HNoMS Eidsvold

HNoMS "Eidsvold" was a coastal defence ship and the lead ship of her class, serving in the Royal Norwegian Navy. Built by Armstrong Whitworth at Newcastle on Tyne in 1899, she was obsolete when sunk by German torpedoes in Narvik harbour on 9 April 1940 during the German invasion of Norway (Operation Weserübung).
Description.
"Eidsvold" was built as part of the general rearmament in the time leading up to the political events in 1905, and remained, along with her sister ship "Norge", the backbone of the Royal Norwegian Navy for just over 40 years. She was named after the town of Eidsvold, the site of the drafting and signing of the Norwegian Constitution on 17 May 1814. Considered to be quite powerful ships for their time, with two 21 cm (8.26 inch) guns as their main armament, they were soon outclassed by the new Dreadnought battleships. They were armoured to withstand battle with ships of a similar class to their own, with 6 inches (15.24 cm) of Krupp cemented armour in the belt and 9 inches (22.86 cm) of the same armour on her two turrets. "Eidsvold" and "Norge" were the largest vessels in the Royal Norwegian Navy at 4,233 tons gross and crews of up to 270 men.
It was intended to augment the Norwegian coastal defence ship fleet with the two ships of the "Bjørgvin"-class, ordered in 1912, but after these were compulsorily purchased by the British Royal Navy at the outbreak of World War I, the "Eidsvold"-class and the older, two ship strong, "Tordenskjold"-class was forced to soldier on long after they were obsolete.
First and final battle.
In the morning of 9 April 1940, German forces entered Narvik harbour under cover of fog and heavy snow. Despite the weather, they were spotted by Norwegian vessels, which promptly reported the sighting and alerted "Eidsvold" and "Norge". Aboard both ships steps were taken to prepare for combat. The guns were loaded with live ammunition and life preservers issued to the crew. Around 04:15 in the morning, the Germans spotted "Eidsvold". Captain Odd Isaachsen Willoch aboard "Eidsvold" immediately ordered to signal the leading German destroyer with an Aldis lamp, and when the Germans failed to respond to the signal, he ordered a warning shot placed before their bow while he flew a two flag signal, ordering the destroyer to halt.
Since the Germans had orders to occupy Norway peacefully if at all possible, the German destroyer "Wilhelm Heidkamp" stopped, and signalled "Eidsvold" that it would send an officer to negotiate. From a distance of about 200 metres, a small launch ferried Korvettenkapitän Gerlach over to "Eidsvold". Gerlach and a signalman were received on the aft deck of "Eidsvold" by the second in command, and were taken to the bridge to speak to Captain Willoch. At the same time, the gun crews aboard "Eidsvold" kept the German destroyer in their sights, both the 21 cm guns and the 15 cm guns. Due to the short distance, the trajectory of the shells would have been flat, making it hard not to hit the thinly armoured vessel.
At the bridge, Gerlach tried to convince Willoch that the Germans had arrived as friends and that Willoch should surrender his ship peacefully. Willoch countered by pointing out that he was bound by duty to resist, but did ask for a ten-minute break to consider the matter. However, instead of considering surrender, Willoch used this time to contact his superiors, as well as the captain of "Norge", informing them of his intent to attack the German forces. While this was going on, another German destroyer had crossed behind "Eidsvold" and took up a position from the vessel, ready to fire her torpedoes.
Gerlach tried once again to convince Willoch to surrender, but was turned down a second time. As he left the deck of "Eidsvold", he fired a red flare, indicating that the Norwegians wished to fight. At this point, Captain Willoch hurried towards the bridge, while shouting "På plass ved kanonene. Nå skal vi slåss, gutter!" ("Man the guns. We're gonna fight, boys!"). "Eidsvold" turned towards the closest destroyer and accelerated, while the battery commander ordered the port battery (three 15 cm guns) to open fire. However, the Germans - afraid "Eidsvold" might ram the destroyer - fired four torpedoes at the old coastal defence ship.
Two or three of the torpedoes hit before the port guns could fire, according to Norwegian sources: one under the rear turret, one midship and one in the bow. It is likely that the torpedoes ignited one of the magazines aboard, because "Eidsvold" was blown in two and sunk in seconds, propellers still turning. Only six of the crew were rescued, while 175 died in the freezing water.
The wreck.
Some remains of "Eidsvold" lie in shallow waters at the entrance to Narvik harbour. Mostly salvaged in situ, only minor remains are left of the ship.


AC 47 anti-tank gun

The AC 47 was a French anti-tank gun of 47mm caliber. It was principally used in the "ouvrages" and casemates of the Maginot Line in the late 1930s; another version was created for naval use.
The AC 47 was principally used as a defensive weapon, since its portability was intentionally limited to prevent the weapon from being turned on defending troops if a fortification was captured.


Atmaca

ATMACA ("Accipiter") is an all weather, long range, precision strike, anti-ship cruise missile, developed by Turkish missile manufacturer ROKETSAN.
 The "Atmaca" will enter service with the Turkish Navy to gradually replace the country's existing inventory of Harpoon missiles.
Development.
The program was initiated in 2009 when Turkey's Undersecretary For Defense Industries (SSM) signed a contract with Roketsan for designing a surface-to-surface cruise missile for the requirements of the Turkish Naval Forces. The prime contractor, Roketsan, started the design studies in September 2012, after receiving the results of its previous research and development contract with Turkey's Undersecretary For Defense Industries under the coordination of Navy Research Center Command (ARMERKOM). The missile is planned to be developed for multiplatforms, capable of launching not only from warships but also from submarines, aircraft, coastal batteries, including land-attack operations.
After completing various tests, first land-based firing of the Atmaca took place in March 2017. The serial production contract for Atmaca was signed between Roketsan and the Presidency of Defense Industry on 29 October 2018. The missile will be deployed to Turkish Navy's s, Istanbul-class frigates, G-class frigates and planned TF-2000 class destroyers.
On 3 November 2019, Turkish Naval Forces conducted its first ship-launched firing from the Ada-class corvette in the Black Sea.
On 4 January 2021, Atmaca successfully hit its target in a test done by the Turkish Naval Forces
Design.
The missile makes use of its global positioning system (GPS), inertial navigation system, barometric altimeter and radar altimeter to navigate towards its target, while its active radar seeker pinpoints the target with high precision. With a range of more than , this guided missile poses a major threat for targets situated beyond the line of sight due to its high explosive fragmentation warhead. Its modern data-link provides ATMACA with the ability to 3D mission planning, update targets, reattack and terminate the mission. Missile is ultra sea-skimming as it approaches the target.


Downward ejection

In firearms, downward ejecting refers to firearms which eject spent cases downward from the firearm's receiver, rather than the more conventional designs which eject the brass to the side. This feature simplifies use by left-handers, and can help prevent gases and debris from being ejected near the shooter's face.


7.7 cm FK 96

The 7.7 cm Feldkanone 96 (7.7 cm FK 96) was a field gun used by Germany before World War I.
History.
It was a thoroughly conventional gun, being a modernized version of Krupp's FK 73 gun, but failed to incorporate any recoil system other than a partially effective spade brake, and fired a 12-pound projectile. Thus it was rendered obsolete when the French introduced their Canon de 75 modèle 1897 the following year. Most guns were rebuilt to modern standards (only the barrel was retained) in 1904 as the 7.7 cm FK 96 n.A. (neuer Art) [new model] which served throughout World War I as one of Germany's main light field guns. The remaining unmodified guns were then known as the 7.7 cm FK 96 a.A. (alte Art or old model).
A number of 7.5 cm Krupp L/24 quick firing guns, similar to the 7.7 cm Feldkanone C/96 (FK 96 a/A) guns, were sold to the Boer republic of Transvaal. These guns were used with good effect against the British in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902. A number of 7.7 cm FK 96 a/A guns were also used by German Colonial (Schutztruppen) batteries during the 1904 Herero Wars and during the South African invasion of German South West Africa, 1914–1915.


Red Queen (anti-aircraft gun)

Red King and Red Queen were experimental revolver cannon anti-aircraft guns developed for the British Army during the 1950s. Red King was a two-barrel design from Oerlikon, Red Queen was a single-barrel water-cooled design.
The project was cancelled with the introduction of the Bofors 40 mm/L70, which became the standard anti-aircraft gun for the Army and Royal Navy until it was replaced by the Rapier missile in the 1970s.
History.
Red King.
In the late 1940s the British Army began the process of replacing their Bofors 40 mm/L56 guns. The introduction of higher-performance aircraft, especially jet-powered fighter-bombers and light bombers, proved to fly so fast that they exited the effective range of the Bofors before it could get enough rounds out to have a reasonable possibility of hitting the target. A gun with higher ballistic performance would increase the range, and thus reaction time, and a much higher firing rate was also desirable.
Oerlikon heard of the concept and proposed an entirely new revolver cannon using a 42 mm calibre round fired from a twin-barrel gun operated by a single seven-chamber. The Army was interested and offered a development contract in 1950. Oerlikon assigned the project the name "421 RK", for "42mm, model 1, Revolver Kanon", which was given the Ministry of Supply rainbow code "Red King".
Red Queen.
For reasons that are not recorded in available materials, in 1952 the Army decided to design their own AA gun of similar performance. This was assigned the name "Red Queen". They kept the same 42 mm shell but introduced a shorter and wider cartridge case, likely to ease operation of the chamber. In contrast to Red King, a single water-cooled barrel was used. A large disk-shaped magazine on the left side of the barrel, as seen from behind, carried the rounds.
Cancellation.
Both projects appear to have had low priority and little documentation on either appears after 1957. 421RK continued to at least 1958, while Red Queen appears to have been abandoned before then due to development problems. The last mention of either project is in a 1960 memo about leftover test rounds for the Red King.


GRAM 63 battle rifle

The GRAM 63 is a prototype battle rifle that was in trials to replace the semi-automatic Ag m/42 in Swedish Army service and was manufactured by Bofors Carl Gustaf. However, it lost to the license-produced H&K G3 known as the Ak 4.


