McGlashan Air Machine Gun
The McGlashan BB Machine Gun is a training weapon capable of firing BBs.
| McGlashan Air Machine Gun | |
|---|---|
| Type | BB machine gun |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1940 - 1945 |
| Used by | USAAF US Navy |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Paul V. MacGlashan |
| Designed | 1940 |
| Manufacturer | McGlashan Air Machine Gun Company |
| Unit cost | $110 to $180 range (depending on accessories) |
| Produced | 1940 - 1944 |
| No. built | 2680 estimated |
| Variants | 3 (Navy, E-3, E-13) |
Specifications (Air Corps Spec 24733 Trainer - Aerial Gunnery, Type E-3
U.S. Army Spec 94-24733 Trainer - Aerial Gunnery, Type E-3
U.S. Army Spec 94-24733, Amendment 1
U.S. Army Spec 94-24733-A Trainer-Aerial Gunnery, Type E-3
AAF Spec 24872 Trainer - Aerial Gunnery, Type E-13
Navy Spec 89878 for the "N" model has not been found.) | |
| Cartridge | BB |
| Cartridge weight | about 0.34 g |
| Caliber | about .177 in (4.5 mm) |
| Barrels | 1 |
| Action | blowback using compressed air |
| Rate of fire | up to 600 rpm |
| Muzzle velocity | up to 600 ft/s (180 m/s), depending on air pressure |
| Effective firing range | normally 1,000 in (25 m) |
| Feed system | ratchet |
| Sights | Iron or optical (1 X) |
During World War II, the USAAF and US Navy used thousands of MacGlashan BB machine guns to hone the skills of aerial gunnery. This much larger gun is cycled by an electric solenoid and powered by compressed air. The air pressure is higher, at 180-200 psi, but the velocity is 500 to 600 ft/s (150 to 180 m/s)
The MacGlashan Air Machine Gun company also made a McGlashan Coin Shooting Pistol for the carnival trade during the 1940s that would shoot American five cent pieces.
References
- http://www.macglashanbbgun.com/ /
- Air Machine Guns by Larry Behling.
- http://www.coinshootingpistol.com/
Bibliography
Note: Other than the manuals and Army and Navy files, most of the following documents provide only a passing mention or illustration of the MacGlashan guns, and are useful mainly for identifying locations of ranges and the context of the use of the guns.
Books Call Number
An Air-Operated Machine-Gun, in "Air Guns and Pistols" by L Wesley and revised by GV Cardew, 7th Edition, 1979. ISBN 1-886768-77-3, ISBN 978-1-886768-77-2
Blue Book of Airguns, 7th Edition, by Robert D. Beeman and John B. Allen, Blue Book Publications, Inc., 2008 TS537.5 .B45 ISBN 0498024695 ISBN 9780498024696
Bombs Away, The Story of a Bomber Team, John Steinbeck, 1942 , New York, The Viking Press, p. 78. UG633 .S77 ISBN 0143105914, ISBN 978-0143105916,
Wings for Combat, The Story of the Training of an Air Force, Army Air Forces Training Command, 1943, Brooklyn, N.Y., The Ullman Company, Inc., p. 49 ISBN 1258160382, ISBN 978-1258160388 UG633.A46 1943k
Air Machine Guns, Larry Behling, 2006 TS537.5 .B46 2006
Galan, Jess. 1978. "The BB Approach to World War Deuce Saved Money in Training," Pp. 54-57. TS537.5 .B43 In: Air Gun Digest.(second edition), Robert Beeman, Jack P. Lewis 256 pp. DBI Books, Northfield, Illinois, January 1977, ISBN 0695807641, ISBN 9780695807641
Manuals
Mac Glashan Air Machine Gun, Mac Glashan Air Machine Gun Corp., Long Beach, CA., n.d., 41 p.
Type E-3 Aerial Gunnery Trainer, Handbook of Instructions with Parts Catalog, Technical Order 11-1-5, February 20, 1943, 23 p. NASM, LOC PB44227
Aerial Gunnery Trainer, Type E-13, Handbook of Instructions with Parts Catalog, Technical Order AN 11-65-11, February 20, 1944, 23 p. LOC PB44880
Fixed Gunnery Trainer Type E-12, Handbook of Instructions with Parts Catalog, Technical Order AN 28-10-8, April 25, 1944, 175 p. LOC PB 44118
Fighter Gunnery, 1st edition, Army Air Forces Training Command, June 1944, 115 p., p. 61 UG630 .U639
Free Gunnery Instructor's Training Manual, Training Division, Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, USGPO, Washington D.C., 1943, VG90 .U63 1943a p. 115, 120-123, Figs. 108-110.
Handbook of Description, Armament Training Devices, Technical Order 11-65-12, January 25, 1944, ( E-13, p. 9, E-3, p. 20-21) LOC PB 44881
Source note: NASM = National Air and Space Museum Archives, LOC = Library of Congress Photoduplication Service, PB = document identifying number
National Archives
Gun, Air Tommy - MacGlashan Air Machine Gun Co., 1941-42-43-44, File 2884, 472.5 Engineering Division, Materiel Command, WPAFB R&D Files, ARC Identifier 2981754 (Now 40550212) Container Identifier: 2449 HMS Entry Number(s): P 26 Records of U.S. Air Force Commands, Activities & Organizations Records Group 342, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD
MacGlashan Air Machine Gun, File QM8210 Bureau of Aeronautics General Correspondence, 1925-1942 Records Group 72, Entry 15, National Archives Building, Washington, DC
MacGlashan Air Machine Gun, File QM8210 Bureau of Aeronautics General Correspondence, 1943 chronological subseries Records Group 72, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD
Report on Special Devices Division, Rutherford, John P., Lt USNR, Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, Cost Inspection Service, Bureau of Aeronautics, 1945, Schedule 3, Device 3-A-8, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. Unfortunately, no further location information is available, though it is believed to be somewhere in Records Group 72.
