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All Terrorist Guns Explained
Striking enemy ships with airborne munitions became a priority after World War I. While the challenges were monumental at the time, the rewards for success were too great to pass up. However, bombs and torpedoes dropped by early naval strike aircraft stood little chance against armored warships bristling with AA guns. Faced with this, the United States Navy sought a solution based in some of the most advanced technology of the era.
At the beginning of World War II, radar was coming into service with British armed forces. England shared that technology with the United States, and in 1940 the US Navy coined the term “radar” as an acronym for “radio detection and ranging”. At the same time, television technology was being refined and incorporated into military applications.
The desperate arms race drove technology farther and faster than ever before, and by April 1945, the US Navy deployed the ASM-N-2 Bat radar-guided glide bomb, the first automated anti-ship weapon to be used in combat.
Enter the Dragon
The concept of a TV-guided weapon arrived even before America was at war, as the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) proposed an anti-ship weapon in January 1941 that leveraged RCA’s television technology. Nicknamed the Dragon, the weapon used a nose-mounted TV camera to allow its operator to guide the glide-bomb to its target. The system worked well from a mechanical standpoint, but the early TV guidance technology was wonky, and the Dragon proved inaccurate.
In 1942, the US Navy struggled to counter the U-boats operating off the Atlantic seaboard, and a radar-guided bomb seemed a good solution for America’s thinly stretched defenses. In June 1942, the Navy began testing the Pelican, which used new “semi-active” radar homing technology. A year later, Western Electric upgraded the Pelican design with its “active radar” homing system.
Coupled with a 2,000-pound warhead, the upgraded Pelican achieved a 50% hit rate during tests at NAS New York. Additional tests and modifications followed, and the warhead was reduced to 1,000 pounds as the smaller explosive was shown to be sufficient for the expected types of targets. For a time, it seemed the Pelican would be the Navy’s production missile, but as the target types changed to surface vessels, the Pelican gave way to the Bat.
The ASM-N-2 Batwas a self-contained weapon system. While the Pelican required its mothership to continuously paint the target with a radar beam, the Bat’s onboard homing allowed much more flexibility with the launch aircraft. This early “fire and forget” system was considered a significant advantage in the face of enemy interceptors and AA fire.
Becoming the Bat
The Bat was a product of many fathers, with contributions by the National Bureau of Standards, assisted by the Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Bell Telephone Laboratories. While the Bureau of Standards developed the Bat’s aerodynamic and gyroscopic stabilizing systems, Bell Labs worked with MIT on the guidance mechanism.
The Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance said in its final review of the system:
“Bat was the product of many hands and minds. Of the groups working, Division 5 sponsored the Bureau of Standards organization, which built and tested the airframes and servomechanisms, the MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory, and the MIT Field Experimental Station. The results obtained can amply sustain credit for all concerned.”
Throughout the development process, radar systems were continually upgraded, and this demanded ongoing modifications to the Bat’s operating system. Advancing technology “moved the goal posts” several times, and the necessary modifications needed to make the Bat a workable weapon system, often seemed more of a setback than an enhancement. Plans were established to produce nearly 500 Bat bombs per month in the late summer of 1945—but at the end of 1944, the development team feared the war would be over before their brainchild could see service.
Consequently, development was refined enough to build 72 Bat glide bombs by the end of March 1945. Along with a cadre of experts, these were sent to the Naval Air Station at Kaneohe, Hawaii for training. The ASM-N-2 Bat (or SWOD, “Special Weapons Ordnance Device”,Mark 9 Modification 0) using an NBS airframe carrying a 1,000-pound AN-M65 GP bomb was readied for combat.
The Navy designated Number Two Wing, comprising squadrons VPB-109, VPB-123 and VPB-124, flying Consolidated PB4Y Privateer patrol bombers (the naval version of the B-24 bomber) as the initial Bat carriers. Other Navy aircraft were modified to carry the Bat, including the including the Vought F4U Corsair, the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, and the Grumman TBF Avenger, but the PB4Y-2B Privateer was considered the best launch platform. The Privateer could carry one Bat under each wing in combat.
