Vintage Saturday: Close Air Support
Semiauto pistol
Daniel Defense H9: The Hudson Reborn and Completely Reengineered
In 2017, Hudson released a new pistol that was the darling of the firearms industry. It purported to offer a radically low bore axis and 1911-style trigger in a striker-fired system that would be fast […]
Heavy MGs
Hotchkiss 1914: A French and American WWI Heavy MG
This Hotchkiss machine gun and its tripod are lot #2027 in the upcoming April 2019 Morphy auction. The gun that became the Hotchkiss 1914 and served as the bulwark of French and American forces in […]
Semiauto pistol
Is the AutoMag Curse Over? The New Auto Mag 180-D
Historically speaking, the AutoMag 180 pistol has been a reaper of investors. Between 1971 and 1982, no fewer than six different companies went bankrupt trying to make a profit building Auto Mags. However, we may […]
Eh, I’ve seen closer 😉
I’ve always loved the A-20 Havoc/Boston. A friend’s father flew them during the war.
A few years ago (maybe 2006), there was one that was registered and nominally airworthy for sale somewhere in the mid US. I didn’t see it in person, but looked at the pictures. I don’t know what happened to it. I believe it was the only nominally airworthy example of the A-20/P-70/DB-7 (and etc. to the severalth power) in the world. There are several in museums.
Just read a great book by a British Boston pilot last year. He actually started in something British (Blenheims? of which there are no airworthy survivors AFAIK, but the Brits have been rebuilding so many “lost types” that we can hope…) and then went to the Boston. Blanking on the name, but I got it from Amazon. It’s fairly hard to find memoirs of attack and medium bomber crewmen.
If I could own anything at all (and fuel and maintain it, and fly it enough for proficiency), it would be the A-20s successor, the A/B-26 Invader.
My unit, the 1st Air Commando Wing, had OnMark modified Douglas A-26’s in SE Asia and it wasn’t unknown for one to return from a mission with grass/leaf stains on the prop tips. Now that’s close air support!!
Notice which way the 30 cal brownings on the tanks are pointed! I think they were a little nervous.
They are pointed that way because they were mounted on the back of the commander’s cupola.
It’s not just the way they were mounted – look at the right and left of the photo, all turret Brownings are obviously covering the low-flying A/C, so you got two-way training: the plane jocks learn how the tank looks from up close above, and the can-dwellers have a realistic target to train leading turret Browning on a fast moving target.
Why are there tracks in front of the lead tank? Looks like he is going in reverse?
The photographer was probably on the tank in front of the others.
Nice early M3’s. They have the sponson mounted 1919a4s, and the raised commanders hatch. They are painfully cramped inside…
I think I’ve seen this picture before. It’s from the 1941 maneuvers and was taken I believe at Fort Hunter Liggett. (Maybe Ft. Irwin). The 1941 summer maneuvers were a massive combined-arms propaganda show with the government and press trying to make the USA look invincible and keep us out of war. Unfortunately, the unpreparedness of the military was really impossible to hide; all the panic spending and mobilization in 1940-41 just made it more evident.
Would like to know where this photo came from and who took it. I would believe it was taken by an Army photojournalist.
My father worked on A-20s at Douglas in San Diego. They were one of several planes known as flying prostitutes: no visible means of support.