TW73

The TW73 is a teargas grenade gun. It is now called the Mehrzweckwerfer (General Purpose Thrower) MZW 73/91 because there is now other ammunition than teargas grenades like rubber shot bullets available. It was developed in Switzerland, built on the wooden stock of an old military carbine. It was developed originally for use against anti-nuclear-power demonstrators who were occupying areas. All Swiss police corps and the Swiss Army use it.
It is 80 cm (31.5 in) long, weighs 5 kg (11 lb), can fire 6–10 shots per minute. Range is 180 m (600 ft) (160 m or 520 ft with the older shells). The range can be shortened by turning a ring which lets part of the propulsion gases escape.


8mm Gasser

The 8mm Gasser is a rimmed cartridge used in the Rast-Gasser M1898 revolver and a small number of converted Mauser C96 pistols. Its bullet is cylindro-ogival and is of the jacketed type.


12.7 cm/40 Type 89 naval gun

The 12.7 cm/40 Type 89 naval gun was a Japanese anti-aircraft (AA) gun introduced before World War II. It was the Imperial Japanese Navy's standard heavy AA gun during the war.
The Type 89 was adopted by the IJN on February 6, 1932, and was the primary anti-aircraft gun on new aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers, most commonly installed in twin gun mounts. As IJN ships were upgraded in the 1930s and 1940s, older AA guns such as 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval gun and 12 cm/45 10th Year Type naval guns were replaced with Type 89's.


Dolphin (weapon)

A dolphin was an ancient naval weapon carried by Greek galleys. Essentially a weaponized anchor, the dolphin was a shaped heavy weight which would be flung or dropped onto an enemy boat to attempt to breach the hull.
Use.
The dolphin was fastened to the end of a pole or yard by a length of chain or cord. This allowed the crew to hurl the dolphin from a height, increasing the force of impact on the enemy ship. Dolphins used by the crew would have been made of stone, but the captain may have had a metal dolphin which was considered sacred and only used "in extremis". Common dolphins were lens-shaped, but more elaborate examples were made in recognizable heraldic shapes by casting in metal or by carving in stone and covering in metal. In 8th century BC the need for dolphins was replaced by the invention of the naval ram, but their use continued until at least the 1st century BC on merchant ships not equipped with a ram.
Antikythera dolphin.
In 2014, a “war dolphin” — a teardrop-shaped lead weight was discovered in the ongoing exploration of the Antikythera wreck by archeologists from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.


CIA and the Cultural Cold War

During the Cold War, in addition to being a political and economic battle, the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union was a clash of cultures. Communist party leaders depicted the United States as a cultural black hole and cited their own significant culture as evidence that they were the inheritors of the European Enlightenment (Wilford 100). Americans, on the other hand accused the Soviets of “disregarding the inherent value of culture” and subjugating art to the controlling policies of a totalitarian political system. The United States saw itself as being saddled with the responsibility of preserving and fostering the best cultural traditions of western civilization, as many European artists sought refuge in the United States before, during, and after World War II (Wilford 101).
Europe and European Universities turned out to be in the epicenter of the Cultural Cold War.
History.
Role of the CIA and the CCF.
In 1950, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) surreptitiously created the
Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) to counter the Cominform’s
“peace offensive”. The Congress had “offices in thirty-five countries,
employed dozens of personnel, published over twenty prestige magazines, held art exhibitions,
owned a news and features service, organized high-profile international
conferences, and rewarded musicians and artists with prizes
and public performances” at its peak (Saunders 2000). The intent of
these endeavors was to “showcase” US and European high culture,
including not just musical works but paintings, ballets, and other
artistic avenues, for the benefit of neutralist foreign intellectuals.
CCF and the realm of music.
Many US government organizations used classical symphonies, Broadway musicals,
and jazz performances (including musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie) in attempts to
persuade audiences worldwide America was a cradle for the growth of music (Wilford 108-109).
The CIA and, in turn the CCF, displayed reluctance to patronize America's musical
avant-garde, experimental, including artists such as Milton Babbitt and John Cage.
The CCF took a more conservative approach, as outlined under its General Secretary,
Nicolas Nabokov, and concentrated its efforts on presenting older European works
that had been banned or condemned by the Communist Party.
In 1952, the CCF sponsored the “Festival of Twentieth-Century Masterpieces of Modern Arts”
in Paris. Over the next thirty days, the festival hosted nine separate orchestras which
performed works by over 70 composers, many of whom had been dismissed by communist critics
as “degenerate” and “sterile,”; included in this group were composers such as
Dmitri Shostakovich and Claude Debussy (Wilford 109). The festival opened with a
performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, as performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (109).
Thomas Braden, a senior member of the CIA said: “The Boston Symphony Orchestra
won more acclaim for the US in Paris than John Foster Dulles or Dwight D. Eisenhower
could have brought with a hundred speeches”.
The CIA in particular utilized a wide range of musical genres, including
Broadway musicals, and even the jazz of Dizzy Gillespie, to convince music enthusiasts
across the globe that the U.S. was committed to the musical arts as much as they were
to the literary and visual arts. Under the leadership of Nabokov, the CCF organized
impressive musical events that were anti-communist in nature, transporting America's
prime musical talents to Berlin, Paris, and London to provide a steady series of
performances and festivals. In order to promote cooperation between artists and
the CCF, and thus extend their ideals, the CCF provided financial aid to artists
in need of monetary assistance.
However, because the CCF failed to offer much support for classical music associated
with the likes of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, it was deemed an “authoritarian”
tool of Soviet communism and wartime German and Italian fascism. The CCF also distanced
itself from experimental musical avant-garde artists such as Milton Babbit and John Cage,
preferring to focus on earlier European works that had been banned or condemned as
“formalist” by Soviet authorities.
CIA and Music Composition.
The CIA covertly funded the Darmstadt Summer Course which retaught composers of Abstract Expressionism, epitomized by the Schoenberg/Berg/Webern school of twelve-tone or scientific "intellectual" music. Initially, the goal was to break down Nazi propaganda such as post-Wagnerians as Strauss and Pfitzner which were favored by broad audiences.
Nicolas Nabokov- Secretary General of the CCF.
Nicolas Nabokov was a Russian-born composer and writer who developed the music program of the CCF as the Secretary-General. Before gaining this position, he composed several notable musical works, the first of which was the ballet-oratorio Ode, produced by Serge Diaghilev's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, in 1928. This composition was shortly followed by Nabokov's "Lyrical Symphony" in 1931. Nabokov moved to the U.S. in 1933 to serve as a lecturer in music for the Barnes Foundation. A year after moving to the U.S. Nabokov composed another ballet, which was entitled "Union Pacific". Nabokov's career then leads him to teach music at Wells College in New York from 1936 to 1941, and later at St. John's College in Maryland. During this time, Nabokov officially became a U.S citizen, in 1939.
In 1945, Nabokov moved to Germany to work for the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey as a civilian cultural adviser. He returned to the U.S. just two years later to teach at the Peabody Conservatory before becoming the Secretary-General of the newly created CCF in 1951. Nabokov remained in this position for over fifteen years, spearheading popular music and cultural festivals during his tenure. During this time he also wrote music for the opera "Rasputin's End" in 1958 and was commissioned by the New York City Ballet to compose music for "Don Quixote" in 1966. When the CCF disbanded in 1967, Nabokov returned to a career in teaching at several universities throughout the U.S., and composed music for the opera "Love's Labour's Lost" in 1973.
Festival of Twentieth-Century Masterpieces of Modern Arts.
This 30-day arts festival, held in Paris, was sponsored by the CCF in 1952 in order
to alter the image of the U.S. as having a bleak and empty cultural scene.
The CCF under Nabokov believed that American modernist culture could serve as an
ideological resistance to the Soviet Union. As a result, the CCF commissioned nine
different orchestras to perform concertos, operas, and ballets by over 70
composers who had been labeled by communist commissars as “degenerate” and “sterile.”
This included compositions by Benjamin Britten, Erik Satie, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg,
Pierre Boulez, Gustav Mahler, Paul Hindemith, and Claude Debussy.
The festival opened with a performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", conducted
by Stravinsky and Pierre Monteux, the original conductor in 1913 when the ballet instigated
a riot by the Parisian public. The entire Boston Symphony Orchestra was brought to Paris to perform
the overture for the large sum of $160,000. The performance was so powerful in uniting the public
under a common anti-Soviet stance that American journalist Tom Braden remarked that
“the Boston Symphony Orchestra won more acclaim for the U.S. in Paris than John Foster Dulles
or Dwight D. Eisenhower could have brought with a hundred speeches.” An additional
revolutionary performance at the festival was Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints, an opera
that contained an all-black cast. This performance was selected to counter
European criticisms of the treatment of African Americans living in the U.S.
Louis Armstrong and the Cultural Cold War.
During the Cold War, Louis Armstrong was promoted around the world as a
symbol of US culture, racial progress, and foreign policy. It was during
the Jim Crow Era that Armstrong was appointed a Goodwill Jazz Ambassador,
and his job entailed representing the American government’s commitment to
advance the liberties of African Americans at home, while also working to
endorse the social freedom of those abroad.
Armstrong’s visit to Africa’s Gold Coast was hugely successful and
attracted magnificent crowds and widespread press coverage. His band’s
performance in Accra resulted in public enthusiasm due to what was deemed
an “unbiased support for the African course….”.
Although Armstrong was indeed advocating the US foreign policy strategies
in Africa, he did not whole-heartedly agree with some of the American
government's decisions in the South. During the 1957 school desegregation
crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas, Armstrong made it a point to openly
criticize President Eisenhower and Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus.
Instigated by Faubus's decision to use the National Guard to prevent Black
students from integrating into Little Rock High School, Armstrong abandoned
his ambassadorship periodically, jeopardizing the US's attempt to use
Armstrong to represent America's racial position abroad, specifically in
the Soviet Union.
It was not until Eisenhower sent federal troops to uphold integration that
Armstrong reconsidered and went back to his position with the State
Department. Although he had deserted his trip to the Soviet Union, he
later went on to tour several times for the US government, including a six-month tour African tour in 1960-1961. It was during this time that
Armstrong continued to criticize the American government for dragging its
feet on the Civil Right issue, highlighting the contradictory nature of the
Goodwill Jazz Ambassadors mission. Armstrong and Dave and Iona Brubeck
(other Ambassadors at the time) asserted that although they represented the
American government, they did not represent all of the same policies.
Ultimately, although America no doubt benefited from the tours by Black
artists (including Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie), these ambassadors
did not advocate a singularly American identity. They instead encouraged
solidarity among Black peoples, and were constantly contesting those
policies that did not fully sympathize with the aims of the civil rights movement.


