Tag Archives: Maxson Meat Chopper

Keeping the Maxson Stoked

Posted on by Leave a comment

Some 75 years ago this week.

Somewhere along the central front in Korea.

Official caption: “Pfc. V.L. Creswell, Newport, Ark., 25th Inf. Div., an ammo bearer on a quad fifty machine gun, rests while he waits to reload the blazing gun.”

Photographer: Cpl. Tom Nebia (ON), U.S. Army Signal Corps Archives SC 364044.

Creswell, shown with a 110-round belt of linked .50 cal draped over his flak vest, worked a motorized Maxson M45 Quad turret, thus:

Oh yeah

Known as “The Meat Chopper” from its use against infantry, the M45 was designed as an anti-aircraft gun. The electrically powered mount moved at about 60 degrees per second and could elevate to near-vertical and depress slightly less than the horizon for use against ground targets in enfilade. Two 6-volt batteries that were recharged by a small Briggs & Stratton gas engine, coupled to a generator, fed the electric motor on the mount.

Note wheels cranked out when stationary

That comfy gunner’s chair

Note the electronic solenoid for the M2s. Without electrical power via battery or engine, the Maxson was a lawn ornament

To this mount, the design added a central gunner’s seat of luxurious canvas, a large spiderweb-type graduated sight, and four Browning heavy machine guns arranged in a pair on each side, which provided .50 cal suppression in surround sound.

Fully equipped with 800 rounds of ammunition, an armor shield for the gunner, oil, fuel for the engine, and all accessories, the mount topped 2,400 pounds. This size fit in the rear of a large truck, half-track, or could be towed alone on a small M20-style trailer, and their firepower made them very popular with the Joes in the field.

As for Creswell, born one of 10 children in Independence, Arkansas, he was just over 20 in the top photo, his older brothers Bundt and Wimps serving in WWII. He made it out of Korea and returned home to marry Ms. Juanita M Higginbotham on 24 May 1952 before going on to work at National Standard for 26 years. Active in the VFW (Post 360), V.L. “John” Creswell passed in 1996 at the age of 65, leaving behind two daughters and five grandkids. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, South Bend, St. Joseph, Indiana.

Swatting drones, any which way you can…

Posted on by Leave a comment

Footage from “somewhere in Ukraine” shows an improvised drone-buster made from six Kalashnikovs. 

The system, first seen in early July, is made from a half-dozen AK74s assembled in a rough circle along a hexagonal brace with the tops of the receivers facing inward. It includes a central charging handle and trigger solenoid as well as a simple circle-T anti-aircraft style iron reticle fitted to the top centerline. 

The initial design included guns still with their canvas slings.

Another short clip, posted last week, shows the gun in action against two low-flying target drones alongside a WWII-vintage DP28. 

The testing prototype was a little better arranged

The Armorer’s Bench, calling the device the “Ukrainian Minigun,” dives more into it in the below video, including some video of the mount being constructed in a shop. 

The primary source of counter-drone, counter-missile, and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine since 2021 has been the U.S. In addition to undefined “Equipment to sustain Ukraine’s existing air defense capabilities” as well as “Anti-aircraft guns and ammunition,” the $41.3 billion in counter-air weapons transferred from Pentagon stockpiles to the country include: 

  • One Patriot air defense battery and munitions
  • Eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and munitions
  • HAWK air defense systems and munitions
  • RIM-7 missiles for air defense
  • 20 Avenger air defense systems
  • Nine c-UAS gun trucks and ammunition
  • 10 mobile c-UAS laser-guided rocket systems
  • Over 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft systems

Plus, NATO allies have given the Ukrainians Cold War-era RBS-70s, Mistrals, Gephards, Orelikons, et. al. by the trainloads.

However, it should be noted that in 2023 with Iranian-made Shahed 136 “kamikaze drones” only costing the Russians about $20K a pop, systems like the “Ukrainian Minigun” may be a low-cost solution. 

Via the very interesting 94-page Defense Sitters Transforming European Militaries in Times of War report that debuted last week at Munich:

This dovetails with reports that Ukraine is running short of AAA ammo and SAMs:

I’d recommend bringing back the old M45 Maxson “Meat Chopper,” which used a four-pack of M2 .50-cals on a battery-powered chassis. 

We checked out one back in 2020 and such a concept, updated with better mechanics and the addition of an EW jammer for countering small drones (CUAS) should be something that could be CAD’ed up overnight and built from off-the-shelf components. 

Meanwhile, in Britain, the Army just took possession of the first of a planned 225 Smartshooter SMASH fire control systems, an add-on see-through optics with a lock and track system that can recognize a target and maintain a lock even if it or the user moves. It has a dedicated “drone hard kill mode” and will be employed in such a role.

If spread across the 33 active duty combat battalions of the Regular army, this gives about six SMASH-equipped rifles per battalion, or two per company, which seems about right, and could point towards Designated C-sUAS Marksmen being a thing. (Photo: British Army)

It is no wonder that companies such as Rheinmetall are now marketing SPAAGs like the Oerlikon Skyranger 30, platforms that look very 1980s but with a new twist.

“This highly mobile air defence system with integrated active and passive search and tracking sensors is a powerful, autonomous shooter with both gun and missiles. It is capable of engaging modern battlefield threats with a special focus on small unmanned aerial targets. It combines superior firepower with the dynamics and elevation needed to successfully engage highly agile single or swarming targets performing loiter, pop up or dive attacks.”

Everything feels very Red Storm Rising lately.

What’s Better Than a .50 cal? How About Four!?

Posted on by Leave a comment

I’ve always been a fan of the M45 Maxson Quad-50, dubbed the “Meat Chopper” by those who saw it in action.

My buddy Ben Philippi recently posted a great video of one doing its dance in high-res/slo-mo.

What more can you ask for?