Big Green pulls it down at Bianchi

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Sgt. 1st Class Adam Sokolowski in the Falling Plates, his last event to win the Bianchi Cup last week. (Photos: U.S. Army)

The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit cleaned house at the 2018 World Action Pistol Championship with the unit’s SFC Adam Sokolowski walking away with the overall win.

The big showing by Sokolowski, who chalked up a perfect score of 1920-176X, means that he has cleared all three Bianchi Cup divisions — Open, Metallic and Production — in the span of three years. Besides picking up the cup itself, Sokolowski last week won 1st Place in Multigun Champion with a score of 3822-329X, as well as Service Champion, High Master, and Moving Target Event (Open), competing against 174 athletes from eight countries.

Can you say, upgrade?

The competition was held in Hallsville, Missouri this past weekend at the Green Valley Rifle & Pistol Club.

More in my column at Guns.com

Pretty informative short about the QF-16 UAS

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They are planning on making 200 “optionally-manned” QF-16 drones over the next 10 years from surplussed early block F-16As

“The QF-16 is the introduction of fourth-generation fighter capabilities in the aerial target mission. It maintains all inherent capabilities of the baseline F-16 Fighting Falcon including supersonic flight and 9 G maneuverability. The QF-16 is a full-scale aerial target that has been modified to be flown with a pilot in the cockpit for training and also without a pilot as a target for live missile testing.”

So, if you have an Army M4A1, you may have an issue with that selector switch

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FORT GORDON, Ga. – Spc. Alexander Musarra, Company B, 782nd Military Intelligence Battalion, from Miami, Florida, is shown here firing his M4A1 carbine rifle during the Stress Shoot Exercise which was an event on day one of the 780th MI Brigade’s Best Warrior Competition, April 23.

Saftey of use message:

  1. A small number (881 out of 259,000) of M16/M4 weapons have been found to potentially have an unintended discharge while manipulating the selector.
  2. An additional step in the updated Function Check will readily determine if your M16/M4 is affected.
  3. If your M16/M4 passes the additional steps to the Function Check to inspect for this problem, there is absolutely no need to change Immediate Action procedures.
  4. The previous Immediate Action procedure (“SPORTS”) has been since replaced with an improved procedure described in TC 3-22.9. TACOM and the published Technical Manuals have not yet updated to the new standard.

SOUM #18-004 alerted the field of an unintended discharge on an M4A1 PIP’ed (Product Improvement Program) weapons that occurred when the operator pulled the trigger with the selector switch between the SEMI and AUTO detents (outside of detent). The weapon did not fire when the operator pulled the trigger and instead fired when the selector was moved further. As a result of this incident, an on-going investigation determined that there is the potential for all carbines and rifles noted above, to behave in this way.

First, this potential mechanical problem is uncommon. The Army has converted 259,000 M4s to M4A1s in the past three years with the M4 carbine product improvement program. Out of 259,000, 881 have been found to exhibit this problem.

Second, TACOM’s updated Function Check will easily determine if your M16/M4 is one of those of the small number affected.

More here

On the eve, 48 before Overlord

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“LST in Channel Convoy June 4 1944” Drawing, Ink and Wash on Paper; by Mitchell Jamieson; 1944; Framed Dimensions 30H X 25W Accession #: 88-193-HK

“A view on board an LST, looking forward from the bridge, with the main deck below fully loaded with trucks, anti-aircraft half-tracks, jeeps, and trailers. Ahead and on both sides were other LSTs in the group, each towing its “rhino” ferry which was manned by skeleton crews of Sea Bees, the rest of the crews were on board the ships themselves. With the LSTs prevented by German artillery fire from coming to the landing beaches to unload, it was the job of the “rhinos” to unload the tank deck of each LST and go to the beach. Then, since the “rhinos” could only make a couple of knots an hour, the LSTs had to be unloaded offshore by LCTs. Later, when the beach was secured and the ships could come in closer, these “rhinos” operated a continuous shuttle service, unloading all types of ships. This LST, with its mobile anti-aircraft vehicles on deck in addition to the ship’s own anti-aircraft batteries, could put up a formidable screen of anti-aircraft fire. The anti-aircraft half-tracks were of two types: one carrying four quad-mounted 50-caliber machine guns, and the other with one 37mm anti-aircraft gun and two 50-caliber machine guns. The rear part of the half-track was where the gun turret was mounted. A soldier who sat with the gunners operated the turret electronically. Trucks carrying supplies and ammunition, with plenty of camouflage netting, are depicted on the main deck below in the foreground. There was about the same number of vehicles on the tank deck below, unseen. This was the evening of D-day minus two (June 4, 1944).”

There could be more public shooting ranges

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The USFWS Range in Brooklyn, MS. I trek there often when my normal ranges are booked and love to spend a quiet morning there. It’s free, and public, funded by PRWRA dollars. Everyone should have easy access to such on public land, but sadly, this is not the case. (Photo: Chris Eger)

A bipartisan measure that could see the number of shooting ranges available on public land expanded was reported out of committee last week in the U.S. House.

The proposal would use money already made available to the federal government through the Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937, commonly referred to as Pittman–Robertson after the two lawmakers pivotal to its passage. This 80-year-old law uses an excise tax levied on all firearms and ammunition sold or imported into the country to perform conservation-related tasks as varied as restoring elk habitat to funding safety programs and establishing public shooting ranges.

It is hoped by supporters of the bill that the move to up the number of public ranges will help turn around flagging numbers of hunters in the field.

