www.MG42.us

It is hard to find these Lugers with two matching magazines.

David

Need to post a price or the ad will be deleted. See the rules above.

General salt6,

These rigs are not for sale, and won't be for a long time.

The 1937 dated S/42 was given to me by an old family friend who picked it up immediately following the Battle for Dunkirk on May 10th 1945 just after the German surrender in Europe.
That is an interesting story by itself.

David

The photo below shows the Canadian Vet that brought it back.
He was my first boss, and our families go back a long way.

General salt6,

Some years ago I started researching the service of the Vet that brought back the 1937 S/42 rig.
The following is from my notes...very quickly.
The book shown below was written by the Son of one of the AOP 665 gunners.
Also shown is the record of the Vets recent funeral.

Baily learned to fly and was chosen for No. 665 (AOP) Air Observation Post Squadron, RCAF.

The primary role of the AOP was to control and direct artillery fire, usually the pilot acquired his own targets.

The Canadians fighting at Dunkirk - with their British AOP counterparts - appear to have been the last Canadian combatants up to the cease-fire at 1530 British double summer time...no report of another RCAF aerial battle (that I know of) exists, and the Canadian Army called a cease-fire on the ground across Holland and Europe on Saturday, 5 May 1945. Bev was the last to range his guns at Dunkirk, and was interrupted by the cease fire declaration on the HF.

The officers went to the surrender and to pick up souvenirs.The following day
all of the men had a "go" at firing the pistols (the Lugers) on an improv range.

THE BATTLE OF DUNKIRK 1945 (From the Vets diary)

May 7—"What a day, what a day! Starting at 0700 hrs. We were shooting all day and really giving Dunkirk a going over. However, I was up doing a shoot at about 1630 when it was suddenly cancelled."

(This was the day that Ray Irwin and Dad were both in the air when they were called back. Although someone—Ray Irwin or Ray Knight—have put it about that the "fired" the last shot, Dad says that it is not clear who did, and that he might just as easily have been the one who ordered the last shot.)

May 10—"Ray and I flew all over Dunkirk looking at the targets we had taken on.… When we came down we hopped in his jeep and dashed off to one of the places where they were disarming the Gerries and I managed to pick up two first-class Lugers and one old P38."

David

Apparently Capt. Beverly (Bev) Dane Baily was good at trigonometry and supposedly once said - “Either they teach the flyers trig or they teach the gunners how to fly.”

No. 665 "Air Observation Post" Squadron, RCAF was formed in England during the Second World War. It was manned principally by Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) personnel, with select British artillery pilots briefly seconded to assist in squadron formation.

Baily was a Canadian Artillery Officer who learned how to fly.

David

drm2m wrote:General salt6,

These rigs are not for sale, and won't be for a long time.

The 1937 dated S/42 was given to me by an old family friend who picked it up immediately following the Battle for Dunkirk on May 10th 1945 just after the German surrender in Europe.
That is an interesting story by itself.

David

The photo below shows the Canadian Vet that brought it back.
He was my first boss, and our families go back a long way.

Sorry for the error. I've been dealing with another poster that didn't read the rules.

Once again I apologize,

salt

What an interesting story. Thanks for sharing it and the pictures.

Later 42rocker