MV Uhana

The MV "Uhana" was a Sri Lankan merchant vessel that was subjected to a suicide attack in June 2000 while being escorted to Jaffna by the Sri Lankan Navy.
A speedboat loaded with explosives positioned itself next to the Sri Lankan vessel, near Point Pedro, before blowing itself up.
According to Rohitha Bogollagama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers were behind the attack.
He compared the attack on the "Uhana" to al Qaeda's attack on the USS "Cole", four months later.
He suggested that al Qaeda and the Tamil Tigers learned techniques from one another.


Muzzleloading

Muzzleloading is the shooting sport of firing muzzleloading guns. Muzzleloading guns, both antique and reproduction, are used for target shooting, hunting, historical re-enactment and historical research. The sport originated in the United States in the 1930s, just as the last original users and makers of muzzleloading arms were dying out. The sport received a tremendous boost in the 1960s and 1970s. The Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (www.MLAIC.org) was formed in 1970 and held its first World Championship in 1971. Since then a flourishing industry manufacturing working reproductions of historic firearms now exists in the United States and Europe, particularly in northern Italy near Gardone. In the United States muzzleloading guns are, subject to a number of qualifications, generally not considered firearms. Subject to state law they may be possessed by persons who might otherwise not be legally allowed to own a firearm.
The American National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association holds two national tournaments a year in Friendship, Indiana as well as the Western National Shoot Event held in Phoenix, Ariz..
The Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (MLAIC) governs international competition with muzzle-loading arms. The MLAIC holds a Short Range World Championship in even-numbered years and a Long Range World Championship (300 to 1000 yards) on odd numbered years (South Africa has won the last 5 Long Range World Championships).
Modern use.
Driven by demand for muzzleloaders for special extended primitive hunting seasons, firearms manufacturers have developed in-line muzzleloading rifles with designs similar to modern breech-loading centerfire designs. Knight Rifles pioneered the in-line muzzleloader in the mid-1980s, manufacturing and selling them to this day. Savage Arms has created the 10ML-II, which can be used with smokeless powder, reducing the cleaning required.


List of artillery by type

A list of artillery catalogues types of weapons found in batteries of national armed forces' artillery units.
Some weapons used by the infantry units, known as infantry support weapons, are often misidentified as artillery weapons because of their use and performance characteristics, sometimes known colloquially as the "infantryman's artillery" which has been particularly applied to mortars.
The distinguishing feature of infantry support weapons from artillery weapons is in the unit that provides the personnel for the weapon crew.
The list does not differentiate between guns and cannons although some designations use one word or the other. The word "cannon" is of Latin origin, borrowed into the English language from the French, while "gun" appears to be of German language origin and is found in earlier use in England. There is almost universal use of gunner in the English language to refer to artillery personnel, and not the French term "cannonier". Some English speaking armies do use the originally French term bombardier as a rank in artillery units.
Recoilless guns.
Recoilless guns.
A recoilless gun or recoilless rifle (RCL) is a lightweight weapon that fires a heavier projectile than would be practical to fire from a recoiling weapon of comparable size. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles. Smoothbore variants are recoilless guns. This distinction is often lost, and both are often called recoilless rifles.
Normally used for anti-tank roles, the first effective system of this kind was developed during World War II to provide infantry with light, cheap and easily deployable weapon that does not require extensive training in gunnery. The near complete lack of recoil allows some versions to be shoulder-fired, but the majority are mounted on light tripods and are intended to be easily carried by a soldier.
Self-propelled recoilless guns.
Self-propelled recoilless guns are vehicles designed to carry recoilless guns.
Only a few such designs have been successful, many mounting multiple rifles.
Anti-aircraft guns.
Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.
Anti-aircraft guns are weapons designed to attack aircraft. Such weapons commonly have a high rate of fire and are able to fire shells designed to damage aircraft. They also are capable of firing at high angles, but are also usually able to hit ground targets as well in a direct-fire role.
Anti-tank guns.
Self-propelled anti-tank guns.
Anti-tank guns are typically high-velocity guns designed to fire anti-tank shells. They are usually designed to be easily transported and concealed to maximize responsiveness and surprise.
Assault guns.
Assault guns are guns mounted in armored vehicles designed to provide direct fire support for infantry and armored forces. Typically, the gun is mounted in the hull and the front of the vehicle most heavily armored.
Autocannons.
Autocannons are like machine guns but their calibers are greater than 20mm.
Vehicle guns.
Aircraft artillery.
Aircraft artillery has been used since the first world war.
Tank guns.
Tank guns are high-velocity guns designed to be fitted into the turret of a tank. They share many design features with anti-tank guns and in many cases are directly related to anti-tank gun designs. The primary objective of most tank guns is to be able to destroy other tanks, but other tasks such as fire support and anti-personnel missions often are required.
Naval artillery.
Naval guns are manufactured based on the same principles as the land based artillery ordnance, but differ significantly in system design and use. Never referred to as "artillery" it is however often called upon to provide naval artillery fire support to the land forces operation in the coastal region within their range.
Railway artillery.
Railway artillery involved large guns and howitzers mounted and transported on specially-constructed railway cars.
Mortars.
Infantry mortars.
The List of infantry mortars catalogues weapons which are issued to infantry units to provide close range, rapid response, indirect fire capability of an infantry unit in tactical combat. In this sense the mortar has been called "infantryman's artillery", and represents a flexible logistic solution to satisfying unexpected need for delivery of firepower, particularly for the light infantry. In general infantry mortars are defined by what a team of infantrymen, sometimes known as mortarmen, can transport unaided by significant vehicle support. Because of this intrinsic restriction mandated by weight, mortars are only considered "infantry" to a calibre of 120mm. These larger weapons usually require wheeled assemblies to allow their towing either by hand or by light tactical vehicles.
Heavy mortars.
Heavy mortars are large-calibre mortars designed to fire a relatively heavy shell on a high angle trajectory. Such weapons have a relatively short range, but are usually less complex than similar calibre field artillery.
This category includes the "Trench Mortars" of World War I which were all too heavy and cumbersome, and hence lacked the mobility, to be classed as infantry mortars.
Field artillery.
Self-propelled infantry guns.
Infantry guns are designed to provide direct organic support for infantry forces. They fire a range of shells, primarily in a direct-fire mode. Most are lightweight and capable of being manhandled for limited mobility to accompany infantry.
Mountain artillery.
Mountain artillery, which includes pack howitzers, mountain howitzers and mountain guns, is designed to accompany mountain infantry forces. Usually lightweight and designed to be broken down to be portable by pack animals or even soldiers, they often are in limited calibres with low muzzle energy. Correspondingly, range and anti-armor capabilities are limited. However, they can deliver useful firepower in locations that may be inaccessible to heavier support forces.
Self-propelled field guns.
Field guns are one of two primary types of field artillery. Guns fire a heavy shell on a relatively level trajectory from a longer barrel, allowing for very high muzzle velocity and good range performance. Guns are most adequate for providing long range fire support and counter-battery fire.
Self-propelled howitzers.
Howitzers are one of two primary types of field artillery. Howitzers fire a heavy shell in a high trajectory from a relatively short barrel. Range is limited but howitzers are slightly more mobile than similarly sized field guns.
Siege artillery.
Siege artillery are heavy guns and other bombardment devices designed to bombard fortifications, cities, and other fixed targets. They are capable of firing heavy shells but require enormous transport and logistical support to operate. They lack mobility and thus are rarely useful in more mobile warfare situations.


Bold Orion

The Bold Orion missile, also known as Weapons System 199B (WS-199B), was a prototype air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by Martin Aircraft during the 1950s. Developed in both one- and two-stage designs, the missile was moderately successful in testing, and helped pave the way for development of the GAM-87 Skybolt ALBM. In addition, the Bold Orion was used in early anti-satellite weapons testing, performing the first interception of a satellite by a missile.
Design and development.
The Bold Orion missile was developed as part of Weapons System 199, initiated by the United States Air Force (USAF) in response to the U.S. Navy's Polaris program, with funding authorised by the United States Congress in 1957. The purpose of WS-199 was the development of technology that would be used in new strategic weapons for the USAF's Strategic Air Command, not to deliver operational weapons; a primary emphasis was on proving the feasibility of an air-launched ballistic missile.
The designation WS-199B was assigned to the project that, under a contract awarded in 1958 to Martin Aircraft, would become the Bold Orion missile. The design of Bold Orion was simple, using parts developed for other missile systems to reduce the cost and development time of the project. The initial Bold Orion configuration was a single-stage vehicle, using a Thiokol TX-20 Sergeant solid-fuel rocket. Following initial testing, the Bold Orion configuration was altered to become a two-stage vehicle, an Allegany Ballistics Laboratory Altair upper stage being added to the missile.
Operational history.
Having been given top priority by the Air Force, the first flight test of the Bold Orion missile was conducted on May 26, 1958, from a Boeing B-47 Stratojet carrier aircraft, which launched the Bold Orion vehicle at the apex of a high-speed, high-angle climb. The zoom climb tactic, combined with the thrust from the rocket motor of the missile itself, allowed the missile to achieve its maximum range, or, alternatively, to reach space.
A twelve-flight test series of the Bold Orion vehicle was conducted; however, despite suffering only one outright failure, the initial flight tests of the single-stage rocket proved less successful than hoped. Authorisation was received to modify the Bold Orion to become a two-stage vehicle; in addition to the modifications improving the missile's reliability, they increased the range of Bold Orion to over . Four of the final six test firings were of the two-stage vehicle; these were considered completely successful, and established that the ALBM was a viable weapon.
ASAT test.
The final test launch of Bold Orion, conducted on October 13, 1959, was a test of the vehicle's capabilities in the anti-satellite role. Launched from an altitude of from its B-47 mothership, the missile successfully intercepted the Explorer 6 satellite, passing its target at a range of less than at an altitude of . Had the missile been fitted with a nuclear warhead, the satellite would have been destroyed.
The Bold Orion ASAT test was the first interception of a satellite by any method, proving that anti-satellite missiles were feasible. However this test, along with an earlier, unsuccessful test of the High Virgo missile in the anti-satellite role, had political repercussions; the Eisenhower administration sought to establish space as a neutral ground for everyone's usage, and the "indication of hostile intent" the tests were seen to give was frowned upon, with anti-satellite weapons development being curtailed shortly thereafter.
Legacy.
The results of the Bold Orion project, along with those from the testing of the High Virgo missile, also developed under WS-199, provided data and knowledge that assisted the Air Force in forming the requirements for the follow-on WS-138A, which would produce the GAM-87 Skybolt missile.


