Among the bitter lessons learned during the costly American seizure of Japanese-occupied Tarawa in November 1943 was the need for ship-based close support in the interval between bombardment and a landing. Using the hull of the LCI (landing craft infantry) as a basis, the Navy devised the Landing Craft Support (Large) (Mark 3), or simply LCS. Entering service in 1944 and combat at Iwo Jima in February 1945, it packed the heaviest armament per ton of any warship, earning the sobriquet “Mighty Midget”. British Commonwealth forces also used it in Borneo, at Tarakan and Balikpapan.  

Of the 130 built, only five were lost—three sunk by Japanese Shinyo suicide motorboats in the Philippines and two falling victim to kamikaze aircraft off Okinawa. After supporting the Okinawa landings, the LCSs were fitted with radar and joined destroyers on picket duty against kamikaze attacks. It was while so engaged that Lieutenant Richard Miles McCool Jr., commander of LCS-122, saw the destroyer William D. Porter mortally stricken on June 10, 1945, by an Aichi D3A2, yet managed to rescue its crew without loss. The next evening two D3As hit LCS-122, but the seriously wounded McCool rallied his men to save their vessel and was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor.   In 1949 the LCS was reclassified the LSSL (landing ship support large), and it continued to serve in Korea, Vietnam and other conflicts in foreign hands until 2007. One of two survivors discovered in Thailand is undergoing restoration to its World War II configuration at the Landing Craft Support Museum [usslcs102.org] in Vallejo, Calif.  

This story appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of Military History magazine.

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1–3. A pistol, a rifle and a shotgun

If you regularly read Wild West, you know better than to expect a rote list of Colts, Winchesters and Remingtons. That said, nearly everyone headed west craved a good pistol, rifle and shotgun. Between 1850 and ’60 the Colt revolver had an especially notable impact on the frontier experience, as did the Winchester rifle between 1870 and ’80. But in life-or-death situations, lesser-known guns could be no less critical. Following are five such pieces.

4. A 10-inch rifled pistol 

From 1810 through ’40—the era of the mountain man, the Santa Fe trade and the single-shot muzzleloader—a rifled pistol with barrel about 10 inches long—could well be a lifesaver. It was short and light enough so that a frontier dweller could carry two or, if he chose, even three or four. Four pistols, providing their owner with four fast shots before he had to reload, could deliver enough firepower to counter most threats. Moreover, the rifling made the pistol nearly as accurate as a rifled long arm. “With such a pistol,” civil engineer Newton Bosworth wrote in an 1846 treatise, “using both hands, I have never thought it a great matter to take a [prairie] chicken at the distance of 70 or 80 yards and have frequently done it at 100.”

5. Blunt & Syms six-shot dragoon pepperbox

Throughout the 1840s and ’50s the principal American makers of multibarreled pepperbox pistols were Ethan Allen and Blunt & Syms. Their products became widely popular, especially in California during the gold rush. While each turned out a .36-caliber “dragoon size” pepperbox, in a now-or-never situation the Blunt & Syms had the edge. As tests show, its trigger pull is smoother than that of Allen’s, and the B&S pistol fires the bottom barrel instead of the top, making it easier to stay on target during fast shooting.

6. A bar-hammer single-shot pocket pistol

In 1837 Ethan Allen patented a single-shot .28-caliber pocket pistol with a double-action, or “self-cocking,” trigger mechanism. Fitted with a top-mounted “bar hammer” (vs. a side hammer), the arm became so popular that at least four other gunmakers—Blunt & Syms, Bacon, Manhattan and Marston—turned out versions of it. Its light weight, double-action trigger and smooth contours, with nothing to snag on the pocket or belt, meant it could be drawn and fired in an instant. Henry Deringer’s pistols, despite their reputation, could not make the same claim. As with other single-shot pistols, users typically carried the bar hammer guns in pairs.

7. An extra-large-bore shotgun

In the late 1850s, when Memphis was an eastern terminus for the Butterfield Overland Mail, a major hardware dealer there, Lownes, Orgill & Co., was selling what it billed as “double duck guns,” with “fine laminated steel barrels—6 to 8 bore, 34 to 40 inches long.” On another occasion the firm advertised duck guns in “7 to 18 gage [sic].” Guns of 6 and 7 gauge (equivalent to .92 and .87 caliber, respectively, while the standard 12 gauge is .73 caliber) could throw heavy charges of .31- or .36-caliber balls—murderous at close range. When used with the popular Eley wire cartridge, a single discharge could be deadly at ranges approaching 100 yards, even against multiple assailants.

8. Lefaucheux 12 mm pinfire revolver

As early as 1859 firearms dealers in California and New Orleans were importing models of this revolver from France. Seemingly taking note, the Union imported more than 12,000 Lefaucheux during the Civil War, a federal inspector pronouncing it “a first-class arm, equal if not superior to the Colt.” It was shorter and handier than the typical big-bore percussion revolver, while its copper-cased, self-contained pin-fire cartridges made it far faster to reload.

