Stupid question......

F3V · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:20 am

I would like to know if in USA you can put a machine gun aboard Warbirds?

For example a .50 machine gun on B-17

All the best,

Cédric

Scott Rose · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:23 am

AFAIK you can't put a live one onboard an aircraft, not even a propane one. Replicas and demilled ones are allowable.

Matt Gunsch · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:47 am

There is no law that does not prohibit it, but all class 3 weapons require paperwork to be filed to cross state lines, also the owner of the weapon could not leave it in the plane. Cost is also a factor, how many want to pay $20-25,000 per .50 cal.
Mike Dillon had a couple of guns mounted on his T-34s in the past.

Propane guns are legal, with approved paperwork. There are everal T-6s flying around with them.

F3V · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:53 am

thanks

bluehawk15 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:41 pm

Randy Ball had live .50's mounted in his Check Six MiG 17. ATF permits were displayed in the cockpit. As far as I know they are still there. Only the cannon had been cut up and welded back together. Now this might have changed. I haven't seen him or the plane in a couple of years, but the MiG is supposed to be visiting the CenTex Wing hangar in the very near future. I'll see if things are still the same and let you know.

jwc50 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:55 pm

bluehawk15 wrote:

Randy Ball had live .50's mounted in his Check Six MiG 17. ATF permits were displayed in the cockpit. As far as I know they are still there. Only the cannon had been cut up and welded back together. Now this might have changed. I haven't seen him or the plane in a couple of years, but the MiG is supposed to be visiting the CenTex Wing hangar in the very near future. I'll see if things are still the same and let you know.

I don't understand that if true. It doesn't make since to allow live working guns in aircraft that are not in current active military service. I also don't understand why you would want to put .50 calibre machine guns in an aircraft (MiG-17) that never had that type of gun to my knowledge.

Pat Carry · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:37 pm

Cedric, There is no such thing here on this forum as a stupid question. They are not allowed!

Speedy · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:43 pm

Pat Carry wrote:

Cedric, There is no such thing here on this forum as a stupid question. They are not allowed!

Right. Only stupid people.

Oh, wait a minute.....wrong forum. Sorry. :roll:

Pat Carry · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:56 pm

None that I know of.

Pat Carry · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:57 pm

None that I know of. Ooops maybe just me. Sorry for the double post.

seaknight15 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:00 pm

1st of all there is never a stupid question, Wasn't there a A-26 that had propane Guns at OSK many years ago?

Roger Cain · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:45 pm

http://www.twinbeech.com/bombercrewfantasycamp.htm

Rob Mears · **Posted:** Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:12 pm

Mike Dillon is the only guy in the US I know of who freely lets loose with live machineguns & cannons from a fixed wing aircraft. He's a civilian, but he has major arms contracts with the military, which I'm sure doesn't hurt his situation.

Also, there are a couple of helicopters that show up at the Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot held in Kentucky twice a year. They take people aloft to fire on the range from a low altitude hover. If you jump through the hurdles of buying the guns, I imagine the only limiting factor would be whatever laws exist regarding the discharge of weapons from a moving and/or airborne vehicle.

It obviously can be done if you have the money and the patience to wade through what could be years of bureaucratic red tape. In the end I imagine it's just not worth the headache for most folks to be on the US government's short list. That said, I can just about guarantee that each and every warbird owner would just love to fly out over the ocean and throw some lead at an abandoned trawler somewhere. :lol:

bluehawk15 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:06 am

OK, maybe they weren't .50's in the MiG-17, but they were machine guns of some sort and the ATF permits.

Dave Hadfield · **Joined:** Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:31 pm **Posts:** 1672

It's been done in NZ. Live firing from 6 .50s in front of an airshow crowd!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVOfjU1A-mE

Dave

(OK, they were only blanks...)

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