Clay pigeon shooting

Clay pigeon shooting, also known as clay target shooting, is a shooting sport involving shooting a firearm at special flying targets known as clay pigeons, or clay targets.
The terminology commonly used by clay shooters often relates to times past, when live-pigeon competitions were held. Although such competitions were made illegal in the United Kingdom in 1921, a target may still be called a "bird", a hit may be referred to as a "kill", and a missed target as a "bird away"; the machine which projects the targets is still known as a "trap".
History.
Clay targets began to be used in place of live pigeons around 1875. Asphalt targets were later developed, but the name "clay targets" stuck. In 1893, the Inanimate Bird Shooting Association was formed in England. It was renamed to the Clay Bird Shooting Association in 1903. It held annual clay-pigeon-shooting contests and lasted until the outbreak of World War I. In 1921, the British parliament passed a bill without opposition making it illegal to shoot birds from traps.
Disciplines.
Clay pigeon shooting has at least 20 different forms of regulated competition called disciplines, although most can be grouped under the main headings of trap, skeet, and sporting.
Sporting clays.
The English Sporting discipline has the sport's biggest following. While the other disciplines only use standard targets, in Sporting almost anything goes. Targets are thrown in a great variety of trajectories, angles, speeds, elevations and distances and the discipline was originally devised to simulate live quarry shooting, hence some of the names commonly used on sporting stands: springing teal, driven pheasant, bolting rabbit, crossing pigeon, dropping duck, etc. Disciplines in this group include English sporting, international (FITASC) sporting, super sporting sportrap, and Compak sporting.
This discipline can have an infinite variety of "stands". English sporting is the most popular form of clay shooting in the UK, and a course or competition will feature a given number of stands each of which has a predetermined number of targets, all traveling along the same path and speed, either as singles or doubles.
Each stand will feature a different type of target; e.g., crosser, driven, quartering, etc. International (FITASC) sporting gives a much greater variety of targets in terms of trajectory and speed, and is shot by squads of six competitors in rounds of 25 targets at a time. Super Sporting is a hybrid of the two preceding varieties. There are also other formats such as Compak sporting and sportrap in which five cages are surrounded by a number of traps, and shooters fire a specific combinations or singles from each stand according to a program displayed in front of the cage.
Maze clays shooting.
This is a new shotgun game that offers sporting clays and FITASC target presentations on a skeet/trap or open field. This is possible by using a movable support system that carries the release buttons (wired or wireless setup) from 6 to 9 traps and the dual safety screen in any place on the field. As a result, the shooter can shoot in safe conditions upon target presentations in varying range (10 to 60 yards) and varying angles (sharp to wide).
Trap shooting.
Targets are thrown either as singles or doubles from one or more traps situated some 15 m in front of the shooter, and are generally going away from the firing point at varying speeds, angles and elevations. The most common disciplines in this group are:
Down-the-Line.
Also known as DTL, this is a popular trap shooting discipline. Targets are thrown to a distance of 45 to 50 metres at a fixed height of approximately 2.75 m and with a horizontal spread of up to 22 degrees either side of the centre line. Each competitor shoots at a single target in turn, but without moving from the stand until all have shot five targets. Then they all move one place to the right, and continue to do so until they have all completed a standard round of 25 birds. Scoring of each target is 3 points for a first barrel kill, 2 points for a second barrel kill and 0 for a miss (maximum 75 points per round). Variations of this discipline are single barrel, double rise, and handicap-by-distance.
Olympic trap.
As its name indicates, this is one of the disciplines which form part of the shooting programme at the Olympic Games. A trench in front of the shooting stands conceals 15 traps arranged in five groups of three. Shooters take turns to shoot at a target each, before moving in a clockwise direction to the next stand in the line. Targets for each shooter are thrown immediately upon his call and are selected by a shooting scheme (program) that ensures all competitors receive exactly the same target selection, but in an unpredictable randomised order to the extent that there will be one straight, two left and two right targets for each stand from any one of the three traps directly in front of him/her; guessing which one is next is impossible unless the shooter is on his/her last five targets.
Olympic trap targets are set to travel 76 metres (+/-1m) at the top of trench level marker peg, unless the terrain is dead flat, at varying elevations and with a maximum horizontal angle of 45 degrees either side of the centre line (being where the target exits the trench). Scoring is on the basis of one point per target killed, regardless of whether this is achieved with the first or with the second barrel unless it is a final where the top six scorers shoot off as a single barrel event, regardless of local club grades if any.
A simpler and cheaper to install variation of this discipline is known as automatic ball trap (ABT) where only one trap is used and target variation is obtained by the continuous oscillation of the trap in both horizontal and vertical directions in order to give the same spread of targets as in Olympic trap. Similarly, the targets are also thrown to a maximum of 76 metres.
Also known as Bunker Trap, and International Trap
Universal trench.
A variation on the theme of trap shooting, sometimes known as "five trap". Five traps are installed in a trench in front of the shooting stands, all set at different angles, elevations and speeds, and upon the call of "Pull!" by the shooter any one of the five machines, selected at random, will be released.
Horizontal angles can vary from 0 degrees to 45 degrees either side of the centre line and target distance is between 60 and 70 metres. Elevations can vary, as in other trap disciplines (except DTL), between 1.5 and 3.5 metres above ground level.
There are 10 different schemes available.
Skeet shooting.
Skeet is a word of Scandinavian origin, though the discipline originated in America. Targets are thrown in singles and doubles from 2 trap houses situated some 40 metres apart, at opposite ends of a semicircular arc on which there are seven shooting positions. The targets are thrown at set trajectories and speeds. The main disciplines in this group are English skeet, Olympic skeet and American (NSSA) skeet.
In NSSA discipline, targets are released in a combination of singles and doubles, adding up to a total of 25 targets per round, from the High and Low trap houses on a fixed trajectory and speed. Variety is achieved by shooting round the seven stations on the semicircle, followed by an eighth station, located between stations one and seven. Scoring is on the basis of 1 point per target killed, up to a maximum of 25.
In English skeet (by far the most popular of the skeet disciplines), the gun position is optional (i.e., pre-mounted or out-of-shoulder when the target is called) and the targets are released immediately upon the shooter's call.
In Olympic skeet, the targets travel at a considerably faster speed, the release of the target can be delayed up to 3 seconds after calling and the gun-down position is compulsory. There is also an eighth shooting station, midway between the two houses.
NSSA and English version of Skeet have the concept of option targets, where the shooter has to repeat the first missed target. In the situation where the first 24 targets are all hit, the last target is considered the option. Here is a representation of Skeet sequences for all variations.
Electrocibles or helice shooting.
Originating in Belgium during the 1960s, Electrocibles is similar to trap shooting, but the clays are equipped with a helice that will give the clay an erratic and unpredictable flight. The helice is composed of two winged plastic propellers with a white clay in the centre. Now the sport is named helice shooting.
Plastic propellers holding a detachable centre piece are rotated at high speed and released randomly from one of five traps. They fly out in an unpredictable way; so-said buzzing through the air. It is designed specifically to simulate as closely as possible the old sport of live pigeon shooting. Its original name of "ZZ" comes from the inventor who made them out of zinc, and had previously shot a specific breed of pigeon called a "zurito"; hence the term the "zinc zurito". World and European Championships are held every year organized by FITASC.
Targets.
The targets used for the sport are usually in the shape of an inverted saucer, made from a mixture of pitch and pulverized limestone rock designed to withstand being thrown from traps at very high speeds, but at the same time being easily broken when hit by just a very few lead or steel pellets from a shotgun.
The targets are usually fluorescent orange or black, but other colours such as white, or yellow are frequently used in order that they can be clearly seen against varying backgrounds and/or light conditions.
Targets are made to very exacting specifications with regard to their weight and dimensions and must conform to set international standards.
There are several types of targets that are used for the various disciplines, with a standard 108 mm size being the most common used in American Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays while International disciplines of these same games use a slightly larger 110 mm diameter size. Only the standard 108/110 mm target is used in all of the trap and skeet disciplines. Sporting shoots feature the full range of targets (except ZZ) to provide the variety that is a hallmark of the discipline.
All three sports use a shotgun, and in the sporting disciplines are sub-classified by the type of game the clay target represents (pigeon, rabbit, etc.). The two primary methods of projecting clay targets are airborne and ground (rolling).
Naturally, the simplest method of throwing a clay target is by hand, either into the air or along the ground. This method is the simplest, and many "trick shot" shooters throw their own targets (some able to throw as many as ten birds up and hit each individually before any land). However, a multitude of devices have been developed to throw the birds more easily and with more consistency. A plastic sling-like device is the simplest, though modern shooting ranges will usually have machines that throw the clay targets in consistent arcs at the push of a button.
Traps.
Traps are purpose-made, spring-loaded, flywheel or rotational devices especially designed to launch the different types of targets in singles or pairs at distances of up to 100 metres.
These machines vary from the very simple hand-cocked, hand-loaded and hand-released types to the highly sophisticated fully automatic variety, which can hold up to 600 targets in their own magazine and are electrically or pneumatically operated. Target release is by remote control, either by pressing a button or by an acoustic system activated by the shooter's voice.
Target speeds and trajectories can be easily modified and varied to suit the discipline or type of shooting required.
Guns.
Clay pigeon shooting is performed with a shotgun. The type of shotgun used is often a matter of taste and affected by local laws as well as the governing body of the sport in competitive cases.
All types of shotguns are suitable for clay pigeon shooting, however the ability to fire multiple shots in quick succession is generally considered important. Some skilled shooters will use a single shot firearm in order to add to the challenge. Traditionally Over and Under and Side by Side shotguns have been popular, however semi-automatic and to a lesser extent pump-action have been making gains, particularly as the cost of reliable, accurate semi-automatics has come down over the last decade.
Cartridges.
Shotgun cartridges are readily available in gun shops and at shooting grounds, and within limitations as to the shot size and the weight of the shot load are suitable for clay shooting at CPSA affiliated grounds and for use in events coming under CPSA rules. Though home loaded cartridges allow the user to customize the ballistic characteristics of their shells, they are generally not allowed at clay pigeon shooting events unless specified otherwise.
The instructions and specifications are printed on the boxes. For clay competition, shot size must not exceed 2.6 mm/English No. 6. The shot load must be a maximum for all domestic disciplines; or for Olympic trap, Olympic skeet, and double trap; up to 28 g for FITASC sporting (from 2005); and for helice.
Laser clay shooting.
Laser clay pigeon shooting, also known as laser clay shooting or just laser shooting, is a variation on the traditional clay pigeon shooting where the shotguns are disabled and fitted with laser equipment that can detect hits on specially modified reflective clays. Laser clay pigeon shooting offers a safe alternative for beginners, and the location is less constrained.
The rules and disciplines are normally the same as the traditional sport using live weapons.
There are four principal pieces of equipment for a laser clay shooting setup: guns, launcher, scoreboard and clays.
The activity can be done indoors or outdoors. Just like traditional clay shooting clays are released from a trap and the participants shoot at the flying disc. Unlike traditional clay shooting, multiple participants all shoot at the same disc. In most equipment the register of hits and misses is recorded electronically, and the sounds of the shotgun firing and the clay being hit are played from simulated sounds.
Although the activity is similar to traditional clay shooting it does use slightly different shooting principles, some of which are closer to target shooting.