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The Wehrmacht jarred the Allies into action when it introduced gliders to the fight for Belgium in 1940 and Crete in 1941. By 1942, the U.S. had developed its own glider prototype, the Waco CG-4A, to deliver men and materiel to the front or behind enemy lines and supplement the transport aircraft that dropped paratroopers and supplies. The high-wing monoplane, made primarily of fabric and plywood over steel tubing, could carry up to 13 fully equipped troops or an array of heavy machinery—7,500 pounds in total. Ford and several other companies built nearly 14,000 wartime gliders.  The engineless CG-4A had to be tethered and towed to its destination, a job most often performed by Douglas C-47 Skytrains. The gliders saw extensive service in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and during the 1944 campaigns in France and the Netherlands. But it wasn’t a refined system. Once released, pilots in mass operations often had to complete for viable landing spots, and quite a few gliders crashed. One American private recalled the scene on the ground: “We thought it was incoming artillery when they began crashing in, and we began looking for cover.” In theory, the gliders could be retrieved by C-47s via a tail hook and pick-up cord, but this proved difficult in real-life situations, and most CG-4As were abandoned or destroyed after landing. Despite this, after D-Day Allied Supreme Headquarters reported “sober satisfaction” with the gliders’ performance. After the war, most CG-4As were sold for parts. Some, their wings and tails detached, saw second lives as trailer homes or vacation cabins.

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Kilts allowed Scottish warriors increased mobility in battle as they dashed around the Highlands, but these proud traditional tartan garments had one major problem: no pockets. A man without pockets to stash things in is a man in a state of clutter and confusion. This was as true in the Middle Ages as it is today. Yet as early as the 12th century, Highlanders had developed a clever solution in a small all-purpose bag which became known as the sporran. 

The sporran, which is still a part of traditional Scottish menswear, was the ideal travel bag for the Scottish warrior on the go. Worn slung from a belt over the kilt, the sporran could be used to stash knives, food, bullets as soon as they were invented and whatever else an enterprising warrior wanted to take on the road. Early sporrans were made from leather or animal hide. Starting in the late 17th century, sporrans were furnished with metal clasps and gradually came to incorporate more intricate metal designs. 

Ceremonial sporrans were developed for military use in the 18th century. These are made with animal hair and are known as sporran molach. Animal hair used to make them have typically included goat hair, horsehair and rabbit fur. Soldiers’ sporrans feature tassels, which swing when the kilt-wearing trooper is marching. The number of tassels, as well as their placement, weave and colors, are rich in meaning and vary depending on regiment and wearer.

Some officers have had custom sporrans made for them. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders have traditionally worn a tassel arrangement known as the “Swinging Six” style and sporrans made from badger heads. Sometimes fox heads have been used for sporrans as well. A sporran can be worn sideways over the hip or more boldly front and center.

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The Civil War kicked off a demand for firearms just as industrial technology allowed gunsmiths to tinker with various designs, and numerous handguns were developed with the hopes of obtaining military contracts. Some of those weapons were sleek and well-balanced. And then there was the poorly balanced and odd-looking Navy revolver produced by the Savage Revolving Firearms Company of Middletown, Conn., which had a reputation for producing unusual and unique weapons.

The two triggers sported by the revolver were its most distinctive feature. The lower “ring” trigger was in reality more of a lever that rotated the cylinder and cocked the hammer at the same time. The upper trigger’s purpose was conventional in that it fired the weapon.

Though clumsy in appearance, the Savage Navy was a step toward double-action—meaning a revolver could be repeatedly fired simply by pulling its trigger. Revolvers at the time were single-action in that the user had to manually cock the hammer between each shot to rotate the cylinder.

The U.S. government first contracted with Savage on October 16, 1861, to buy some of the revolvers, and eventually purchased 12,000 of them. They were issued to 26 Union cavalry regiments, including units from Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Vermont, and the Potomac Home Brigade. Even some Confederate cavalry regiments from Texas and Virginia were issued Savage Navys privately bought and secretly shipped south.

Fifty Savage revolvers were even sent for use aboard the famous USS Constitution in 1861. That ship was used as a training vessel for at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. 

this article first appeared in civil war times magazine

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Perhaps the strangest love-hate relationship in the firearms business of the 19th century arose between two manufacturers with no apparent equal in their products. It came at a time when repeating arms technology was at its high-water mark. Every famed gunmaker, from Christopher Miner Spencer and B. Tyler Henry to John Browning and Arthur William Savage, was profiting from the boom. Building reputations far above their fellow competitors, Oliver Winchester and Sam Colt eventually settled into their own specialized lines of firearms.

Winchester Repeating Arms Co. got its start in the wake of the Civil War on the strength of the Henry lever-action repeating rifle, while Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co. had spent the previous few decades dominating the sidearm market with its popular line of revolvers. By 1880 Winchester, Whitney and Marlin were producing the best-known lever-action repeaters. Within a few years, in a surprising move, Colt announced it would roll out its own lever-action repeating rifle. 

The financial rationale behind Colt’s decision is unclear, as the company had achieved strong sales with its popular M1873 Single Action Army revolver and other sidearms. The driving force behind the 1883 rollout of its “New Magazine Rifle” was a patented design from noted firearms inventor Andrew Burgess. Five years earlier Burgess had designed a simple, sturdy lever-action repeater manufactured by Eli Whitney (son of the famed cotton gin inventor) and known as the Whitney-Burgess-Morse. By 1880 Whitney Arms had incorporated many of Burgess’ features into an improved Samuel V. Kennedy design, and the resulting Whitney-Kennedy lever-action repeater became the top seller of the Whitney line until that company’s bankruptcy and buyout by Winchester in 1888. The Colt Burgess incorporated further refinements from its namesake inventor.