VPB-109 was sent to Hawaii to train with the new bombs, but only 10 days were provided to train the radar operators and ordnance teams. A few of the development team’s scientists accompanied the Privateer squadron to the PTO, helping to train the Bat operators and consult with the ordnance teams on assembly and maintenance.
The Bat Defined
The US Navy defined its radar-guided Bat in the following terms in its “Explosive Ordnance Manual”:
S.W.O.D. (Special Weapons Ordnance Device) Mk 9, or “Bat”, is a glide bomb. equipped with a radar homing set mounted in the nose. It is designed primarily for attacking. marine targets and is effective for night or day attacks upon shipping in any weather in which the parent plane can fly. The launching planes need not stay in the vicinity of the target and may release as many as four of these missiles in salvo.
The airframe consists of plywood sections which are fitted around the Bomb AN-M65. Control surfaces consist of an elevon on each wing which can be moved to control pitch or bank. There are no control surfaces on the tail.
In order to ensure destruction of the intelligence system the Demolition System Mk 122 is used.
Installation of the Fuses Mk 235 and Mk 236, with their outside windmills and flexible arming stems, is standard.
Control: This missile has its own radar transmitter and receiver. When the target is located on the scope of the monitor unit in the plane, it is put into the range step of the missile’s scope and is automatically kept there. At the correct instant, determined by a glide ratio scale, the missile is released and is guided to its target by the radar signal in its own scope. The guiding. radar supplies corrections to the servo system, which is also controlled by a gyro pilot, the device which maintains flight attitude
1,600-pound “Bat” S.W.O.D. Mk 9 (Air-to-Surface Missile)
Overall length 11.9 feet.
Wing span 10 feet
Total weight, 1,600 pounds.
Warhead: 1,000-pound GP bomb AN-M65
Fusing: Nose: Mk 235 Mod 0 Тail: Мk 236 Mod 0
Notes from the Bat Manual
I am certainly not a rocket scientist, so found portions of the wartime Bat operator’s manual to be helpful in describing some of the more technical aspects of weapon system.
Theory of Operation:
In SWOD Mk 9 Mod 0 the basic flight control of the air stabilizer is accomplished by two rate gyros (a pitch gyro and a turn gyro) which close and open contacts, operating the clutches of the servo. These air-driven gyros are powered by a Venturi tube projecting into the air stream.
A third gyro, designated “bias gyro”, sensitive to yaw motion only, is included in the gyro panel for the purpose of effecting a damping of yaw oscillations or hunting. A self-contained S-band radar transmitter and receiver is used to illuminate the selected target and to receive the returning echoes from it. The transmitter radar pulses from the antenna are directed by the rotating parabolic reflector so that the beam scans a cone-shaped area directly ahead of the missile. The returning target echoes are received by the same antenna, and the amplitude of the returning echoes varies with the directional pointing of the antenna beam. The returning target echoes are distributed by a commutator, mechanically coupled to the parabolic reflector, to four channels so that as the antenna beam is pointed down, right, up, or left, the returning echoes are segregated by quadrants. The echoes in each quadrant are converted by the directional control circuit of the radar into a direct current voltage which is proportional to the amplitude of the echoes of that quadrant.
The complete missile is suspended from the parent plane by means of a special bomb frame equipped with a standard bomb release unit such as Bomb Rack Mk 51 Mod 7. Sway braces are provided to keep the missile in a fixed position on the plane until release. The bomb fuses are mechanically armed after release by air vanes attached to the fuselage of the air stabilizer. Arming wires attached to the bomb rack release the air vanes at the time of drop-away in the conventional manner.
The Bat was considered breakthrough technology at the time, but even so it was fragile, sensitive, and sometimes downright wonky. The operator’s manual offers several “easier-said-than-done” tips for successful use:
“The parent plane should be straight and level for the last five seconds of the time that the SWOD Mk 9 is being readied for release. This permits the BAT to drop away normally on its glide path. The dropping aircraft should also be heading directly toward the target. Preferable air speed at the time of release is between 180 and 200 knots, with 140 knots as the minimum and 210 knots maximum.”
Land attacks were particularly tricky, given that ground clutter easily confused the radar guidance system:
“Isolated target which gives a strong signal from 10 miles distance and is at least 2 miles from any equal or stronger signal.”
Meanwhile, overwater attacks were little easier, enemy ships rarely cooperated with adequate spacing.