Nicolas-Joseph de Noyelles de Fleurimont

Nicolas-Joseph de Noyelles (October 13, 1695 – August 16, 1761) originally resided in Rochefort, France but came to New France in 1710 to begin his military career as an ensign in the regular colonial troops. He married in 1718 and, because of a strong family friendship with Governor Charles de Beauharnois, he received favorable postings and promotions. His two main postings were Detroit and (near) Fort Wayne. At Fort Wayne, he became heavily involved in the fur trade. He was also involved in trying to settle wars and allegiances amongst various Indian tribes. It would seem that much of his activity in this area pointed to a high level of ineptness. However, the Beauharnois connection stood him in good stead. In 1744, when Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye lost the western commanders position of directing the fur trade while exploring a route to the western sea, the position was granted to Noyelles. However, this was a demanding job and he resigned in 1746.
He returned to Montreal and led at least one campaign in the Seven Years' War. Decorated with the cross of Saint Louis in 1749 after a number of letters of commendation by Beauharnois, he returned to France with seven of his eight children and his wife. He died destitute in his home town of Rochefort, quieting an inquiry into his integrity.
Two of his sons also served in the regular troops in Canada; Charles-Joseph, the eldest and Pierre-Philippe, a younger son.


Knife juggling

Knife juggling is a variant of toss juggling using blunt knives as props which are thrown and caught. Although knives are sometimes juggled recreationally, it is generally a performance art. Knife juggling is typically seen performed by street entertainers as part of a routine, or at art or historical festivals.
The knives are thrown with vertical spin, lending them stability in the air, and are typically allowed to rotate once or twice before being caught. Knife juggling can be performed with any number of objects, but the vast majority of performers use three knives. Patterns used are usually basic and consist solely of a cascade, and sometimes involve simple juggling tricks such as an under the leg throw. This is due to the unwieldy nature and increased weight of knives and the increased level of danger when compared to such props as juggling clubs.
Knives used.
Juggling is rarely performed with sharp knives, because there is little point in increasing the risk to performer for no aesthetic benefit. Specially balanced juggling knives are used, usually with a bevelled edge to appear sharp. Performing with genuine machetes is not generally advised because the spin and balance are unfavourable, and tricks beyond the basics become much more difficult. Various bladed implements "can" be juggled, but many have a dangerous and unpredictable spin as seen on an axe or chainsaw. Such items are generally avoided, although chainsaws provide a preferable spin to axes if needs must.
Juggling knives are constructed with a blade of steel or sheet aluminium several millimeters thick and a wooden or composite handle such as found on juggling clubs. The blades are often scimitar shaped with a bevelled 'cutting' edge, and the other edges are rolled to prevent injury. The other common blade shape is an elongated diamond with all edges and the point rolled or otherwise made safe. While this makes knife juggling much safer than popularly assumed, knives can still cause severe trauma injuries to the head and body when falling from a height. Because of this, the juggling of large lumps of metal should only be attempted by competent club jugglers who understand the risks.
World records.
The current world records for juggling both five (103 throws and catches) and six knives (six throws and six catches) are held by Thom Wall.


Zagem

Zagem or Bazari () was a town in the southeast Caucasus, in the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kakheti. It flourished from the 15th to the 17th century as a vibrant commercial and artisanal centre. In the 1550s, it became a dependency of the Karabakh–Ganja province of Safavid Iran. The fortunes of the town were reversed by Safavid military actions in the area in 1615. By the 1720s, the town had been reduced to an insignificant hamlet. The settlement was located in what is now the Zaqatala District of Azerbaijan, but no evidence of the town remains at the site. The toponym "Zagem" is found exclusively in non-Georgian sources; Georgians knew it as Bazari, meaning "bazaar".
Etymology and location.
Called Bazari ("bazaar") in the Georgian sources, the town was variously known to the Persian authors as Zagam, Zagham, or Zakam, and to the European accounts as Zagem, Zagen, Zagain, Zegharn, or Seggen. The non-Georgian forms are probably related to the toponym "tsagam" (цагъам), meaning "a blackberry bush" in Lezgian, a language of the neighboring mountainous tribe. The town lay in the river plain of Alazani (Qanıx), on the left bank of that river, in the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, where a homonymous village is still found some 25 km south of the city of Zaqatala, close to the border with Georgia.
History.
Early history.
The town named Bazari is first documented in Georgian sources in 1392. Owing to its location on a road from Gremi in Kakheti to the neighboring country of Shirvan and proximity to major regional trade routes, as well as due to relative peace and stability achieved by the Bagratid kings of Kakheti, the town of Bazari/Zagem became an important regional commercial and crafts centre, settled by the Georgian, Jewish, Armenian, and Muslim communities. In the 16th century, it emerged as the economic capital of Kakheti and home to a royal residence. Not infrequently, for the contemporary Persian and Turkish sources, "the ruler of Zagam" was a synonym to the king of Kakheti. In the 1550s, the Safavid military leader and official Qalich Beg, son of Oveys Beg Pazuki, assumed the governorship over the town, and ruled for nine years.
Zagem's notability as an economic hub is further emphasized by the existence in the town of a mint, which issued silver coins ("abbasi") in the name of Safavid shahs and became known to modern scholars with the discovery, in 1967, of two such coins in Birkiani in northeastern Georgia. In total, about 80 coins produced by the Zagem mint have been found throughout the South Caucasus, dating from to or .
Vicissitudes.
On 7 October 1604, the vicinity of Zagem was the arena of a battle between the Kakhetian and the Turkish-Kumyk armies. The Kakhetian crown-prince George employed 40 musketeers from the retinue of the Russian ambassadors Mikhail Tatishchev and Andrei Ivanov and led his 5,000-strong force to defeat the Turks and force the Kumyks under Sultan-Mut into flight. On 12 March 1605, the same Russian diplomats witnessed in Zagem a royal parricide in which Prince Constantine, apparently at the order of Shah Abbas I of Persia, killed his reigning father Alexander II and elder brother Crown Prince George, the last year's victor over the Turks, and had their entourage massacred.
Sack of Zagem.
Beginning in March 1614, Shah Abbas I undertook a systematic military campaign with the aim to bring Kakheti more firmly into the Safavid empire. To this end, the shah conducted a reorganization of the occupied Kakhetian territory which modified its ethnic and demographic structure. The Kakhetians revolted in 1615 and Shah Abbas returned with his army to deal with the rebels. His commander-in-chief in Shirvan, Yusuf-Khan, advanced with a Qizilbash force consisting of the Ustajlu, Baylat, and Pazuki tribes from the east through Shakki and laid waste to Zagem. The story of the town's destruction is described by the Safavid-era historians Iskandar Beg Munshi and Fazli Isfahani Khuzani. The latter, a Persian official responsible for the task of counting booty after the sack of Zagem, recorded 700 Jewish and Georgian captives, 2,000 severed heads, and 30,000 tumans excluding the booties hidden by the troops. Fazli then went on to report the success to Shah Abbas, who was headquartered near Ganja. Shah Abbas renounced his right over one-fifth of booty, only taking 3 boys and 2 girls. According to the Russian church historian Sergey Belokurov (1891), among the treasures of Zagem looted by the Persians was the chiton of Jesus, which was, in March 1625, presented by the shah's envoys to the Russian tsar Michael I in Moscow.
The surviving population of Zagem—Christians, Muslims, and Jews—was then deported to Persia's interior and mostly resettled to the localities in Mazandaran such as Farrokhabad to help develop the area. A Jewish deportee, Khoja Lale Zar ebn Ya'qub, played an important role in silk trade in the Safavid empire. The vacated lands of Zagem were occupied by the Turkic Qizilbash nomads headed by Bektash Beg Torkman, himself a son of a Qizilbash chieftain and a Georgian princess.
Zagem was never able to recover from the blow dealt in 1616. King Teimuraz I of Kakheti was able to return to the town for a couple of times. It saw a modest revival in the 1630s and early 1640s, but then went in decline and fell under the rule of Safavid regional governors. According to Muhammad Ibrahim b. Zayn al-'Abidin Nasiri's chronicle (c. 1730), by the end of the Safavid period the governor of Zagam was the governor of the Shams al-Dinlu tribe. With the 1722 demise of the Safavid empire and the ensuing chaos at its Caucasian periphery, Zagem lost all vestiges of its past importance as a commercial outpost and faded away.


