Most iconic U.S. military weapon

[oldcrowcv63]

Iconic shape. American know how at its best, Wins on all levels.

Oh? Like we did it without any help??? come on, 'fess up, it was a community effort. The US was just dumb enough to grab the lion's share of the historic PR, thinking the world would be grateful.

 

[Readie]

The Second World War was the first widespread conflict where the submachine came into its own as a combat weapon. There are several on this list, but none are more iconic than the Thompson submachine gun. After first achieving notoriety in the Irish Civil War and in the hands of Prohibition gangsters and law enforcement, the Thompson was adopted by the U.S. Army just before the start of the war. Despite its weight (at over 10 lbs it was heftier than most submachine guns), it was a very popular weapon for scouts, non-commissioned officers, commandos, and paratroopers, who all valued its stopping power and rate of fire.

The weapon's use was discontinued after the war, but Thompsons continued to pop up all over the world in the hands of armies and paramilitaries. It even saw action in the Bosnian War. For the soldiers who carried it in World War 2, it was an invaluable tool to keep them alive as they walked, ran, and fought their way across Europe

This is my suggestion. My Dad, who was a Sargent in the British 8th Army carried one of these across North Africa Italy. Heavy, yes but a reliable weapon. He rated it.

Cheers
John

 

[Glider]

I think they went to 9mm because of some of the poorly trained women shooters had such a poor grip on the 45 that the recoil action wouldn't fully work.
Try it one day, instead of resisting the recoil, bring your hand back with the recoil, on some automatics, the slide won't go back far enough to feed the next round.
With proper training this could have be avoided, but they didn't want to mess up training schedules with extra training mostly for the females.

Though i've seen this happen with a man. The instructor called it limp-wristing.

I did use one some time ago before handguns were made illegal. I should add that I was useless with a handgun really really bad.

 

[Aozora]

Aviation *cough!* must-get-back-to-aircraft...
Air National Guard must be an icon...

That's better...starting to suffer from aviation deficiency. 8)

 

[drgondog]

Nothing like that image of the Thermonuclear weapon in color to say 'be very, very careful if you want to risk doing something very stupid based on a bluff".. might have flashed through Krushev's mind in October 1962...

 

[Njaco]

View attachment 234295

The Second World War was the first widespread conflict where the submachine came into its own as a combat weapon. There are several on this list, but none are more iconic than the Thompson submachine gun. After first achieving notoriety in the Irish Civil War and in the hands of Prohibition gangsters and law enforcement, the Thompson was adopted by the U.S. Army just before the start of the war. Despite its weight (at over 10 lbs it was heftier than most submachine guns), it was a very popular weapon for scouts, non-commissioned officers, commandos, and paratroopers, who all valued its stopping power and rate of fire.

The weapon's use was discontinued after the war, but Thompsons continued to pop up all over the world in the hands of armies and paramilitaries. It even saw action in the Bosnian War. For the soldiers who carried it in World War 2, it was an invaluable tool to keep them alive as they walked, ran, and fought their way across Europe

This is my suggestion. My Dad, who was a Sargent in the British 8th Army carried one of these across North Africa Italy. Heavy, yes but a reliable weapon. He rated it.

Cheers
John

No offense, but that is more iconic of Al Capone and the Roaring 20s - in my opinion!

 

[michaelmaltby]

"... No offense, but that is more iconic of Al Capone and the Roaring 20s - in my opinion! "

Opinion, OK. But Readie's right. 45 Cal is great cal, and at 10 lbs it's also a good club. Subs like the Sten were all about cost-to-manufacture. Big Al just knew a good thing when he saw it ..

MM

 

[drgondog]

The M2 aka Grease Gun - also .45 acp and cheap..

 

[parsifal]

what happened to the grease gun? Ive read it was not popular. Didnt you have to stick your finger into a hole to kok the weapon? Thompson was far more popular, but less practical.

You guys should have bought the Owen Gun....a far better alternative that continued until the adoption of the SLR in the '60's


"In June 1941 Owen was discharged from the AIF and began work at Lysaght who manufactured his gun. In September 1941 Owen's gun was ready for testing against similar weapons; the American Thompson, the British Sten and the German Bergmann. In the first test the Owen proved more accurate and able to group its shots better. Having then been variously immersed in water, mud and sand, the Owen proved itself almost impossible to jam while the other weapons faltered and eventually became unworkable. Those present at the test agreed that the Owen was the simplest, cheapest and toughest of sub-machine guns.

By late 1942 the Owen was being used in jungle fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea. More than 45,000 Owen guns were produced during the Second World War and they continued in use during the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and in the early years of the Vietnam War.

from Wikipedia.

Evelyn Owen was prosecuted successfully, after the war, for being in possession of a sub-machine gun". He had developed the prototypes in his home workshop whilst at home in Wollongong.


I trained on the Owen the Thompson and the Sten. the Sten was basically rubbish. The Thompson was a good gun, but it was more temperamental than the owen. the Owen was a legend never discovered. You could jump on it, drag it through the mud, abuse it in just about every convevable way, and it still kept going.

 

[Aozora]

the Owen was a legend never discovered. You could jump on it, drag it through the mud, abuse it in just about every convevable way, and it still kept going.

I can just see the RSM or Color Sergeant's reaction to a soldier jumping on/abusing his weapon:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgd2F2QNfEE

 

[altsym]

Guns? AK-47.. nuff said.

 

[GrauGeist]

The Автомат Калашникова тип 47 is hardly an Iconic American Weapon, since it's Russian designed, made and primarily chambered for "Warsaw Pact" ammunition...

 

[altsym]

I should learn to read the title of the Thread lol.

 

[parsifal]

The Автомат Калашникова тип 47 is hardly an Iconic American Weapon, since it's Russian designed, made and primarily chambered for "Warsaw Pact" ammunition...

more of an iconic anti-american weapon i would think....

 

[GrauGeist]

more of an iconic anti-american weapon i would think....

I agree

 

[pattle]

I think the ones that most people have heard of are the Flying Fortress and the Sherman tank, Sherman tank is also used as rhyming slang.

 

[A4K]

With John and Michael Maltby on the Thompson... from what I've read, they were very popular weapons with the kiwi soldiers.

 

[Procrastintor]

As much as the P-40 with the checkertail and the shark mouth looks neat, the 325th never flew them with the shark mouth.

Really? I coulda sworn I'd seen the design somewhere.

 

[Procrastintor]

Boom

 

[Procrastintor]

And a bad*** painting of one, just to make the thread prettier.