“Target over water must be isolated by ½ mile from targets of equal or greater strength.”
Finally, the care and maintenance of the Bat demanded gentle handling and preferably a clean, dry, and temperate environment.
“It cannot be too strongly stressed that the SWOD Mk 6 Mod 1 (Gyroscopic assembly) contains gyro units which must be handled with as much care as normally would be given to a precision electrical meter. While units can withstand the mild shocks they will receive in transportation and normal use, they cannot be dropped or otherwise mistreated.”
The Bat in Action
As VPB-109 began operations on Palawan atoll during April 1945, the squadron soon found their greatest enemy wasn’t the Japanese, but rather the extreme environment of their Pacific island base. The sensitive mechanics of the new technology did not operate well within the extreme heat and high humidity.
Loaded onto the Privateers on the hot and sweaty Palawan runway, condensation soon formed inside the Bat’s radar brain when carried to their operational altitude (15,000 to 25,000 feet). Mechanical problems were common, and several Bats simply failed completely. Ground crews worked tirelessly to learn, adapt, and correct the problems.
The Bat’s first combat launch came on April 23, 1945, during VPB-109’s attack on Balikpapan harbor. Eight of the missiles were launched at a large Japanese freighter—and immediately half fell out as inoperable. The remaining four did not strike the designated target, their radar confused by the land mass clutter behind the target.
Even so, a small freighter was struck at the pier, a picket boat was hit while patrolling the harbor, and two Bats slammed into a nearby oil refinery. The first Bat strike was not a resounding success, but the crews and their new weapon had drawn blood, and the radar-guided missile concept was being proven.
The Navy Bureau of Ordnance commented on the early Bat missions:
“It was evident, even to the Japanese, that something was brewing when the squadron arrived on Palawan. The Bats had to be slung outside the carrying plane, one hung under each wing, and that was a tip-off. What was afoot turned out to be the first use of a completely automatic homing aerial bomb in combat.
At intervals from May until August 1945, a number of Bats were released experimentally against the enemy. As Japanese shipping was disorganized by that time, the only available targets were small ships, usually in or near harbors. In spite of the increased difficulty this situation presented to the operators, good hits were obtained. From distances of several miles, well beyond effective anti-aircraft fire, the Bats followed moving targets relentlessly until destruction was accomplished. The most spectacular of the hits occurred when an ammunition-laden picket boat vanished in one terrific blast and when a hapless destroyer had its bow blown off.”
By mid-May, VPB-109 moved to Okinawa. The conditions on Yontan Field were particularly soggy, and heavy rain greatly interrupted Bat operations. Also, the special tools, test instruments, and spare parts were lost when the squadron transport aircraft ditched in bad weather on the flight to Okinawa. Meanwhile, Japanese shipping was moving almost exclusively by night, and Privateers were forbidden to fly after dark to prevent being mistaken for Japanese night raiders.
Even so, VPB-109 made 13 Bat launches during its month on Okinawa—and three of these were hits. Privateer squadrons VPB 123 and VPB 124 joined the fight in July, and conducted several strikes on Japanese destroyers—with one direct hit recorded on a destroyer escort. VPB-109 launched the last Bat in combat on August 10, 1945, a near miss on a tanker off the coast of Korea.
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A .50 Caliber 1911
There are few manufacturers that have a long-storied history in the defense industry as Winchester. Undoubtedly, few things are more formidable or reliable in battle than a 12-gauge pump action shotgun. Winchester’s Model 1897 has proven over time to be a reliable firearm for protection of America’s finest.
The Winchester 1897 shotgun is seminal Americana. Produced up until 1957, around a million copies entered circulation.
Eddie Mangione had grown up with literally nothing on a rural farm in Tennessee. Now he was a world away squatting in the fetid trenches of war-torn France. For Eddie the summer of 1918 had become surreal and otherworldly.
Eddie had joined the U.S. Marines for all the timeless reasons young men join the Marines. He wanted out of his drab familiar world, and military service overseas promised adventure, exotic locales, and camaraderie. Like so many others before and since Eddie found that reality differed from the lies the recruiters peddled. The adventure was horrifying, the exotic locale was dank, rotten, and miserable, and the camaraderie involved watching his friends get torn to pieces by artillery. He had only been in the trenches a month.
