Warbird Information Exchange

B24 Cockpit at Yankee Air Museum

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May all your bent wings be F2G Corsairs!

my 24 seat is only missing the head rest, unless the cushion itself just extended that far without a frame or extension. I never really paid attention to that detail, although I knew there was a head rest of some sort.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I thought about this too. "What if" the 50's on several unit aircraft were worked on at the same time and then reinstalled back into different planes sometime prior to the mission(s)? If I was going to drop the big bucks down for this thing as a buyer of confirmed, authentic items, I'm kinda having a hard time convincing myself with 100% certainty....without a doubt....there is no way.....it's impossible.....there was anyway this 50 could have come from another aircraft that was at the same unit this aircraft came from. My due diligence warning light is flashing here. The GQ alarm would be sounding if it just so happened there was another 50 somewhere out there that had this one's s/n's mixed in it.....especially if all the guns from this crashed aircraft were already accounted for. I'd sleep better at night if I seen a picture that could place this exact 50 at that exact crash site. Typed statements are nice, but.....

The matching 1943 50 cal tripod for auction was kinda cool though.

Classic "mixmaster". Armorers didn't pay any attention when reassembling guns after servicing/rebuild, they just grabbed the next part in the bin.

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Didn't catch that when i looked earlier, thanks for the heads up!

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Unless you have the correct ATF paperwork. You could actually manufacture new side plates with the right paperwork.

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.

Until 1986 you could manufacture a transferable side plate. After 1986 to today any new legally manufactured side plates would be post may dealer samples. These are very limited in scope to police or other .gov agencies. A semi auto M-2 would be worth more than a post sample.

Parts lost while cleaning, ooops.. ...where did it go , it was here 15 years ago when we started to clean it.

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

I should have been more clear.

I didn't mean that I didn't realize that a .50 cal could have been in private hands...I meant that I didn't realize that any recovered from the Lady Be Good could have been.

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"Anyway, the throat feels a bit rough...the legs have gone...but I'm still able to chant, so let's get going."

Joe Strummer, 1999

North of $41,000.
I am pretty convinced this is from the LBG, at least $5000 above what I would expect for a similar m-2 or m3-AC.
Not sure I want it, maybe the superstitious side of me talking .
The internals not matching should not be a big deal. Like our planes, it is the data plate that counts.

Sold for $41,500. IMHO, that's a good deal for a M2 with that level of provenance...

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Taylor Stevenson

How many BMG .50s have that kind of provenance in the NFA registry and are transferable? Probably none!

Well, at least one.
You can run the serial numbers, but where would the .mil have serial numbers listed for specific guns on specific aircraft? Did they even keep that data?
There may be a few out there from famous aircraft, but it might be impossible to track them.
If anyone has a serial number data base let me know.

It's hard to believe there are so few WWII original, transferable M2 50 cals left, out of a staggering war production of almost 2 million guns!

I too, would like to know if any records were kept in regards to which gun serial number was installed in what aircraft.

It should be on the Missing Air Crew Report. The ones I've seen in the past certainly listed the weapons on board the a/c by serial number. The military kept very close track of where its weapons were supposed to be, even during World War II.