Browning .50-caliber Machine Guns

Gordon L. Rottman

ISBN 10: 1849083304 / ISBN 13: 9781849083300

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, GB, 2010

About this Item

The Browning "50-cal" has become the longest serving weapon in the US inventory.The "fifty" has been employed in every imaginable role for a machine gun. It is considered such an effective and reliable weapon that few countries ever attempted to develop an equivalent weapon. Even the Japanese created a copy of it during World War II when the US was producing literally thousands every month to use in every theater.Featuring illustrations, this is a history of the development of this famous weapon, its most critical operational use and the variants that have been produced to keep it at the forefront of the action.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781849083300

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Browning .50-caliber Machine Guns
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, GB
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1849083304
• ISBN 13: 9781849083300
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Gilliland, Alan; Shumate, Johnny
• Condition: New
• Weight: 308 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Osprey's new Weapon series provides a highly-detailed yet affordable overview of the development, use, and impact of small arms throughout history-from the sword to the machine gun.

In this volume, Gordon Rottman examines this history of the longest serving weapon in the U.S. military's small arms inventory. Thoroughly researched and illustrated with rare photographs and original artwork by Johnny Shumate, the book takes readers from the origins of the “fifty” on the battlefields of World War I (1914-1918) to its use in the war on terror today. Rottman provides lists of the companies that manufactured the Browning and analyzes the variants that have arisen over the years since it first entered service in 1933. He also provides descriptions and photos of how it was used on aircraft, ships, riverboats, tanks, Humvees, and by ground forces. A cutaway illustration from Alan Gilliland details the parts of the weapon and a final chapter dispels myths told about it.

About the Authors

Gordon L. Rottman entered the US Army in 1967, volunteered for Special Forces and completed training as a weapons specialist. He served in the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam in 1969–70 and subsequently in airborne infantry, long-range patrol and intelligence assignments before retiring after 26 years. He was a Special Operations Forces scenario writer at the Joint Readiness Training Center for 12 years and is now a freelance writer, living in Texas.

Alan Gilliland, a contributor to more than 70 Osprey titles, notably in the Weapon series, writes, illustrates and publishes fiction (www.ravensquill.com), as well as illustrating for a variety of publishers (alangillilandillustration.blogspot.com).

Johnny Shumate works as a freelance illustrator living in Nashville, Tennessee. He began his career in 1987 after graduating from Austin Peay State University. Most of his work is rendered in Adobe Photoshop using a Cintiq monitor. His greatest influences are Angus McBride, Don Troiani, and Édouard Detaille.