His fellow Marines clutched their 03 Springfield rifles. These instruments turned the Marine rifleman into a deadly agent of chaos. Their French Chauchaut light machineguns were utter rubbish, but these beautiful Springfields were perfected tools of the riflemen’s art. Eddie’s backwoods Southern upbringing had ultimately put a different weapon in his hands. Eddie’s stiff terrified fingers curled around the walnut stocks of a Winchester 1897 Trench Gun 12-gauge.
Eddie’s mission was to knock incoming German hand grenades aside before they could land in the trenches. Pushing nine OO buckshot pellets per round and carrying five rounds on board, Eddie’s shotgun had successfully accomplished this feat twice already. Eddie’s reputation as a backwoods wing shooter had been well founded.
The enemy artillery barrage finally lifted after what seemed an eternity. Several ears were bleeding from the overpressure, but the Hun artillery had not adequately ranged the thin linear targets that were the Allied trenches. Everyone in Eddie’s platoon still drew breath.
From 1897 to 1957 over 1 million of these shotguns were produced and notably during World War 1 and trench warfare. Eddie’s story is not unique. It’s a small glimpse into the reputation that makes a Winchester shotgun a legendary trench warfare tool.
Hunting Arm, Combat Tool, Gangster Gun
John Moses Browning holding the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) at the Winchester plant.
The influence of John Moses Browning on the world of firearms cannot be overstated. He designed several familiar lever-action Winchester rifles, some of the most influential handguns ever built, and all of the successful repeating shotguns available in the first part of the 20th century. At the time of his death, the man held 128 patents for various firearm-related inventions. His repertoire spanned the spectrum from .25-caliber pocket pistols to 37mm aircraft cannons. His 1897 shotgun ushered in a new era in scattergun technology.
The 1897 was itself an evolutionary development of the previous model 1893. The 1893 slide action gun bears an esoteric similarity to its later sibling but came up in the era of low-pressure blackpowder shotgun shells. The Model 1897 incorporated a stronger steel receiver that better surrounded the gun’s bolt. The resulting weapon was proofed for higher-pressure smokeless rounds. The 1897 was available in both fixed and takedown variants.
Despite being born in 1907, my high-mileage 1897 Winchester runs low brass birdshot as fast as you can cycle the action. I’d be slow to feed it large quantities of buckshot or slugs, however.
Once broken down the 1897 Winchester takes up very little space. This feature allowed for easy storage or concealment, depending on which side of the law you might find yourself.
As a sporting arm, the 1897 was fabulously successful. The gun cost $25 new when originally introduced and could be had with barrels reaching out to 36 inches. The external hammer served as a manual safety, and the American walnut stocks exuded a lithe almost effeminate vibe. However, the lack of a manual disconnector meant that the gunner could hold down the trigger and empty a five-round magazine as fast as he could cycle the forearm. Extending a tab on the far end of the magazine tube and rotating the assembly allowed the gun to break in half at the front of the receiver via interrupted threads. As a result, the 97 could be tucked into compact spaces for storage or concealment.
The militarized version of the weapon was universally referred to as the Trench Gun. This variant started as a 20-inch barreled 1897 to which was affixed a sheet steel heat shield-cum-bayonet lug and sling swivels. In this configuration, the Trench Gun saw action in both World Wars as well as a variety of brushfire conflicts in between. Though the guts of the gun resemble a sewing machine for their complexity, the 1897 Winchester rendered reliable service and was well-received by the troops who wielded it.
An original Winchester Model 1897 Trench shotgun. Photo Courtesy: Winchester Repeating Arms
Resurrecting the Dead
If your gun collecting proclivities wander toward rarefied stuff like period Western guns or, Lord help you, transferable automatic weapons then you’d best be shaved and prepped to hock a kidney to pay for your habit. However, in the case of cool old shooters like the 1897 Winchester, getting into a facsimile of the guns used by J. Edgar Hoover’s G-Men to bring down Dillinger and Capone need not be spendy. A million of these old scatterguns rolled off the lines before production ceased in 1957. That means high mileage used versions are plentiful and cheap.