Infantry Board Report 1480: Air Machine Gun Trainers (AntiAircraft Machine Gun Trainer M9 & MacGlashan Air Machine Gun) April 30, 1943 Record Group 337 Entry (UD) 4 U.S. Army Ground Forces. Infantry Board Reports (1943) Box 86 [Stack Location: 190/73/34/00]
The following specifications are in Air Materiel Command. Engineering Division. Central Files Unit, Records Group 342, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD
Air Corps Specification 24733 Trainer, Aerial Gunnery, Type E-3, August 22, 1941, ARC Identifier 4589590
U.S. Army Specification 94-24733, Trainer, Aerial Gunnery, Type E-3, Apr 13, 1942, ARC Identifier 4589590
U.S. Army Specification 94-24733, Amendment 1, Trainer, Aerial Gunnery, Type E-3, Apr 2, 1943, ARC Identifier 4589590
U.S. Army Specification 94-24733-A Trainer, Aerial Gunnery, Type E-3, Apr 14, 1943, ARC Identifier 4589590
Army Air Forces Specification No. 24872, Trainer - Aerial Gunnery, Type E-13 June 24, 1943, ARC Identifier 4589622
Expenditure Order File 554-1-179, Scoring target for type E-3 aerial gunnery trainer, ARC Indentifier 4591013
Expenditure Order File 668-3, Fixed Gunnery Trainer, Type E-12, [RD 2717], ARC Identifier 4641595
Miscellaneous
Army Air Forces Synthetic Devices Catalog, Army Air Forces Training Aids Division, 1 Jan 1944, p 4-5, Link Fixed Gunnery Range
Catalog, Synthetic Training Devices, BuAer, Special Devices Division, July 1943, Device 3-A-8
Progress Reports of the Special Devices Section for Calendar Year 1942, Parts I and II, Jan-June, Jul-Dec., History Committee of the Naval Air Warfare Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida
Sparton in World War II, The Sparks-Withington Company, Jackson, Michigan, n.d., circa 1945
USAAF Type Designation Sheet, Classification Name: Trainer Flexible, Letter: E, Basic Character: Aerial Gunnery
U.S. Naval Administrative History of World War II No. 8, Office of Research and Inventions, 1 July-31 December 1945, p. 113
U.S. Patent 2,364,070, J.E. Haile, Jr., Aerial Gunnery Trainer, December 5, 1944
Magazine articles (chronogically)
LIFE, July 13, 1942, Vol. 13, No. 2, p. 44, center, photograph of BB machine gun firing line at Las Vegas, Eliot Elisofon
POPULAR SCIENCE, April 1943, Vol. 142, No. 4, "Flying Sharpshooters," Andrew H. Boone, p. 121, top left, photograph of Navy Model
TIME, April 5, 1943, "Gunners' Assembly Line", Mention of BB machine guns at Fort Myers
LIFE, June 28, 1943, Vol. 14, No. 26, p. 42, top, photograph of compressed-air machine gun range at NAGS, Jacksonville, Myron H. Davis
AIR TRAILS Pictorial, Vol. XXI, No. 1, October 1943, p. 46, center, photograph of E-12 Fixed Gunnery Trainer at AAF School of Applied Tactics, Orlando, Harold W. Kulick
MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED, November 1943, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, "How the Navy Trains Aerial Gunners", Arch Whitehouse, p. 42-44, 154-155
AVIATION, December 1943, Vol. 42, No. 12, "How Gunners Learn to Wing 'Em", p.221-225, 304-308, p. 223, photograph of BB Link trainer
SKYWAYS, Vol. 3, No. 1, January 1944, "Gunners Can't Miss", p. 34-5, photographs by Harold Kulick
GUN SPORT & GUN COLLECTOR, May, 1974, p. 22-25, "BB Machine Gun From WWII - The MacGlashan", J. I. Galan
SHOTGUN NEWS, November 6, 2006, Vol. 60, No. 30, "Air Machine Guns!", Tom Gaylord, p. 26-28
AIRGUN HOBBY MAGAZINE, Vol 6, No. 2, April-May-June, 2009, "The McGlashan Air Machine Gun", Larry Behling, p.31
Internet Web Links
One Down, One Dead By Frank Speer, p. 23 https://books.google.com/books?id=b3Tev9dd4CIC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=bb+%22link+trainer%22&source=web&ots=BlVJVEOeip&sig=Au298qK1dlEo0XvV4ofArK-6zTA
Some pictures and comments regarding the MacGlashan machine gun http://www.jobrelatedstuff.com/lite/topic.html?b=6&f=2&t=211549
BB Machinegun.com Reviews http://www.geocities.com/bbmachinegun/review11.htm
MacGlashan E-3 at Daisy Museum (SN 10180) http://users.aristotle.net/~russjohn/daisy.html
MacGlashan guns http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2006/08/new-book-about-air-machine-guns.html
Two photos of a MacGlashan range, probably at Pensacola http://liberatorcrew.com/15_Gunnery/11_Training.htm
Interesting forum posts http://bb.bbboy.net/straferbbmachinegunownersgroup
The Most Collectible Airguns of the Twentieth Century, by Robert D. Beeman http://www.beemans.net/airguncollecting.htm
Folding wing target gliders http://www.americanjuniorclassics.com/interceptor/interceptorhome.htm