The Colt Burgess proved a thorn in Winchester’s side, as it cut into sales of the latter’s Model 1873. The Burgess employed a modified toggle-link action akin to that of the Winchester 1873, and both were chambered for the popular .44-40 Winchester centerfire cartridge. However, the Burgess was only chambered for the .44 WCF, not either of the smaller caliber cartridges also available for the Winchester ’73, namely the .38-40 and .32-20. Colt Burgess rifles were fitted with 25 ½-inch barrels, while carbines sported a 20-inch tube.

Colt announced the debut of the Burgess in a factory-issued pamphlet. The news was said to have alarmed Winchester officials to the point they immediately began work on a prototype revolver to counter the “invasion” into their turf. Such a countermove would not have been an easy venture for Winchester, as few six-guns had matched, or could match, the vaunted Colt Peacemaker.

Though Colt only manufactured the Burgess for 16 months (1883–85), the rifle did manage to reach the American West. Famed Denver firearms dealer J.P. Lower advertised the Burgess in several regional newspapers, though he apparently wasn’t convinced of the need for it. In a May 1883 letter to the Rocky Mountain News Lower noted that as the well-received, longer range .45-70 Government cartridge was easily procurable in the region, Colt should have offered its new rifle in that caliber, as had Marlin with its Model 1881 and Whitney with its Whitney-Kennedy. In other words, he believed the Winchester 1873 and other guns already available in .44-40 had fully exploited the short-range characteristics of that caliber.

Bearing the Colt name, the Burgess did have a following. In an 1887 group portrait taken in Realitas, Texas, Ernest E. Rogers poses proudly beside his mates in Company D of the Texas Rangers, a Burgess conspicuously in hand—and we know roughly what he paid for it. In 1884 the price for a Colt Burgess carbine was $24, while rifles averaged $26. Like most other contemporary gun manufacturers, Colt offered the Burgess with any special-order features or embellishments a customer might desire—naturally, for an extra cost. In July 1883 Colt presented a heavily engraved example with an octagonal barrel as a gift to Wild West showman William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody, who received such freebies from virtually every known gunmaker during his heyday, largely for promotional purposes.

Most Colt Burgess rifles and carbines available to collectors today are in well-used condition, those in very good plus to excellent being quite scarce. All are highly sought-after pieces, particularly the “baby carbine,” featuring a lightweight frame and barrel, which accounts for only 972 of the 6,403 Colt Burgess rifles and carbines produced. The carbine shown above (pointing left) dates from 1883, is notable for its tinned finish and shows much wear, though it remains in excellent mechanical condition.

Whether Colt’s production of the Burgess was an intentional or merely subtle threat to Winchester for some sort of behind-the-scenes corporate hokum, we may never know, but it disappeared from the Colt line almost as suddenly as it had appeared. Winchester likely breathed a sigh of relief. By then it had competition enough. 

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As an instrument of war, the flail was a handheld, two-piece, jointed weapon, consisting of a wooden handle of varying length (up to 5-6 feet long) and a shorter, perhaps 1–2-feet long, heavy impact rod serving as a “striking-head” which was attached to the handle by a flexible rope, leather strap or chain links, allowing it to swing freely up and down and in a full circle.

By making a sweeping, downward blow with the flail’s handle, the weapon’s wielder greatly increased the impact energy of his blow through the increased energy generated by the centripetal force of the free-swinging “striking-head,” thereby inflicting a more powerful blow on the target. Some flail wielders even increased the lethality of their flail’s striking-head by replacing the rod with a longer-chain-linked, spiked head, orb-shaped ball, creating the Kettenmorgenstern (chain morning star).

Peasant farmers just trying to survive medieval combat added spikes and metal studs, considering any lethal enhancement a battlefield “plus” if it helped them get through a battle alive.

Flail weapons are best classified as “peasant levy’ weapons” since they evolved from the flail grain thresher, an agricultural tool typically used by farmers to separate grain from their husks (dating from ancient Roman times) through heavy beating, and therefore one of the commonly-available farming tools that peasant levies who were involuntarily conscripted into military service had readily available.

Other such peasant farming/foresting tools that could be quickly converted into military use when peasants were called up included axes, billhooks, knives, adzes and heavy mallets. Certainly, at least by the 15th century—as Czech Hussite peasant infantry who fought with flails demonstrate—flails were in use and there are accounts confirming its use through the 17th century.

Variations of the flail weapon were developed in widespread world regions. In medieval Russia and East Asia, steppe warriors wielded kisten, flails with smooth metal or bone balls attached to the haft by rope or a leather strap. Similar, flail-like, hand-wielded impact weapons were developed by the Chinese (nunchakus, three-section-staff, and the knotted-rope knout) and the Koreans (pyeongong). Yet, the most famous flail-pattern weapon may never have been part of the Medieval armored knight’s weapons array.

Today, the most popular and well-known image of the flail weapon—perpetuated by modern-era novels and films—is of fully-armored Medieval knights (literally) “flailing” away in knight-to-knight combat, bashing at each other brandishing short-hafted “morning star” flails sporting long-chain-linked, spiked balls.

Yet, today’s medieval armored knight combat historians are at odds as to whether such weapons even existed. Contemporary paintings depict such weapons, and post-medieval examples do exist, but many historians doubt if these were more than conceptual imaginings. Indeed, a short-handled, long-chained “morning star” flail, in practical use, could have been more dangerous to the flail weapon’s wielder than to the weapon’s target!

