Found barrel - of which plane?

[Sonk]

Hello everybody,

my father recently found a barrel of a gun in the mud near the place where he lives.
The location is 4 miles south-east of St. Peter-Ording which is a famous city for beach vacations in Germany at the north sea, around 80 miles north west of Hamburg.
He says he was told the story. It was an allied plane which went down at the coast in the first one or two years of WW2 and sunk in the mud. The pilot could save himself before the crash and was captured by one of the locals who handed him over to the authorities.

I have asked myself if it was possible to determine the model of the plane just by the gun it has used? Does somebody recognise the gun?
I measured the inner diameter of the muzzle to around 14 mm, so I believe it should be 0.5 inches?
I have enclosed photos and some measurements in one of them.
If anyone can give me some hints this would be highly appreciated.
The main question for me is: in which planes of WW2 was this type of gun the standard gun?

Regards

Sönke
.

[A4K]

What's the muzzle diameter Sönke? ...Und wilkommen zum forum!

Evan

[ramc181]

Certainly the complete innards of an AN/M2 .50 cal. Browning. Very nice find.

Sadly that only narrows the aircraft type down to virtually any WWII US-manufactured combat aircraft.

All the best,
PB

[Sonk]

@ evan
I measured the inner diameter of the muzzle to a little less than 14 mm - so this should be 0.50 - right?

I agree with PB about the muzzle whereas I do not think that it was a US plane. Unless the British AF used US planes in the years 1939 and 1940.
Are there so many planes which used to have a 0.50 Browning as standard gun? I did not find many. Was a Browning used in US and Britih planes?

Regards,

Sönke

[Kingscoy]

It could also be that the story was incorrect. In our research in the Netherlands we come across many eyewitness accounts which prove to be incorrect in time and date....it is after all 70 years later.....

Greetings,
Sander

[Sonk]

An update for those who are interested:
It is definitely an M2HB Browning 0.5 (see the picture below)
The length of the barrel is usually 45 inches, only the aircraft version is shorter because it does not need to be cooled that much. It is 36 inches which is 914mm. If you subtract around 2cm for the thread then it matches the length I measured.
Now I have to find out what planes used an american gun in the beginning of WW2. It could have been a reconnaisance plane like the Grumman G-36A.

Does somebody know where to find out if such a plane came down at the coast of Germany during the first 2 years of WW2?

[Kingscoy]

One possibility is.... First I would find out which RAF unit flew this type of a/c and if they flew ops in that area. Then you could try to find out with the use of the Operations Record Books if something is metioned regarding this crash. These documents are stored at the Public Records Oficce in Kew(UK). But you will have to go there in person because you will not get info from the archives using the internet.

But I would start by doing some more asking around in the area where the plane crashed to be sure that stories are not mixed up..... it is 70 years later. And you could try to find more parts of this a/c which could identify the type.

Hope it helps.

Cheers,
Sander

[CharlesBronson]

The Browning M2HB ( heavy barrel) was only an infantry / armored vehicles gun, it was not emplaced on aircrafts.