More in my column at Guns.com

Combat Gallery Sunday: War and Peace, as seen 76 years ago…

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Much as once a week I like to take time off to cover warships (Wednesdays), on Sundays (when I feel like working), I like to cover military art and the painters, illustrators, sculptors, photographers and the like that produced them.

Combat Gallery Sunday: War and Peace

As a diversion to Midway, a fairly strong task force under Japanese Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta, comprising the carriers Ryūjō (10,000 tons) and Jun’yō (25,000 tons) as well as their escorts and a naval landing force, attacked the Aleutians in Alaska.

One engagement, where Katutka sent his 80~ strong combined airwing to plaster the only significant American base in the region, socked the base and port facility over the course of two raids on 3-4 June, sinking the barracks ship Northwestern, destroying a few USAAF bombers and USN PBYs, and killing 78 Americans.

The Japanese in turn got a bloody nose from the old school 3-inch M1918s and .50 cal water-cooled Browning of Arkansas National Guard’s 206th Coast Artillery (Anti Aircraft), which splashed a few Japanese planes, a PBY stitched up 19-year-old PO Tadayoshi Koga’s Zero (which crashed and was recovered in remarkable condition– an intelligence coup) and a group of Army Col. John Chennault’s P-40s out of Unamak accounted for a few more.

Below is a great representation of the 206th’s 50cals in action, a bit of martial art by Navy war artist William Draper, done in 1942, entitled “War and Peace”

Painting, Oil on Board; by William F. Draper; 1942; Framed Dimensions 23H X 28W Accession #: 88-189-AS. The peace of an Aleut grave, marked by a Russian Orthodox Cross, is shattered by the staccato barking of a 50-caliber gun as it unleashes a barrage of bullets at attacking Japanese planes.

Thank you for your work, sir.

Of light cruisers and baby flattops

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Here we see an aerial photo of the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Francisco unit, in early 1958, some 60 years ago.

Located at Hunter’s Point (San Francisco Naval Shipyard), the most recognizable vessel in the collection of cargo ships, light/escort carriers, and light cruisers is the USS Bataan (CVL-29) with her pennant number on her deck. Directly behind her should be The Mighty Moo, 12 battlestar-recipient USS Cowpens (CVL-25), which had been in mothballs since 1947. The bows on these cruisers-hulled light carriers are a dead ringer for the greyhounds they are moored among.

Among the escort carriers listed at San Francisco at the time were the Commencement Bay-class USS Rendova (CVE-114) who was completed too late for WWII but was home to F4U Corsairs of VMF-212 off Korea for 1,700 sorties as well as fellow classmates and Korean War vets USS Bairoko (CVE-115), USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116), and USS Sicily (CVE-118).

Many of the escort carriers in U.S. inventory during the mid-to-late 1950s were reclassified as auxiliary aircraft ferries (ACV), helicopter carriers (CVHE), aviation cargo ships (AKV), or aircraft transport (AVT) with some administratively transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service on paper before they were removed from Naval custody, although they were not given any modifications to operate as such.

Among the light cruisers at San Fran at the time were USS Astoria CL-90, Birmingham CL-62, Vincennes CL-64, Springfield CL-66, Topeka CL-67, Vicksburg CL-86, Duluth CL-87, Miami CL-89, Oklahoma City CL-91, Amsterdam CL-101, and Atlanta CL-104, a Cleveland-class light cruisers completed late in the war. Two anti-aircraft cruisers are also seen middle left of the photo. Moored on red lead row at Hunters Point in 1958 were USS Oakland (CL-95) and USS Tucson (CL-98).

By 1962, virtually the entire assemblage you see above (save for Atlanta, who went on to be destroyed in 1965 as a weapons effects test ship and Tuscon, which was a test hulk until 1971) was stricken from Navy List and subsequently sold for scrap, the days of 1945-era all-gun cruisers and abbreviated flattops in the rearview for a Navy that was increasingly all-jet and missile. Oakland’s mast and nameplate are preserved just a few miles from where this image was taken at the Port of Oakland’s shoreline park.

Hauling wheat around Yemen will get you holed

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“The assessment at the moment is it was almost certainly non-state Yemen based actors firing a land-based missile or rocket at the vessel,” Major Tom Mobbs, head of intelligence and security with the European Union’s counter-piracy mission EU Navfor, told Reuters.

Damage to the Turkish-flagged bulk carrier Ince Inebolu after last weeks missile attack.

The Turkish flagged Ince Inebolu bulk carrier was damaged by an explosion on May 10, some 70 miles off the Red Sea port of Salif where it was due to deliver a 50,000-tonne cargo of Russian wheat. Likely culprits are the Houthis, who last month hit a Saudi oil tanker was off Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah, suffering limited damage.

And of course, the Houthis have exchanged fire with both Gulf State and U.S. military vessels several times.

NATO looking into the camouflage of the future

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An international team of scientists from NATO member and partner countries met in rural Germany to carry out field trials on a variety of camouflage materials. The ultimate goal for the future, is creating camouflage systems able to elude hyperspectral cameras.

The above makes me think about the increased use in NATO of SAAB’s Barracuda system, which helps mitigate a post or vehicle’s infrared, thermal and radar signature.

 

Fan of pulps?

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As a kid who grew up with surrounded by stacks of vintage 1960 and 1970s “Mens” magazines compiled by my slightly older uncles and handed down along with other, older sci-fi titles from the 1950s that came from my grandfather, I am a fan of pulp fiction publications of the 20th Century.

If you are like-minded, check out the 11,000-title strong Pulp Magazine Archive, which is, by the way, free.

There is also:

 

You are welcome!

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