Certainly, the flail was used in medieval combat, but the version depicted in 19th century and later romantic “knighthood” novels and films was likely never used in knightly combat.

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When World War I settled into static trench warfare, even the most advanced armored cars were effectively immobilized by the Western Front’s combination of muddy terrain, trenches, barbed wire, heavy machine guns and artillery.

To meet such challenges, in February 1915 British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill formed a Landship Committee tasked with designing an armored vehicle capable of mastering mud, bridging an 8-foot gap, climbing a 5-foot earthwork and other specifications outlined by British army Lt. Col. Ernest Swinton. Under the guidance of mechanical engineer Major Walter Wilson of the Royal Naval Air Service and agricultural engineer Sir William Tritton, the committee purchased twin “creeping grip” track assemblies from the Bullock Tractor Co. of Chicago, Ill., and fitted them beneath a boxlike crew compartment of riveted steel plates. Powering the vehicle was a Daimler-Knight 6-cylinder, 105 hp tractor engine provided by Tritton’s Foster & Co., of Lincoln, England. On discovering the Bullock tracks were too small to accommodate the vehicle’s weight, Tritton designed longer, wider tracks. He also added twin rear wheels to facilitate steering. A proposed round turret packing a 2-pounder Vickers gun was never installed.

Officially known as the No.1 Lincoln Machine or Tritton Machine, the prototype landship was nicknamed “Little Willie” (a derisive name then applied to Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia). When not undergoing testing, it was kept under the strictest wraps, a backstory claiming it was a new mobile “water tank.” The abbreviated tank reference became universal for Little Willie’s descendants.

Little Willie was found to be top-heavy, but by that time a better design was in development, with a rhomboid-shaped track running above and below the superstructure and 6-pounder guns in sponsons on either side. Nicknamed “Mother,” the improved variant was further refined into the Mark I tank, which first saw combat at the Somme on Sept. 15, 1916. Today the tank’s forebear, Little Willie, is in the collection of the Tank Museum in Bovington, England.

This story appeared in the 2023 Autumn issue of Military History magazine.

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On May 24, 1969, a B-40 rocket hit Monitor M-92-1 of River Squadron (RIVRON 9) as it was supporting a reconnaissance mission on the My Tho River, wounding three crewmen with fragments. The monitor turned and returned fire with its 40mm and 20mm cannon while the embarked Army liaison directed artillery fire and a helicopter strike on the enemy position. Nine Viet Cong reportedly were killed during the 30-minute engagement. The monitor itself suffered no significant damage.

Introduced into service in September 1967, the monitors constituted the battleships of the Mobile Riverine Force. Heavily armed and armored, they suppressed enemy fire during ambushes and river assaults. Like the force’s armored transport carriers (ATCs), they were modified Landing Craft Mechanized 6 (LCM-6) boats from World War II. They differed from the ATCs in having the landing ramps removed and their bows rounded off to reduce water resistance.

Monitor gun turrets were armored against shrapnel and small arms fire. The hull and superstructure were better protected with an armor plate covered by 18 to 24 inches of polyurethane and welded hardened steel bars that either detonated or “shorted-out” enemy shaped charge rounds. The polyurethane absorbed the warhead’s blast stream. Below, water blisters protected against underwater damage and added buoyancy that reduced the boat’s draft.

Two sets of river monitors were built during the Vietnam War. Eight were converted into flamethrower variants called Zippos. The last 10 of the 24 built replaced their 40mm cannon with a Mk 49 105mm howitzer turret with a ring of bar armor and better superstructure protection.

The monitors were turned over to the South Vietnamese Navy on June 30, 1969. They had played a key role for two years, delivering firepower to support the troops operating along the riverbanks, but had no role in the U.S. Navy’s post-Vietnam “blue water” operations.

Monitor

Crew: 11-13
Length: 18.5m/61ft
Beam: 5.3m/17ft 6 inches
Draft: 1m/42 inches/3ft 6 inches (full load)
Displacement: 76 tons (full load)
Propulsion: 2 x 220shp GM/Detroit Diesels – 2 propellers
Top Speed: 8.5kts
Fuel: 450 gallons diesel in two tanks
Max Range: 200km/110nm@6kts
Electronics: 1 x Raytheon 1900 Nav Radar, 2 x AN/ARC-46 & 1 x AN/PRC-25 radios
Armor: Hull/Superstructure: 20mm steel splash plate covered by urethane blocks & spaced XAR-30 22mm hardened steel bars; Turrets: 22mm hardened steel armor plate 
Armament: FWD Turret: 1 x 40mm Mk 3 & M2 .50 MGs; Aft Turrets: 3 x 20mm Mk 16 cannon; Well Deck: 1 x Mk 2 Mod 1 Combined 81mm mortar/ .50 M2 MG Mount, 4 x .30 M1917 initially/later M60 7.62mm MGs, 2 x Mk 18 40mm MGs (hand cranked), crew small arms (M16s, M79s)

This story appeared in the 2023 Autumn issue of Vietnam magazine.

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Hussars were light cavalry units with roots in Central and Eastern Europe. Famed for thundering into battle on horseback and fighting with sabers, they were fierce and not easily turned back. One nation with a special pride in its hussar troops is Hungary, credited with developing the classic hussar style of uniform; a 1518 woodcut by Albrecht Dürer depicts a rider holding a “Hungarian” battle trophy, consisting of a cylindrical plumed cap and cord-fastened tunic typical of hussar uniforms. Furthermore, the German word for a hussar coat is “Attila,” a common Hungarian name.

