WWII in Free French service and went on to serve off Indochina and elsewhere, only heading to the breakers in 1974.
French heavy cruiser Suffren leaving Alexandria Harbor, Egypt, 23rd June 1943, after a three-year stay during which she was interned by the British. She sailed out to join the Free French forces- IWM Photo
Earlier this month, the eighth Suffren, a brand new Barracuda-class submarine (Q284), was launched. The name is, once again, set aside for the first ship of her class.
The 7th warship to carry the name for France, Suffren (D602), was decommissioned in 2008 after nearly a decade in reserve. The 8th is expected to commission in 2020.
The submarine’s skipper was presented with relics from past Suffrens
My G19X along with the well-used Boker Burnley Kwaiken and Streamlight MicroStream I tote no matter what along with a Snag Mag. The Glock is wearing an EC custom IWB holster.
While writing a piece on my experiences with the Glock G19X for an upcoming publication, I got to doing bullet math on my personal “Coyote Crossover.” I first picked it up in late 2017 for T&E and over a three-month period ran 2,000 rounds through it– without documented issue number one.
Since then, I have alternated it and my S&W M&P M2.0 Compact and 642 J-frame as training and EDC guns. I can now report that the Glock has surpassed the 5,000 rounds fired mark and is going strong.
The number of jams? Zip other than one caused by a fouled magazine, which wasn’t the gun’s fault.
I’ve cleaned it in the neighborhood of a half-dozen times and only plan to replace the recoil spring as it is a recommended item to swap out every 5K or so.
At the 10K mark, I will post an update and plan to change out the other lesser springs (trigger spring, slide stop spring, magazine catch spring, striker spring, and spring cups) just because that is how I roll.
Of note, I have a cop buddy who has carried his same Gen 3 Glock 19 every day since 2004– it’s his only gun– and has put somewhere on the order of 50,000 rounds downrange with no giant issues, only stopping to replace springs here and there. Does he trust it? Did I mention that he has used it across three departments in the past 15 years?
Born July 1919 in Dublin, John Allman Hemingway, the Irishman picked up a short service flying officer’s commission in the Royal Air Force in April 1938 at age 18 and went on to become one of the RAF’s “so few” just months later.
He flew Hurricanes with No. 85 Squadron over France and the Lowlands in May 1940, chalking up a German Dornier Do 77 light bomber, before covering the Dunkirk Beaches and switching back to England for the Battle of Britain, picking up a DFC after ripping up Heinkels and Messerschmitts. He later flew Spitfires with No. 43 Squadron over Italy as a Squadron Leader and retired from the RAF in 1969 as a Group Captain. In all, he had to hit the silk at least four times during WWII to abandon flaming/falling aircraft.
Capt. Hemingway celebrated his 100th this month, one of the very few RAF WWII fighter jocks left among us and the final Irishman who flew such craft during the Battle of Britain.
“I can’t say don’t drink. I can’t say don’t fool about with people. I can’t say don’t fly aeroplanes. I can’t say don’t shoot and get shot at – I’ve done everything, and I’m an Irishman. The only advice I can give to people is be Irish!”