Big Giant Swords

Big Giant Swords is an American television series that premiered on January 13, 2015 on the Discovery Channel. The program follows sword maker Michael "Irish Mike" Craughwell as he and his associates create custom oversized swords from scratch for his clients. Episodes focus on the creation process of one or two commissioned weapons as the team attempts to complete them to the customer's satisfaction in a set time period.
Background.
Craughwell first began making giant swords in 2003 as a hobby and models many of his works after swords found in video games and other fictional media. Craughwell first garnered attention for his creations after posting videos of himself wielding the weapons on YouTube. He is based out of West Tisbury, MA on the island of Martha's Vineyard.


M3 fighting knife

The M3 fighting knife or M3 trench knife was an American military combat knife first issued in March 1943. The M3 was originally designated for issue to soldiers not otherwise equipped with a bayonet. However, it was particularly designed for use by forces in need of a close combat knife, such as Airbornes and Army Rangers, so these units received priority for the M3 at the start of production. As more M3 knives became available in 1943 and 1944, the knife was issued to other soldiers such as Army Air Corps crewmen and soldiers not otherwise equipped with a bayonet, including soldiers issued the M1 Carbine or submachine gun.
The M3 trench knife was developed as a replacement for the World War I-era U.S. Mark I trench knife, primarily to conserve strategic metal resources. The M3 would also replace the Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife or OSS dagger in U.S. service in 1944. In August of 1944, the M3 fighting knife evolved into the M4 bayonet for the M1 carbine with the addition of a bayonet ring to the hilt and a locking mechanism in the pommel.
Design and features.
Designed for rapid production using a minimum of strategic metals and machine processes, the M3 trench knife used a relatively narrow 6.75-inch bayonet-style spear-point blade with a sharpened 3.5-inch secondary edge. The blade was made of carbon steel, and was either blued or parkerized. Production of the grooved leather handle was later simplified by forming the grip of stacked leather washers that were shaped by turning on a lathe, then polished and lacquered. The steel crossguard had an angular bend at one end to facilitate a thumb rest.
History.
The M3 was developed as a replacement for the World War I-era U.S. Mark I trench knife, primarily to conserve strategic metal resources. The prototype for what would become the M3 was evaluated in December 1942 by the civilian board of directors of the "Smaller War Plants Corporation Board" (SWPC) against another competing design, the US Marine Corps' KA-BAR fighting utility knife. However, while the specified priority steel supplies for both knives were available, the M3's lower production cost compared to that of the KA-BAR convinced the SWPC board of directors to approve the M3 prototype for quantity production.
Though the M3 had competed with the USMC "KA-BAR" for approval by the Army, the M3, unlike the Marine Corps knife, was not a dual-purpose weapon designed for both close combat (fighting knife) and general use (utility knife). As the U.S. "Catalog of Standard Ordnance Items" of 1943 clearly explained:
The M3 was first issued to U.S. Army soldiers in March 1943, with the first knives going to elite units such as airborne troops and the U.S. Army Rangers. Despite ordnance descriptions of the knife as being designed for hand-to-hand warfare, the M3 did not receive universal praise as a close-quarters fighting knife upon issue to combat units. While the knife itself was generally well-made and balanced (some paratroopers and rangers mastered the art of using the M3 as a throwing knife), the long narrow dagger-like steel blade, designed to economize on priority steel requirements, was best used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon, and performed less well when used for slashing strokes. Reports of blade failures on M3s in service increased as soldiers began to use their trench knives for ordinary utility tasks such as opening ammo crates and food ration tins, a role for which the M3 had not been designed. Some soldiers also found the M3's cutting edge to be difficult to maintain in the field. As issued, the blade's secondary or false edge was intentionally sharpened and beveled for only a portion of its length, leaving an unsharpened spine on the top of the blade in an effort to stiffen the relatively narrow blade. This limited the usefulness of the M3 when employed for backhand slashing strokes.
After U.S. Army ordnance began developing a proprietary bayonet for use on the M1 carbine, it was realized that the new carbine bayonet, which already incorporated the M3 blade design and leather-wrap grip, could also replace the M3 in service in a secondary role as a fighting knife. The carbine bayonet, now designated the Bayonet, U.S. M4, was added to the Company Table of Organization in June 1944, and the M3 was declared to be a limited standard ordnance item, with supplies to be issued until exhausted. Nevertheless, the final M3 production run did not take place until August 1944, by which time 2,590,247 M3 trench knives had been produced.
At termination of production in August 1944, the M3 trench knife had one of the shortest production and service records of any U.S. combat knife. However, the M3's blade design continued in U.S. military service in the form of the U.S. M4, M5, M6, and M7 bayonets.
Scabbards.
The M3 was initially issued with a stitched and riveted leather M6 scabbard with a protective steel tip designed to prevent the point from piercing the sheath and injuring the wearer. A rawhide thong on the end of the sheath allowed the user to tie the sheathed knife to his leg. U.S. paratroopers frequently wore an M3 and sheath tied to a boot for emergency use in cutting parachute lines or close-quarters defense. The M6 was quickly dropped in favor of the M8 scabbard.
The M8 and the later M8A1 scabbards both have an olive drab fiberglass body with a steel throat. The early M8 scabbard only had a belt loop to fit over a pistol or trouser belt, and lacked the wire hook that earlier bayonet scabbards had for attaching to the M1910 series of load carrying equipment. The improved M8A1 scabbard manufactured later in WWII added the wire hook. Some M8 scabbards were later modified by adding the hook. The scabbard throat is stamped "US M8" or "US M8A1" on the flat steel part along with the manufacturer's initials. Later M8A1 scabbards were manufactured with a modified extended tab on the web hanger to provide more clearance for the M5 bayonet which rubbed against the wider bayonet handle. This sheath is also correct for all post-war US bayonets including the M4, M5, M6, and M7.


List of assassinations by firearm

The following is a list of assassinations by firearm detailing the firearms used in the killings of politicians and key social and cultural figures.


Race knife

Race knife also known as a timber scribe ("scorer", "tree marker") is a knife with a U-shaped end sometimes called a "scoop knife" for cutting marks in wood by lumbermen, carpenters, coopers, surveyors, and others. The reasons for making marks varies and includes keeping count (tally marks), identifying parts (carpenter's marks), numbering, and tracing patterns around a template as a part of marking out. The gouges left by the timber scribe are more durable than pencil or chalk marks.
Two basic forms of race knife are a simple, fixed or folding, scooped blade and a scooped blade paired with a point around which the blade cut a circle or partial circle. The circles and partial circles allowed more variety in the patterns of marks rather than only using Roman numeral-like marks.
The numbering with a race knife resembles Roman numerals but the number four is usually marked IIII rather than IV and nine VIIII rather than IX because the four and nine could be mistaken for a six or eleven.


Nicole Baukus

Nicole Nadra Baukus (born April 2, 1989) is an American woman convicted of two counts of vehicular manslaughter stemming from an accident on June 29, 2012, in which she was driving intoxicated. Baukus pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 38 years in prison with the possibility of parole. Highway surveillance cameras showed Baukus' vehicle traveling on the wrong side of Interstate 45 after she had consumed alcohol at a nearby bar. A later request for a new trial was denied. Baukus attended and graduated from Oak Ridge High School in Conroe, Texas.
Trial.
Baukus was charged with two counts of second-degree felony intoxication manslaughter and one count of third-degree felony intoxication assault. After initially pleading not guilty to the charges against her, she pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter on August 1, 2013. Baukus was sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison on each count. She is currently eligible for parole in 2021. The judge in her trial, Michael Seiler, resigned from the bench to avoid prosecution from matters unrelated to this case.
Appeal.
Baukus filed an appeal of her conviction which was denied with a dissenting opinion in the Texas 9th District Court of Appeals. She filed a Petition for Discretionary Review with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals which was refused. On September 11, 2017, Baukus filed a writ of habeas corpus in the 435th District Court of Montgomery County, Texas with allegations of police misconduct, planting of evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective assistance of her trial lawyer. The case is now pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.


Hunter Field Target

Hunter field target (HFT) is a target shooting sport derived from air gun hunting shooting disciplines. It is mainly an outdoor sport practiced with air rifles equipped with optical sights. The rifles have a maximum energy of .
The hunter field target discipline can be defined as a traveling hunting simulation. A typical match consists of 30 to 40 targets placed at unknown distances to the shooter between . Each target lane consists of a peg, as well as a metal knock-down target placed in a position to simulate a hunting scenario. The peg marks the point of fire, and while firing the shooter must touch the peg with either a part of their body or rifle. The time starts as soon as the shooter touches the peg.
During the match, shooters are not allowed to use supplementary technology, they may not adjust the zoom of the scope, adjust their scope turrets or use any other tools to detect the angle of the rifle and distance to the targets.
There are 3 official shooting positions in the hunter field target:
Hunter field target is normally practiced in wooded areas or open countryside and in any weather conditions.
Equipment.
A typical HFT rifle set-up consists of an air rifle fitted with a telescopic sight. The rifle can vary from the very basic break-barrel spring-powered rifle to the most advanced electronic recoil-less pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) rifle. The most popular calibre for HFT is 4.5 mm (.177 inches) because of its flat trajectory, and telescopic sights capable of 10× magnification are favored. The maximum output power of the rifle must be limited to 16.3 joule.
Participants in HFT competitions may compete in different categories, such as Recoiling, Open and .22. and there are different categories for children and young people.