A typical hussar uniform consists of tight trousers suitable for riding, boots, a form-fitting tunic with frogging (braided cords fastened by frog buttons), a cylindrical cap (sometimes a fur busby cap or shako), and a short outer coat called a mente, or pelisse.

The hussar coat in its raw, original warlike form was truly ingenious. Early versions were made of animal hides or furs, or had thick fur lining. The thick fur of the coat was multipurpose. Not only could it keep a cavalryman warm, but could deflect saber blows, allowing a rider some protection but not weighing him or his horse down, and permitting fast arm movements for saber slashing.

The hussar coat was flexible. It could be worn as a coat, hung over both shoulders like a cloak or fastened over one shoulder, usually the left. Hungarian hussar uniforms were colorful, with bright red being a traditional color. 

Hussars were popular. In addition to having ethnic Polish and Hungarian hussars serving in their army, the Habsburgs formed German-speaking hussar regiments. The Prussian, British, French and Russian empires formed their own hussar units.

The dashing horsemen won admiration not only for battle prowess but for their fashion. The “hussar look” soon became vogue with European aristocrats regardless of military ability. Over time hussar coats tended to be worn over the shoulder for show; some versions abandoned sleeves and became mere capelets.

this article first appeared in military history quarterly

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It wasn’t long after the advent of flying war machines before militaries developed weapons to shoot them down. Germany experimented with anti-aircraft guns in World War I and, despite post-Versailles restrictions that ostensibly limited German war industry, in the 1930s they designed the Flak 18, an accurate, high-muzzle-velocity, 88mm anti-aircraft gun. It proved its worth during the Spanish Civil War and became one of the best known and most feared weapons of World War II. 

As an anti-aircraft weapon the Flak was lethally effective. The gun’s high velocity and rapid firing rate allowed synchronized German batteries of four to accurately hurl massive 17-pound shells thousands of feet into the air, where they would explode into 1,500 fragments or more, leaving tell-tale black puffs of smoke. Any aircraft within 200 yards were at risk from the scything shards of metal. Tens of thousands of Allied airplanes fell victim to 88mm Flaks during the course of the war. 

While the Wehrmacht initially thought the gun too large and heavy to serve in the field, its effectiveness in Spain made them revise their tactics. The improved Flak 36, introduced in 1939, had the flexibility to shoot at low angles, and its variety of both high-explosive and armor-piercing shells were effective against Allied tanks and fortified positions from more than 1.5 miles. The gun was eventually adapted for use on tanks, but the Germans deployed the majority of the Flaks in its original anti-aircraft role for home defense. 

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Among the most widely used and distributed percussion muskets, the Springfield Model 1842 was the last .69-caliber smoothbore arm issued to the U.S. Army. Some 275,000 rolled off the assembly lines—172,000 from the namesake federal armory in Springfield, Mass., another 103,000 from the armory in Harpers Ferry (in present-day West Virginia). Between 1856 and ’59 armorers at both locations rifled the barrels on 14,182 Model 1842s for use with conical bullets and fitted some 10,000 of them with long-range rear sights. It was the first U.S. musket produced with a percussion lock. Its effective range with any accuracy was limited to 100 yards, though with a stout enough powder charge it remained lethal out to 300 yards.

The Model 1842 remained in production from 1844 (when adopted by the U.S. military) to ’55 (when supplanted by the Model 1855, a .58-caliber rifled musket). The Palmetto Armory in Columbia, S.C., produced 6,020 Model 1842s for that state’s militia and use by antebellum federal troops. They were finished in an arsenal bright (with no browning or bluing), and many have transitioned to a speckled brown patina over time. During the 1846–47 Mexican War the Army issued troops the Model 1842 and other .69-caliber muskets, including the Springfield Models 1816 and ’22, most in their original flintlock configuration, though some had been converted to percussion. At the outbreak of the Civil War thousands of Model 1842s were in storage in Southern armories, thus Confederate troops also used them in substantial numbers. 

After the war the government sold many such muskets (issued by B. Flagg and A.H. Waters as well as the Palmetto Armory) surplus at fire sale prices, and many westbound settlers purchased them. Celebrated New York City arms dealer Schuyler, Hartley & Graham sold thousands of Model 1842s in Latin America as well as in China through Hong Kong dealers. The American Trading Co. sold examples to various Japanese clans during the 1868–69 Boshin War (aka Japanese Revolution).

From 1871 to ’76 the Mexican government also purchased many Model 1842s. The one detailed below was one of 600 sold to Mexico in the spring of 1875 and issued to various state militias. Its barrel features the signature speckled surface patina, while its walnut stock shows light splits caused by temperature changes and irregular oiling of the wood. The barrel is crudely stamped Estado Yucatán with an adjacent RM, for República Mexicana. The lock plate is stamped 1850 and was made in Springfield, while the rear upper breech plug is stamped 1848. It was first acquired in the late 1940s from an individual whose ancestor, a Mexican bandido, participated in the infamous Dec. 4, 1875, attempted robbery of the entire town of Campo, Calif. That bandido had his neck stretched from a tree not far from the original trading post, yet his smoothbore somehow remained in the family. The initials on the stock are attributable to either U.S. soldiers or those issued the arm in Mexico. Yours truly acquired it from Jim Masterson, a lifelong collector who through the 1950s and ’60s discovered dozens of such military and civilian arms in Mexico.

