Lady Be Good .50 cal. Machine gun to be sold at auction

[kennsmithf2g]

Mr. Maples will be missed. He was most generous with his time and was willing to share his collection with anyone who was interested.

He had a P-51 cockpit and a B-24 cockpit. Anyone know where they went?

Nick

B24 Cockpit at Yankee Air Museum

[tom d. friedman]

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.

[CoastieJohn]

to many gray areas as to provenience, for starters non matching gun part components.

Wouldn't you think that having matching serial numbered parts in one of the NMUSAF's .50's would seem to make sense? It would seem to me pretty plausible that guns would have been cleaned/worked on at the same time, and that parts could have easily been interchanged?

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.

[RickH]

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

[p51]

Only if it was registered during the machine gun amnesty, I think that was in 1968.

Somewhere in the ad or the documentation, it stated that the previous owner did just that in 1968.

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

[ZRX61]

I had no idea any of those could have been in private hands.

Only if it was registered during the machine gun amnesty, I think that was in 1968. Otherwise, it's a federal crime to even own the right side plate from a 'ma duce', per the National Firearm Act.

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

[oscardeuce]

I had no idea any of those could have been in private hands.

Only if it was registered during the machine gun amnesty, I think that was in 1968. Otherwise, it's a federal crime to even own the right side plate from a 'ma duce', per the National Firearm Act.

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

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.

[gary1954]

to many gray areas as to provenience, for starters non matching gun part components.

Wouldn't you think that having matching serial numbered parts in one of the NMUSAF's .50's would seem to make sense? It would seem to me pretty plausible that guns would have been cleaned/worked on at the same time, and that parts could have easily been interchanged?

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

[fotobass]

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.

[oscardeuce]

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.

[Taylor Stevenson]

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

[bdk]

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

[oscardeuce]

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.

[AG pilot]

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.

[jamesintucson]

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.