Thanks for the feedback regarding my post, I just wanted to get factual & share my observations, experience & positivity in relation to this.
Aviation archaeology & relic gun ownership can be a little controversial with those who have little experience, who've never taken part & have even less understanding, but working only on what small amount of knowledge they hold regarding this - commonly known as contempt before prior investigation & fanciful pre-judging an individual(s) who takes part in this fascinating & historically valuable past time. Sadly many have a distorted image of where we just show up on a corn field with a backhoe & go nuts tearing up the land like a bunch of crack smoking rabid racoons looking for treasure & filling up trucks with booty while salivating in some psychotic aroused state with total disregard for humanity.This couldn't be further from reality & this kind of self focussed small mindedness is not unique & it's a classic negative & destructive human condition that a psychology book can explain way better than me. It is what it is.
It is however fascinating to witness the change of attitude when we invite these characters to get involved & see the reality, many quickly became hooked & wrote magazine articles, books, blogs, brought in the media to herald the historically significant finds, some went further & got memorials built at the sites, restored original airbase buildings & used recovered parts to create 'living memorials' for the surviving families & a whole host of other projects which made certain the stories behind of each & every gallant airman lost in the fight for our freedom & liberty was not forever confined to historical anonymity, so ensuring that they perpetually lived on in the minds of future generations by using that 'bridge to the past' we call aviation archaeology.
Regretably every hobby shares the same problems as we experience, people want to come wreck hunting to 'own' something, they are not interested in the humanity or the historic importance of a site, for them owning some cool part like a prop blabe, control yoke, gun, personal effects - whatever will give them a higher social status among their peers. These types have somekind of personality defect, by wanting to obsessively collect prize parts, in their minds it elevates their importance, validates them as some kind of 'big wheel' & adds inches to their manhood. It's a big issue & has plauged many wreck hunting groups, this jealousy & rampaging self centered malignency has been the death of many well organized & motivated outfits who made some incredible contributions to aviation history.
Back to the guns - We have to consider the average heavy bomber had 12 x .50 cals & the P-51/47/38 having up to 8 it's not unusual to recover half of them from a wreck site, multiply that by the number of heavy bomber & fighter wrecks we have unearthed in a 30 year period will give some understanding that owning a few isn't a big deal. Museums have more than they want already found years back in the infancy of wreck hunting. It's good to have an open mind & stop to reflect, that not every airplane which went down had casualties - many crews hit the silk before the plane met the dirt.
Another consideration - Not all the guns we find have come from crashed airplanes - many have come from dumps that the airforce used to dispose with end of life/surplus stock once hostilities ended in the ETO, so again just because a relic firearm or other part is owned doesn't necessarily mean someone 'plundered' it from a 'war grave'. That said I have seen it happen & heard about it, its a practice I find abhorrent, laws are only observed by the law abiding & those who act out of law without good reason do nothing to promote all the good work we & all other wreck hunters worldwide have done in preserving this important era of our shared history.
Finally I also wanted to assure those reading this that all my guns are de-milled, legally owned & sourced for those who may express some alarm. The only way they will kill someone now is if I dropped them off a tall building & someone was stupid enough to want to catch it.
That's my story & I'm getting down off my tree stump before I get sunburn - peace out!