Beautiful weaponry - is it possible?

[NeoConMan]

Quoting Milod;

"I'd dearly love to have a Harrier of my own, or perhaps a Spitfire or P-38"

 

Beautiful weaponry - is it possible?

I say yes.

 

 

 

P-38

 

 

 

[FennRx]

hell i like to look at my colt le6920 which i've outfitted with an eotech 512 and the Knights Armament Company's RAS. :D

[NeoConMan]

Spitfire

 

 

 

 

[myspace.com/jessenoah]

I seem to recall a old thread on military warbirds getting locked down, I hope this one lasts a long time, there a few things as graceful as a baseball player crushing a home run, or throwing a nasty offspeed pitch, but old planes are one of em

 

on of my favorites from the dawn of the jet age

 

 

what jimmy page is to guitar heros, the f-86 is to jet fighters, too cool!

[Blackie]

[NeoConMan]

Blackie, come on now.

EVERYBODY knows that's ugly - even for a helicopter!

How many beautiful helicopters have you ever seen? I mean really graceful and...

 

Whoa!!

Is that a mini-gun?!?!

 

 

:D/

 

 

I was actually hoping to fly the Cobra when I went in.

1983.

They had different ideas.

Group W bench.

Plane ticket home.

Childhood athsma and too many speeding tickets.

 

Tried again in 1984 at a different induction center.

I was this close - they said "We found your paperwork from last year - you're going home...."

 

 

I seem to recall a old thread on military warbirds getting locked down' date='

I hope this one lasts a long time[/quote']

Well, same as always - it depends on some of "those" people who want to insert an agenda.

 

I find beauty in all sorts of machinery.

The form, colors, shapes, movement, engraving, machining - even captured while in action.

[myspace.com/jessenoah]

I always liked how sleek and sinister the ME-109 looked, even though it was a "bad guy"

 

 

[NeoConMan]

Focke Wulfe 190-D

 

Rare as hell.

Had a V-12 instead of a radial.

 

 

 

 

 

Actually saw this one when it was kept in Mesa, Arizona

 

 

[Californiaman]

I was always a fan of the F4U Corsair and the A-10 Tank Killer.

[mcmurray]

I don't think anyone claimed that weaponry can't be beautiful.

 

 

 

[Californiaman]

I think this is some beautiful weaponry too.

 

[vourot]

I think only about 800 to 900 of the Fw D-9's were constructed.

They are one of my favorite ww2 planes.

 

Anyone remember what those prop planes that were used

in Vietnam are called? I always liked those too. Ground Attack

and they carried lots of ordinance.

[myspace.com/jessenoah]

Anyone remember what those prop planes that were used

in Vietnam are called? I always liked those too. Ground Attack

and they carried lots of ordinance.

 

 

A-1 Skyraider

 

[tulsaslim]

I don't know how many of you guys know about these:

http://www.vigilancerifles.com/

Kinda like the Gibson of rifles.

[ksdaddy]

All well and good, but without this one to learn on, the rest is moot. Betcha most of the Mustang and Spitfire jockeys learned on one of these babies.

 

Stearman PT-17:

[vourot]

SKYRAIDER ! Thanks Jessenoah. I could go on and on about planes.

[matiac]

The Blue Bomber.

[mcmurray]

All well and good' date=' but without [i']this[/i] one to learn on, the rest is moot. Betcha most of the Mustang and Spitfire jockeys learned on one of these babies.

 

Stearman PT-17:

 

 

One of these flies over my house on final approach every Sunday afternoon. Beautiful aircraft, I've had the privilege of flying it.

[Bowdiddley]

During Desert Storm this was the most beautiful weapon I'd ever seen. Have to say it still holds a special place in my heart.

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

Ok I guess thats not what the thread is about so :

 

[Big Bill]

Here's one I used to crew back in the day, the KC-10A.

 

 

[milod]

I've been at a number of arms/armor museums where personal arms definitely showed the beauty of combining form and function. Even the "just functional" armor itself has an incredible beauty of craftsmanship. Rifles in the U.S., especially during the flintlock and even caplock era, were mostly handcrafted and had a special beauty and grace even if on the "low end" of aesthetic enhancement.

 

Frankly arms tend very much to remind me of guitars in terms of requiring both machine and hand work for much of the production of "traditional" designs. There's somehow a grace to a 335 or Hummingbird I don't see in a mostly machine-made solidbody and ditto with arms from an old M70 Winchester rifle compared to an AR.

 

It's also interesting to me that guitars and rifle manufacturers in the US seem to have been rather similar in "farming out" manufacture of more handwork-intensive pieces overseas. Weatherby is even a high-end example in the rifle world, Epiphone an obvious guitar example.

 

For what it's worth, folks should recognize also that the machine tools developed in the Northeast for the firearms trade also gave rise to bicycle mass manufacture, typewriters, etc. All were pretty much part of a revolution in manufacturing technique that grew largely from the increasingly complex and interchangeable parts needed for firearms.

 

"Weapons of war?" I consider the manufacture of cloth and clothing as much a part of that as anything.

 

In the U.S., the 1860s CW brought unique needs. Consider a sudden need in a roughly pre-industrial "handwork" era for a million pairs of pants in three or four sizes, all the same color and basic design? Remember that's an era when even "storebought" fabric was considered a luxury to many people. Then a million jackets at the same time. A million rifle barrels or - almost more difficult, a million rifle stocks crafted from wood to fit the rifle barrels. How about - think of this one - 5 or 10 million buttons all the same size? Then make it "fancy military" buttons as well as "trowser" buttons?

 

It took a few years, but guitar innovators such as Gibson may have been at the end of the industrial age, but consider that they had the definite advantage of mass production of metal parts such as tuning machines and fret wire - things we take for granted. Those came also from the machine tool technology that largely arose from firearms manufacture.

 

On the other hand, that technology made "stuff" a lot better than handcrafting, but it still was pretty much the same basic mechanical process. Neither custom rifle nor custom guitar makers have gone out of business entirely, but note that they numbers and output are statistically insignificant.

 

Not so today. I think many of us could manufacture our own steam engine or rifle were we given a machine shop of 1890, but I doubt any of us could manufacture our own computer chip. We take so much for granted, folks.

 

m

[iddude]

Check out the ME-262; that's one awesome early jet! I think it's also on the cover of a Blue Oyster Cult record cover.

[DAS44]

Ok seriously guys no P-51 Mustangs?

[NeoConMan]

Oh, no doubt it's a beautiful machine.

Everybody knows that.

 

Sadly, there's yet one less P-51 in the world this week.

One crashed into a hangar on landing at Stellar Airpark in Chandler, AZ - killing the pilot.

 

 

 

I don't know how many of you guys know about these:

http://www.vigilancerifles.com/

Kinda like the Gibson of rifles.

Very, very nice.

I'll take one in 338 Lapua, please.

 

Made in California no less - that pleases me more than you know.

[Californiaman]

Weapons are only as good as the person trained to use it as it was intended.