Seneca Army Depot

The former Seneca Army Depot occupied between Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake in Seneca County, New York. It was used as a munitions storage and disposal facility by the United States Army from 1941 until the 1990s. The Depot was listed in the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission and formally shut down in 2000. The property has since been transferred to the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency, which leases it to Seneca County Economic Development Corp.
Home to the world's largest herd of white deer, the base is in the towns of Varick and Romulus. Adjacent to the storage facility is the now-closed Seneca Army Airfield, whose long runway could handle large cargo aircraft.
History.
During the 1940s, the Army stored radioactive materials in connection with the Manhattan Project in igloos E0801 through E0811, on the south end of the Depot. Despite no formal confirmation from the Department of Defense, it is known that during the cold war the depot held the largest stockpile of Army nuclear weapons in the country. The Army RADCON team performed a survey on these igloos during the week of May 13, 1985.
In 1978 the United States Coast Guard opened a Loran-C transmitter station on the base. It closed in 2010.
The depot was a major employer in the region. It was linked to the outside world by the airfield, railroad lines and highways (NY-96 and NY-96A).
The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended closing the depot and it formally shut down on September 30, 2000.
In August 2002, The Glen Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) began using the airfield for autocross racing competitions, but site availability after August 2011 is not yet determined.
In early 2007, the Cornell 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Team began using the depot's private roads to test its autonomous vehicles. Some warehouses are leased to The Advantage Group, which runs a storage and shipping business. Much of the housing at the depot has been sold to private developers and is now available as part of the area's civilian housing stock. Much of the railroad track and outer yards are being used for railroad car storage. As of 2008, no customers ship by rail. The depot's former airfield is slated for use as a New York State Police training center. In early 2007, Cilion announced plans to build an ethanol plant on a portion of the former depot, but the project languished and appears to have died in the face of rising costs for corn and public concern about the wisdom of the project. An article dated July 20, 2009 in the Watertown Daily Times stated that the Fort Drum-based 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) would soon start using the depot for combat training.
Demonstrations to close the facility.
Beginning on July 4, 1983, and running for several years, antiwar and anti-nuclear activists mounted major protests at the facility, staging civil disobedience protests and establishing the Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice. Major events in 1983 took place in August and October. During the October event, many people including Dr. Benjamin Spock climbed the fence surrounding the depot and were detained. Most fence climbers were released after being given "ban and bar letters" telling them they would be charged with trespass if they were apprehended inside the depot again.
On three occasions — July 4, August 1, and November 3 — feminist artist Helene Aylon put pillowcases on the depot's fence that were filled with "rescued earth" from nuclear sites across the country during her 1982 "Earth Ambulance" voyage and sleep-out at the United Nations. Writer/activist Grace Paley was also among the demonstrators.
Demonstrations continued for several years, mostly originating from within the Women's Peace Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice, which operated from an old farmhouse on Route 96 in Romulus.
Current disposition of the depot land.
The Seneca County Industrial Development Agency has been trying to market the land halfway between Rochester and Syracuse to manufacturers or other industry.
Much of the land is dotted with large, concrete munitions storage bunkers known as 'igloos'. Discussions continue regarding land use. Development started on the depot's northeastern section, but much of it is non-taxable. the depot is home to a maximum-security state prison, the Five Points Correctional Facility and the Seneca County Law Enforcement Center, which includes the county jail. The non-profit, Hillside Family of Agencies that is headquartered in Rochester, NY. As of the fall of 2019 Hillside has closed its Seneca County Campus. There are a few private businesses including First Light, which uses some of the ammunition bunkers.
Reuse plans.
As of 2014, the towns of Varick and Romulus are discussing to bring the property back on the tax rolls by opening it up to residential, commercial and agricultural development with a new east-west road, cutting the property in half.
One group dedicated to "preserving the unique wildlife and the military history of the depot through conservation, ecotourism and economic development" wants to turn the depot into a protected wildlife area, since DEC and state Parks Department cite lack of funds to do so.
The White Deer herd.
The white deer, long the symbol for the depot, began appearing after the fence was erected in 1941. A handful of White-tailed deer that carried a recessive gene for all-white coats were isolated within the depot. The depot initially allowed only brown-coated deer to be killed, so the herd of white deer grew to more than 200, although hunters are occasionally allowed inside to kill a white deer.
The white deer are naturally occurring, not albinos, and have not pink, but brown eyes. The white deer live alongside another 600 brown white-tailed deer. Seneca White Deer, a non-profit group, received clearance to run limited bus tours in 2006, 2009, and 2012. These tours "turned out to be hugely successful".
A three-person crew from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had maintained the remaining undeveloped at the depot and the of fence that surrounds its entirety. In 2016, the property was sold to local businessman Earl Martin of Seneca Iron Works for $900,000 and established as Deer Haven Park, LLC. An agreement was later made between Martin and Dennis Money, founder of Seneca White Deer, Inc., to lease part of the land and operate it as a conservation park for the white deer. After some renovations to the fencing as well as construction of a welcome center and museum, Seneca White Deer park officially opened for guided driving tours in November 2017.
Tours ended December 29, 2019. Tours started up again on June 27, 2020 as self-guided auto tours with the option to download an auto tour app.


Raschen bag

A Raschen bag is a bag of ballast that is placed underneath the baseplate of a mortar to improve its accuracy when used on snow or other soft ground conditions. Raschen bags are named after Colonel Dan Raschen, Royal Engineers, who invented but did not name them.


March of the Dinosaurs

March of the Dinosaurs is a CGI film which has aired on ITV 1 in the UK on 23 April 2011 and released on DVD on 27 May 2011. The film was produced by Wide-Eyed Entertainment in association with Yap Films, and executive produced by Jasper James, who had previously worked on the "Walking with..." series and "Prehistoric Park". Set 70 million years ago in the Cretaceous in North America, the film follows the journey of a young "Edmontosaurus" named Scar and his herd as they migrate from Northern Alaska to Alberta during the winter. This film depicts recent findings and speculation about dinosaurs, such as North-American Tyrannosaurs having feathers, and hunting in packs, dinosaurs in the snow and migrating.
It shows a 1000-mile autumn migration of "Edmontosaurus" and "Pachyrhinosaurus" from their summer grazing in northwest Canada (then well inside the Arctic Circle, so that the winter night and summer day were each 4 months long) to their winter grazing in the south-west USA, and the young "Troodon" which had to stay and endure the Arctic winter. The hazards met are land and water predators, an Arctic blizzard, thin ice, crossing a foodless volcanic wasteland, a lahar, and a wide river inhabited by predators. All the scenery and vegetation are CGI.
The DVD says that this is inspired by recent dinosaur fossil discoveries in the Canadian Arctic, and that the Arctic CGI trees are modelled on "Sequioa".
Plot.
The film begins on a summer's day in Northern Alaska 70 million years ago and herd of "Edmontosaurus" and a spiky "Panoplosaurus" (identified as "Ankylosaur", once thought to be "Edmontonia") are feeding on the lush vegetation that grows all around them. Scar, a young male "Edmontosaurus", enjoys his life in the Arctic forests with his extended family, comes across a young immature male "Troodon" named Patch, who has been feasting on baby "Edmontosaurus" all summer, but now has to chase smaller, more difficult prey as the baby Edmontosaurus are too large to hunt. He chases after an "Unnuakomys", but another Troodon grabs the fleeing mammal, and Patch is becoming impatient. The plentiful food for Scar is ending as well, as the dark, cold Arctic winter is approaching. When night falls for the first time, Scar loses sign of the herd and spots a dark shape, which turns out to be a "Nanuqsaurus" (identified as Gorgosaurus), which slices his face as he narrowly dodges the killer blow. Later, a herd of "Pachyrhinosaurus" arrives and starts to compete for the dwindling food supply, further pressuring the herd's search for food. Scar finds the "Panoplosaurus" feasting on insect larvae from a fallen tree branch and tries his luck with mixed success. The sun sets and the Pachyrhinosaur herd moves on somewhere else in search of food. The winter's approach causes the herbivores to start risking their safety and a young female "Edmontosaurus" gets killed by the "Nanuqsaurus" as she wanders too far from the herd. The next day, the "Edmontosaurus" and "Pachyrhinosaurus" herds move south for the winter towards Alberta, while "Panoplosaurus" stays behind. She's way too heavy and her armoured body has been storing fat to last her through the lean months. Meanwhile, Patch and the "Troodons" are feasting on the dead female "Edmontosaurus" when the "Nanuqsaurus" appears. The tyrannosaur scares the "Troodons" away, but is wounded in the fight, and Patch is frustrated and must work harder to find prey. Far away, the dinosaur herd is moving on, until Scar sees a dark shadows, which turns out to be a flock of scavenging "Cryodrakon" (once thought to be a species of Quetzalcoatlus), which feed on the dying herd members that could not keep pace. A blizzard arrives and Scar collapses, but an older male arrives and helps him to keep moving through the blizzard. They continue on walking and don't realize they are heading into a trap; the ground breaks apart, as they walked onto a frozen sea inlet. As the herd struggles to escape the icy water, several get dragged under by mosasaurs known as "Prognathodon". Scar has never swum before, but he is pushed in and starts to swim for the shore. Back in Alaska, Patch picks up a bone and heads back to his nest, which he has been building in the hopes of attracting a mate. Nearby, The "Nanuqsaurus" finds the "Panoplosaurus" outside its lair, but the bite to its leg is badly infected and it goes back into the cave to wait for easier prey to wander close. Six hundred miles away, the "Edmontosaurus" herd moves on through a volcanic ash field. Lying in wait, a pack of "Albertosaurus" sleeps until the herd is close enough to ambush. The feathered carnivores wake up and start to stalk the herd. Scar runs for his life while one of the predators is hot on his heels. During the attack, an avalanche of water, rock and mud caused by the eruption of a volcano that follows the attack slides down the bank. Scar climbs up the cliff, but loses his courage, and the "Albertosaurus", injured in the eruption, begins to close in. Just as Scar sees the avalanche, he rushes up the cliff while the "Albertosaurus" is swept to its seeming death. Back in the Arctic, Patch tries to impress the female by dancing only to lose out to a more experienced male and the "Panoplosaurus" has found a last leaf. Suddenly, the log she stands on breaks apart and the "Panoplosaurus" slides down the snow on her back and crashes into a snowdrift, utterly helpless. Far away south, Scar tries to call for his family, but the only calls are the ones that didn't make it; the old male "Edmontosaurus" he has been traveling with and an injured female "Pachyrhinosaurus". The "Albertosaurus", having survived the mudslide, rises back to its feet and starting following Scar's trail again. Scar and the old "Edmontosaurus" walks on, but the older animal, suffering from a brain tumor, becomes more aggressive and nervous towards Scar, eventually even biting him. Scar sees the "Albertosaurus" first, and flees. The old bull Edmontosaur fights the predator until they both tumble over the cliff, locked in a deadly embrace. In the frozen north, Patch learns how to finally catch "Unnuakomys" by listening for them under the snow and comes across the overturned "Panoplosaurus". He and several other "Troodons" attack the ankylosaur, but the "Nanuqsaurus", now fully healed of its injury, arrives and pulls the herbivore away from the smaller predators. Struggling, the "Panoplosaurus" gets back up and injures the "Nanuqsaurus" with her shoulder spikes. The "Nanuqsaurus" heads back to the cave, fatally wounded with a broken leg. As the sun rises the next morning, Scar is becoming weaker and the "Cryodrakon" that follows senses it. The young dinosaur hears a rustling noise, which turns to be the injured female "Pachyrhinosaurus" instead. The pterosaur gives up as the ceratopsian herd arrives to cross the river. As they cross the river, groups of "Prognathodon" arrive and pull many of them underwater. Scar dives in while the mosasaurs continue their attack on the "Pachyrhinosauruses". Scar eventually reaches the far bank and reunites with the "Edmontosaurus" herd, finally reaching safety. The sun eventually rises again and warmth begins to spread across the Arctic Circle. The "Panoplosaurus" is feasting on the budding greens and Patch manages to find a mate, offering scavenged meat from the dead "Nanuqsaurus". Soon, the "Edmontosaurus" will travel north again once summer begins to arrive to the north.