Often in cut-down versions the Model 1842 saw use in two major American wars, south of the border and in other hot spots around the world. It remains highly collectible. Since the mid-2000s Dixie Gun Works has imported an Italian-made reproduction Model 1842 for Mexican and Civil War re-enactors, shooters and collectors. Over the decades several originals have turned up as relics in the former Comancheria of the Texas Panhandle, some decorated with tacks in typical Indian fashion.

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A large group of forgotten combatants stare out at us every day from the annals of war history. They are visible to us in everything from ancient stone reliefs to elegant oil paintings to scratched early black-and-white photos; they regularly appear in statuary alongside famous war leaders, and they have taken part in too many historical battles to name. They are horses, and many avid military history enthusiasts usually don’t give much pause to think about them. This is because horses are animals and, as such, are often taken for granted.

Considered within conflict history, horses have often been viewed as little more than vehicles or baggage conveyors for warriors of the past. Yet horses were warriors in their own right.

In addition to bearing the stresses of combat, horses have also borne another burden alongside soldiers of yore—armor.

In medieval and Renaissance Europe, horses were essential for battle as well as tournament sports like jousting. A complete set of horse armor could weigh between 40 to 90 pounds—and that’s not even counting the added weight of the rider.

Most horses selected for battle or tournament challenges were robust breeds—the four-legged equivalent of tanks. Breeds capable of charging into combat wearing armor were known as destriers, coursers and rounceys. As with humans, armor for a horse was not always intended for merely protective functions, but could also be ceremonial and an indicator of its owner’s status in society.

While body armor for horses varied according to the riders’ culture, traditions and available materials, a universal and common element of horse armor across the globe tended to be the chanfron (also called shaffron or chamfron), head and facial armor which might fairly be called a “horse helmet.” The following is a roundup of some unusual examples of chanfrons and other elements of horse armor from around the world.

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On Jan. 18, 1956, U.S. inventor Norman MacLeod filed a patent for an “anti-personnel fragmentation weapon” that became one of the most iconic explosive devices of the post-World War II era. It answered the call for a weapon that could blast across and through waves of attacking enemy infantry in a single devastating hit—a requirement born of experience in the Pacific theater and again in the Korean War. The weapon was the M18 Claymore. 

The Claymore was a “directional mine,” a curved plastic pack of Composition C-3 explosive (later C-4) into which numerous steel cubes were embedded. When detonated, the mine would blast out its fragments across an arc pre-set by the user. MacLeod’s invention was not entirely original—directional mines had been explored by Hungary and Germany in World War II, and Canada developed a similar weapon in the 1950s known as the “Phoenix.” Nor was it perfect. The M18 took a lot more improvements in the hands of Aerojet Corporation engineers before it became the M18A1, instantly recognizable by the words “FRONT TOWARD ENEMY” on its concave face. 

It went into service with the US Army in the mid 1960s and was a game-changer. When it was detonated by command switch or occasionally tripwire, approximately 700 1/8-inch steel balls blasted out at a velocity of 3,995 feet/sec in a 60-degree arc, at a maximum height of 6.6 feet and over a lethal range of about 100 yards (although its optimal effective range was 55 yards), scything down those exposed in a lethal gust. 

The M18A1 became an invaluable defensive tool in the Vietnam War, standing sentinel over base perimeters or contested jungle trails, but its service has lasted to this day, with widespread international adoption.

Fuze wells

The M18A1 had two fuze wells set at 45 degrees on the top of the device. In standard configuration, these were connected via cable to an M57 firing device, squeezed three times to initiate the explosion (hence its nickname, the “clacker”).

Sight

A peep sight on top of the weapon enabled the user to align the blast arc with the intended area of effect. 

Body

The curved plastic body measured 8.5 inches long, 3.25 inches high (6.75 inches with legs unfolded), and 1.4 inches wide.

Filling

The outer body contained the steel balls held in an epoxy matrix backed by 1.5 pounds of Composition C-4 explosive.

Legs

The M18A1 was mounted on two pairs of scissor legs, which were stuck directly into the ground to present the weapon vertically.

this article first appeared in military history quarterly

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The breechloading seven-shot, metallic-cartridge rifles invented by Christopher Miner Spencer were the most innovative and reliable repeaters of the conflict. The deadly weapons were the precursor to modern assault rifles.

Spencer was born in 1833, and grew up in Connecticut, a hotbed of industrial innovation. After cutting his gunmaking teeth working for Samuel Colt’s factory, Spencer left to develop his repeating rifle.

The inventor moved to Massachusetts, working in a silk mill by day and making drawings and wooden models of his firearm by night. After being satisfied his concept would work, he applied for and received a patent for his prototype in early 1860.

It’s a familiar story that the U.S. Army was hesitant to adopt new weapon technologies, and chose to rely on single-shot muzzle-loaders to arm the volunteer regiments that formed after the Civil War began.

Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, however, was impressed with a demonstration of his repeater, and the Navy ordered 700 of them. Spencer then pressed his case all the way to President Lincoln, who ordered 10,000 in 1861. But it wasn’t until January 1863, when the weapons were in the hands of Union land troops. Four companies of Ohio sharpshooters were the first infantrymen to carry the weapon, and the 5th and 6th Michigan Cavalry used Spencer rifles to good effect at Gettysburg.

