Out of Retirement (1 Viewer)

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Let's not forget the Colt 1911 pistol, which was "decommissioned" in 1985, but within the past few years, has been reactivated for service with certain USMC units.
 
The Soviet TB-3 four engined bomber was retired from service in 1939 after almost 10 years of service.

When Germany attacked the Soviet Union 1941, the TB-3 was called back to service and performed a wide range of duties until the end of WWII.

There were 536 TB-3 aircraft at the start of the war and by the end of hostilities, there were only 10 still in operation.
 
Yah, was talking about them.

USS Buchanan/HMS Campbelltown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Buchanan_(DD-131)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Stockton_(DD-73)

This one, USS Stockton/HMS Ludlow was beached not far from where I used to live in Scotland. it was placed on Dirleton Sands (the wiki entry is slightly misleading) and was used as a target for rocket firing Beaufighters of 132 OTU to practise against. The ship was scrapped post war, but its keel can be seen in the sand at low tide.
 
AFAIR all these four-stackers were inactivated but WW2 forced them out of retirement to serve either in the USN or Commonwealth navies.
 
Let's not forget the Colt 1911 pistol, which was "decommissioned" in 1985, but within the past few years, has been reactivated for service with certain USMC units.

Interesting.
Are they actually reactivating previously decommissioned 1911's, or are these new pistols?
Back in the 80's there was so much hullabaloo about how "worn out" the 1911's were.
 
The An-2, our best bomber in 1991:

dvokr.JPG


More pics:

Otvoreni maketarski forum :: Vidi temu - An-2, what if
 
220px-Boffin_40mm_bofors_cfb_borden_1.jpg

Single Bofors 40 mm Boffin mounting, displayed at CFB Borden. In 1996 museum pieces like this cannon were pressed back into service to serve as the main armament of the Kingston-class minesweepers.[3]
 
I have mentioned it elsewhere before (threads re USM) but all the RAF ex front line aeroplanes sent to second line use (eg Harts and Wallaces) as trainers, target tugs and Anti Aircraft Cooperation Units etc. were reissued bomb racks and to be brought back into front line use in 1940 for ground attack in the event of invasion. Fortunately they were never so called upon.
 
Interesting.
Are they actually reactivating previously decommissioned 1911's, or are these new pistols?
Back in the 80's there was so much hullabaloo about how "worn out" the 1911's were.


There is/was a contract for Colt to deliver 5000 new pistols, and some units are still using WWII stuff that's been rebuilt a bunch of times. I can attest to the WWII guns being worn-out, the 1911 I was issued during my '77-'81 years in the 82nd Abn Div was inoperable, but SOME of them were still working well enough I could qualify Expert several times. I bought myself a Commander model to carry if the SHTF, as I knew I'd be in deep stuff with the issue gun.

Around 1990, when I was helping run an IPSC pistol club, we had a couple of guys from Bragg come to one of our matches, and they were using GI guns. Both of them died in Mogadishu a bit later. Delta let the shoot matches with issue weapons, to enhance their skills.
 
During the Philippine-American War the .38 Long Colt was considered inadequate to put down fanatical Muslims.

From Wikipedia:
American units fighting Moro guerrillas during the Philippine-American War using the then-standard Colt M1892 revolver, in .38 Long Colt, found it to be unsuitable for the rigors of jungle warfare, particularly in terms of stopping power, as the Moros had very high battle morale and frequently used drugs to inhibit the sensation of pain.The U.S. Army briefly reverted to using the M1873 single-action revolver in .45 Colt caliber, which had been standard during the late 19th century; the heavier bullet was found to be more effective against charging tribesmen. The problems prompted the then–Chief of Ordnance, General William Crozier, to authorize further testing for a new service pistol.
Following the 1904 Thompson-LaGarde pistol round effectiveness tests, Colonel John T. Thompson stated that the new pistol "should not be of less than .45 caliber" and would preferably be semi-automatic in operation​

On January 14, 1985, during the Cold war, the 9mm was officially adopted.

Now history repeats itself, and the 9mm is considered inadequate to put down fanatical Muslims.
 
The NATO conclusion was that the 9mm offered adequate stopping power in a sidearm and it was a uniform caliber to be shared with all NATO participants.

Their view of the U.S. .45 caliber, was that it was "overkill" or "excessive" along with it's incompatability with most European NATO members.

As it so happens, the Colt 1911 .45 is just as effective at stopping a "muslim fanatic" as it is a "judeo-christian", a "godless commie bastard" or anything inbetween...
 
Although it was was close to out of service before Vietnam in the mid 60's the C-47 Dakota/Gooney bird (derived from the civil DC-3 first flown in 1935) was re-purposed to carry a group of mini-guns controlled by the pilot and became the FC-47 (later re-designated AC-47)
 

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