Firearms in Miami Vice

In the television series, "Miami Vice", firearms took a key role. Episodes such as "Evan" revolved around them, while the characters themselves also used several firearms during the series. Sonny Crockett (played by Don Johnson) was to have used a SIG Sauer P220, but this was replaced by the then more modern Bren Ten. The importance of the firearms in "Miami Vice" is demonstrated by Galco International, which provided the holster used by Don Johnson on the show, naming its holster the "Miami Classic".
Firearms used by characters.
Sonny Crockett.
Originally, James "Sonny" Crockett was to use a Browning BDA .45 ACP, often mistakenly identified as a SIG Sauer P220 in .45 ACP. The grips and markings to the right side of slide make this subtle difference evident in the pilot episode. He also carries a Detonics Pocket 9 chambered in 9mm Parabellum as a backup, tucked in his rear waistband near the small of his back. But it was later decided that a more state-of-the-art gun was to be used by Don Johnson. During the first season, he used a Bren Ten pistol carried in a Ted Blocker "Lifeline" shoulder holster rig. Due to Don Johnson's dissatisfaction with the "Lifeline" rig, the Jackass Leather Company (later renamed Galco International) "Original Jackass Rig" shoulder holster rig was personally fitted for him by Rick Gallagher (President of Galco). Finally the Galco "Miami Classic" shoulder holster was designed and used. The Bren Ten, manufactured by Dornaus & Dixon, was a stainless steel handgun notable as the first ever chambered in the powerful 10mm Auto caliber. The Bren Ten was originally manufactured as a two-tone weapon: the carbon steel slide was black oxide and frame was stainless steel. The model used in "Miami Vice" had a hard chromed matte finished slide so that it showed up better during night shots. The pistol used in the show was chambered in .45 ACP, as opposed to the standard 10mm Auto due to the fact that .45 ACP blanks were far more plentiful, as they had been used in movies and film for decades, and 10mm Auto blanks were simply not available.
After the Dornaus & Dixon company went out of business in 1986, the product placement contract went to Smith & Wesson. Starting with the third season, Sonny used a 2nd Generation series Smith & Wesson Model 645. This was a full-sized 5-inch-barreled stainless steel service pistol in .45 ACP. Galco Gunleather again fashioned a "Miami Classic" shoulder holster for Johnson's new S&W 645 pistol. In the Galco Gunleather headquarters, there is a large display that contains the "Miami Vice" shoulder holster rig that Don Johnson wore, accompanied by an autographed photo of him. In late 1988 Smith & Wesson unveiled their new 3rd Generation Series of auto pistols, which coincided with the fifth and last season of the series; as the producers desired to keep Crockett as being seen to be on the cutting edge of weaponry, Sonny's Model 645 was replaced with the new Smith & Wesson Model 4506, also chambered in .45 ACP. This pistol had 20+ design improvements including a one piece arched grip. Sonny's 4506 can be seen in the beginning of the episode "Victim of Circumstance" when he is sitting in a cafe, looking at it. Sonny also carried a .45 ACP Detonics Combat-Master backup gun in an ankle holster on his left leg, replacing the Pocket 9 from the pilot episode. It can be seen in the bar scene shootout in the "Prodigal Son" episodes. In the last series episode "Freefall" Crockett is placing what looks to be a S&W CS45 (compact alloy framed .45 ACP) in his ankle holster.
Rico Tubbs.
Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs was armed with a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun in the first season. In Season 2, he used an Ithaca 37 sawed-off pump shotgun called an Ithaca Stakeout, which he carried on a halter under his jacket. Beginning in Season 3 (and for the remainder of the show), he carried a modified, short-barreled Remington 870. As a backup, he carried a Smith & Wesson Model 38 Bodyguard with Pachmayr grips. He can also be seen using a SIG P228 in the series finale 'Freefall' and a Smith & Wesson Model 36 in the pilot episode.
Stan Switek.
Stan Switek can be seen using a variety of weapons, including a nickel-plated 9mm Browning Hi-Power in "French Twist".
Larry Zito.
Larry Zito mostly used a S&W 659 and a Mossberg 500 with police uniform in the pilot episode.
Lt. Castillo.
Lt. Castillo used a Colt Trooper Mk V revolver in .357 Magnum. He also used a Smith & Wesson Model 19 revolver, a Smith & Wesson Model 686 revolver, a Smith & Wesson Model 586 revolver, a nickel-plated Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver, and a Detonics Scoremaster pistol throughout the series.
Gina Calabrese.
Gina Calabrese mostly used a S&W Model 36 in .38 special.
Trudy Joplin.
Trudy frequently used a S&W Model 36 in .38 Special and a Mossberg 500 shotgun with police uniform.
Firearms in episodes.
For additional firepower when arresting heavily armed drug dealers, other weapons were occasionally used, including the Steyr AUG, M16 assault rifles, H&K MP5 submachine guns, and the Street-Sweeper shotgun. In Season 3 episode ("Cuba Libre"), one of the Cuban rebels carried a then brand-new Glock 17, which marked Glock's first ever appearance in media. One Season 4 episode ("A Bullet For Crockett") showed a drug dealer shooting at Crockett with a LAR Grizzly Win Mag after a car chase. One episode's plot ("Evan") was based on black market sales of MAC-10 submachine guns, and another episode, "Child's Play", dealt in part with the discovery of Belgian Browning Hi-Power pistols.


The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a painting by the English painter John Martin from 1852.
John Martin's painting, shows the biblical story of the destruction of the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which was God's punishment for the two cities for people's immoral behavior. Only Lot and his daughters were saved. Lot's wife disobeyed God's instruction not to look back, and was turned into a pillar of salt. The fiery red color is characteristic of John Martin's dramatic scenes of destruction. The swirling storm in heaven was also a frequent feature of his paintings.
Description.
It is 136.3 x 212.3 cm. in size.
It is in the collection of the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Apocalyptic theme.
Several other of Martin's paintings contain apocalyptic tendencies, including the "Fall of Babylon" (1831), "The Fall of Nineveh", "Divine vengeance", "Pandemonium" (1841) and "The Eve of the Deluge" (1840).
Artist.
Many regarded Martin while he lived as a great British artist, surpassed only by his older contemporary colleague J. M. W. Turner, who he had a competition with for recognition. But John Martin's reputation declined after his death.


Francotte

Francotte is a weapons manufacturer in Liège, Belgium. It can be traced back to 1805, and is still in operation today.
During the first decades they manufactured various arms for various nations around Europe, among others 1,500 M1849 kammerladers for Norway. Later they concentrated on high-quality, expensive civilian arms.


Barnitzke machine gun

The Barnitzke machine gun is a prototype machine gun of late World War II German origin. The weapon uses an unusual delayed blowback operation, where during firing the bolt opening is delayed by the rotational inertia of two flywheels, which are driven by a rack and pinion arrangement on the bolt carrier.


.38-72 Winchester

The .38-72 Winchester, also known as .38-72 WCF is a rimmed, bottleneck centerfire rifle cartridge introduced in 1895 for the Winchester 1895 lever-action rifle.
Description and Performance.
The original Winchester factory load consisted of a bullet at . This straight-walled cartridge case was designed for black powder rather than smokeless powder.
Besides the Winchester 1895 lever-action, the .38-72 WCF was chambered in the Winchester 1885 single-shot rifle.
With the introduction of superior cartridges designed for smokeless powder, the .38-72 WCF became obsolete and was soon dropped as an optional caliber for the Winchester Model 1895 and 1885 Production of loaded cartridges by Winchester ceased in 1936.