The gun’s reputation soared, and after Lincoln test fired a Spencer at the White House, their production and usage greatly increased. More than 200,000 were made at Spencer’s factory or under contract at the Burnside Rifle Company by 1869.

Spencer lived until 1922, long enough to see rapid-firing guns using metal cartridges dominating battlefields. 

this article first appeared in civil war times magazine

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In 1932 the Aeronautics Branch of the U.S. Commerce Department issued a requirement for a safer monoplane air transport, which Boeing first satisfied with its Model 247. Aircraft designer Donald Wills Douglas soon outclassed all comers with his more advanced designs, including a prototype DC-1, the improved DC-2 and the Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST), with a rounded, more capacious fuselage capable of carrying up to 16 overnight passengers or 24 daytime riders. The DST first flew on Dec. 17, 1935. It and its 21-seat non-sleeper variant, the DC-3, revolutionized air transport as the first truly profitable airliners.

During World War II Douglas militarized DC-3s with cargo doors, hoist attachments and a strengthened floor. Designated C-47 Skytrains by the U.S. Army, Dakotas by the British Royal Air Force and Lisunov Li-2s by the Soviets (who built them under license), they became mainstays of Allied cargo and troop transport. Each plane could carry 28 fully equipped troops or up to 6,000 pounds of cargo, including a jeep or an M3 37 mm antitank gun. More than 10,000 C-47 variants were built.

After the war a new generation of faster four-engine airliners eclipsed the DC-3 on the transoceanic routes, but its war surplus numbers, outstanding safety record and overall performance kept it useful as a medium-range feeder liner for decades thereafter. Most of the transports used in the 1948–49 Berlin Airlift (see P. 24) were Skytrains of the Military Air Transport Service and RAF Dakotas. The U.S. military continued to use the airframe well into the 1970s in a variety of roles, including as the lethal AC-47D Spooky gunship in Vietnam.

This story appeared in the 2023 Summer issue of Military History magazine.

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In late August 1972, a KC-135 responded to a “mayday” call from a heavily damaged F-4D Phantom rapidly losing fuel. The tanker turned toward the fighter, guided it to rendezvous, and started pumping more fuel than the Phantom was losing. The fighter landed safely 30 minutes later. That unidentified Phantom pilot was one among hundreds saved by aerial refueling during the Vietnam War. Unheralded but not unappreciated, America’s tanker crews delivered over 1.6 billion gallons of jet fuel to the attack aircraft, bombers, and fighters of the war. The U.S. Air Force’s KC-135 Stratotanker provided most of that fuel.

The KC-135 is based on the Boeing 707-80 commercial airline flight demonstrator. Boeing submitted a tanker variant as part of its bid for the Strategic Air Command’s (SAC) 1954 contract for a jet-powered aerial refueling aircraft. Although it lost the bid to Lockheed, Boeing’s mature manufacturing process, lower cost, and Lockheed’s production delays led the Air Force to order Boeing’s tanker. The first KC-135A entered service in June 1957. The last production model left the factory in 1966.

Its swept wings had four engine nacelles mounting Pratt and Whitney J-57-P-59W engines that used water injection to boost thrust during takeoff. It carried 187,500 lbs (31,250 gallons) of fuel in six wing and four fuselage tanks. The boom operator would “fly” the boom to the receiving aircraft’s fuel receptacle or probe. Its boom aft could have a special shuttlecock-shaped drogue mounted to refuel aircraft that require refueling by drogue-and-probe.

Initially intended to support only SAC operations, the KC-135 became the tanker of choice in Indochina as mission distances and Hanoi’s air defenses made in-air refueling critical to aircraft survival. Vietnam effectively became the world’s first “tanker war.” Over 100 KC-135s served in Vietnam, flying 194,687 sorties and conducting 813,878 refuelings. The KC-135 has undergone extensive avionics, communications, and engine upgrades since Vietnam. It is one of the few aircraft to pass the 60-years-of-service milestone and is expected to continue refueling America’s military aircraft through this decade.

KC-135A

Crew: 4
Length: 136ft 3in
Wingspan: 130ft 10in
Max Takeoff Weight: 135,000kgs/ 297,600lbs
Propulsion: 4 x PW J-57-P-59W jet engines
Thrust: 4 x 13,750lbs (for takeoff)
Top Speed: 601mph/522.25kts
Cruise Speed: 552mph/479.7kts
Max Range: 4,000miles/3,478nm
Operational Ceiling: 40,000ft
Max Fuel for Delivery: 181,000lbs/30,000gallons

This story appeared in the 2023 Summer issue of Vietnam magazine.

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Winchester, Remington and Marlin had practically cornered both the single-shot and repeating rifle markets by the time James H. Bullard patented one of the smoothest lever-action rifles ever manufactured. Born in Poultney, Vt., on May 14, 1842, Bullard was a mechanical genius who patented numerous devices (more than 100 from 1872 to his death at age 71 on March 26, 1914), including a steam-driven automobile, and was a far more talented inventor than a businessman. A disabling childhood leg injury kept him out of the Civil War, but he worked for a couple of machine companies until 1874, when he became a master mechanic for Smith & Wesson. By early 1882 in Springfield, Mass., he’d established J.H. Bullard & Co., which that May became the Bullard Repeating Arms Association and on Oct. 11, 1883, the Bullard Repeating Arms Co. Two years later, intent on pursuing his other inventions, Bullard left active management of the company, which dissolved in 1891.