I found a shopworn 1897 that sported an absurdly long 34-inch barrel, little remaining finish, and an ugly home-built stock extension for a cool $250. While that was indeed a good deal, these old guns float around auction websites for a bit more than that all the time. Given the gun’s advanced age I could transfer it straight to my doorstep via my personal Curio and Relic FFL. Where others might see dingy, tired, and ugly, I sensed a diamond in the rough.
To break the gun down one simply presses this rod to the other side and uses it to unscrew the magazine tube about a quarter turn. John Browning had a gift for such as this.
So long as care is exercised anyone with access to a table saw and drill press can do a professional job shortening a shotgun barrel. I touched up the cut end with my Dremel tool and fabricated a new front sight from a machine screw.
The gun was mechanically intact, and the takedown feature works as well today as it did when the gun first rolled off the Winchester line in 1907. The freckled brown patina lends the gun a pleasant been-there done-that ambiance. The inimitable American Walnut furniture ages better than Christie Brinkley.
Chopping the Tube
I have shortened a lot of shotgun barrels in my day and have found that all you really need to do it well is a table saw, a drill press, and a little patience. Run a cleaning rod down the barrel and mark the point where it meets the muzzle. This is the initial barrel length. If you want a fixed point like 18 inches for legality or, in this case, 20 inches for historical cred, just subtract that from your measured barrel length and make a mark with a Sharpie marker that far back from the muzzle. Wrap that spot in masking tape for a precise cut.
Mount up a fiber-reinforced cutoff wheel on your table saw and cut the barrel a time or two near the muzzle to get a feel for things. Tape an old towel over the top of your saw to protect the finish on the barrel. When you are comfortable with your technique, make your final cut in a single smooth motion. You can then dress the cut end with a Dremel tool and a sanding drum. If you are careful the pruned tube will look factory perfect.
The exposed hammer on the 1897 Winchester shotgun serves as a manual safety.
Brass front sight beads are available online, but I’m cheap. I typically chuck a machine screw into my drill press and grind the head down into a ball with a file. Carefully spot the hole for your new front sight with a spring-loaded center punch, drill it meticulously with your drill press, and thread the hole with a hand tap. Seat the new sight with red thread locker. Then go back with the Dremel tool sanding drum to polish the stubby end of the new sight flat from inside the bore. If you want real performance from your new shortened barrel you can have the bore threaded internally for a choke tube.
Cogitations
The end result looks like something Elliot Ness might wield on his late-night raids against Al Capone’s Speakeasies yet set me back a whopping $250. Should you be in the market for a really inexpensive hunting arm, these old shotguns really never wear out. My resurrected 1897 runs birdshot like a champ as fast as you can cycle the action even at 110 years old.
Care must be exercised while working the action to avoid scuffing your hand with the bolt.
The 1897 Winchester armed generations of American hunters, Law Enforcement Officers, criminals, and soldiers on their enterprises of sustenance, peacekeeping, crime, and combat. The gun’s takedown feature brings a capacity for
Originally only chambered in 12 gauge and 16 gauge, the Model 1897 cost $25 and barrel lengths ranged from 20 to 30 inches.
stowage or concealment not rivaled today. The restoration project also represents an inexpensive and fun way to kill an otherwise lazy Saturday afternoon.
For more information about Winchester shotguns, click here.
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You too Huh!
Yeah I know! But if YOU stay home and not vote then the other guys are going to knibble away some MORE of our gun rights!
SO GET OFF YOUR ASS, HOLD YOUR NOSE AND VOTE FOR THE 2ND AMENDMENT SUPPORTERS!
Thanks Grumpy
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The way it should be
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
“Welcome to heaven,” says St. Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.”
“No problem, just let me in,” says the Senator.
“Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.”
“Really? Well, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,” says the Senator.
“I’m sorry, but we have our rules.”
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.
The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course.
In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.
They played a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and the finest champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes.
They are all having such a good time that before the Senator realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him, “Now it’s time to visit heaven . . .”
So, 24 hours passed with the Senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
“Well, then, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.”
The Senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: “Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.”
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell . . .
Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls to the ground.
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.
“I don’t understand,” stammers the Senator. “Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there’s just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?”
The devil smiles at him and says, “Yesterday we were campaigning,
Today, you voted . . . “