The Bullard rifle is somewhat of an outlier, given the company offered both a repeating model, patented on Aug. 16, 1881, and a wholly distinct single-shot model, patented on July 6, 1886. Both utilized a glassy smooth, gear-driven action that has never been equaled in ease of operation. The Bullard repeater, a precision instrument of exceptional quality, was unique in that a user loaded it from bottom of theframe. It came in two frame sizes. The small-frame models were chambered for the .32-40 Winchester/Marlin and .38-45, the large for a Bullard-designed cartridge in the more powerful .40-60, .40-75, .45-70 and .45-85 calibers. On special order the latter was also available in .50-90 and .50-115. A military musket in .45-70 was another choice, as well as a carbine version with a 22-inch barrel. Overall, the company produced an estimated 10,600 to 12,000 repeating rifles.

Structurally speaking, the single-shot Bullard was an altogether different rifle, with a comparatively petite, thin frame. That said, it was every bit the repeater’s equal in quality. Its manufacturing details are largely unknown, but the single-shot model was produced in far smaller quantities. It was offered in .32, .38, .45 and .50 caliber (the last is the scarcest today and brings a hefty premium), though one could purchase a model with an interchangeable barrel, such as the one pictured above. This particular rifle was custom converted to the rimfire .22 long rifle cartridge, which was not in the original caliber offerings, though it does have the Schuetzen style, or Swiss, butt plate offered by the Bullard factory. Like many other popular guns of the day, the Bullard was available in virtually any configuration special ordered by the customer.

By 1884 San Francisco–based Curry & Bros. was selling the repeating rifle, and within a few years Bullard became known throughout the West. Theodore Roosevelt purchased and used a special order six-shot express model in the powerful .50-115 caliber. The $35 price tag in 1886 (roughly $1,100 in today’s dollars) for a plain version without checkered stocks or special sights was higher than many could afford. Those who did shell out felt they got their money’s worth. Montana hunter William Alonzo “Doc” Allen was among the latter. Once a staunch Winchester owner, he switched over to the Bullard in the late 1880s. Reflecting on his adventures in 1903, he stated, “Death had stared me in the face many times before, in many different forms, and the old Bullard had never been found wanting.”

Cost, however, ultimately did help do in Bullard Repeating Arms. The very complex internal designs of both the Bullard repeater and the Bullard single shot were as fine as Swiss watches. Competing firearm companies sold their rifles at considerably lower prices. For instance, the Winchester Model 1866 lever-action repeating rifle went for $19.50, while Marlin-Ballard and Maynard rifles were similarly priced. Bullard certainly outdid other manufacturers when it came to design and craftsmanship, and the company distributed a handful of catalogs and brochures, but it was never big on mass production or standardization. As with any advance in technology, timing is everything, and Bullard’s superb rifle line just couldn’t keep up with companies that had mastered the art of mass production, quality and efficiency rolled into one at prices to meet the needs of not only the wealthy but also the working people of the day. Having owned at least two different Bullard rifles, this writer can appreciate why they commanded a high price in the late 19th century and why they still do on today’s antique firearms market.

this article first appeared in wild west magazine

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The British Expeditionary Force’s rapid 1940 departure from Dunkirk left the English desperately short of military hardware, especially anti-tank guns. As 1941 progressed, the British Home Guard instituted a series of ad hoc defensive measures to protect the homeland ahead of a feared German invasion. 

Enter the Blacker Bombard, a spigot mortar designed by Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker from a design he started in the 1930s. The concept was relatively simple: a shell containing propellant and explosives was slipped onto a steel rod—a spigot—from which it was triggered and launched. The weapon’s intended role was as an anti-tank mortar, but it proved mostly ineffective in this capacity, as the low velocity of the 20-pound shells gave them little chance of penetrating heavy armor. In addition, faulty fuzes meant the shells often failed to explode on contact—and when they did, flying debris caused as much danger to the firing crews as it did their targets. All the same, the British built nearly 22,000 Blacker Bombards for home defense. Portable versions were secured into the ground , while fixed weapons were mounted on concrete blocks 3.5 feet in diameter. With modifications, the mortar was also capable of firing 14-pound anti-personnel bombs, and it was in this capacity that the Bombard saw its only limited live action, in the North African campaign.

As we know, the German invasion never happened, so the mortar’s lasting legacy is the hundreds of concrete firing blocks that still dot the English countryside.  

this article first appeared in world war II magazine

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By September 1942, the U.S. Navy began using the army B-24 Liberator bomber—which it designated the PB4Y-1—to conduct patrols against Japanese shipping and submarines in the Pacific Theater. To meet the navy’s requirements for a dedicated land-based, long-range patrol plane, Consolidated Aircraft built upon its successful B-24 and PBY Catalina designs to develop the PB4Y-2 Privateer. Although it bore a clear family resemblance to the B-24, the PB4Y-2 had a longer fuselage, a single vertical tail, greater armament, and engines optimized for low-altitude patrols over the ocean. Patrol Bombing Squadrons 118 and 119 received their Privateers by late 1944, and began overseas operations early the following year. In addition to their anti-shipping role, Privateers also flew air-sea rescue missions, searching for downed airmen in the vast Pacific Ocean.

this article first appeared in world war II magazine

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