Original U.S. WWII Type ANM2 Aircraft Browning .50 Caliber Prop Display Machine Gun with Damaged Left Hand Feed Chute

Original and Replica Items: Only One Available. This is a fantastic "Mock Up" type ANM2 Aircraft Browning .50 Caliber prop display machine gun, made using a few original components attached to a custom fabricated totally inert steel receiver. This was made with several pieces of steel held together with nuts and bolts to make an empty "box", and has no functional ability whatsoever, making this a 100% legal mockup display gun.

It is made to look like the type of ANM2 that would have been mounted in the front or in turrets of various WWII bombers, made using a ventilated short barrel jacket with a sprocket around the base, possibly utilizing an original barrel trunion. There is no barrel inside, though there is a flash hider, which we do believe to be original. It has spade grips at the end however, which is not really correct for this type, which are also completely fabricated.

The mock up gun comes with an original damaged CHUTE ASSY LH, made by NOBLES ENGINEERING & MFG. CO., which measures about 25 inches in length, and has some damage about a third of the way down from the gun attachment point. One of the "links" in the shoot broke and was also bent, so it is currently in two pieces. These are made mostly of aluminum and other light materials, so bending parts back into place is risky, which is why we did not attempt to fix it.

A lovely display piece for any WWII Aviation display!

The M2 Machine Gun, Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun, is a heavy machine gun designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. It is very similar in design to John Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered for the .30-06 cartridge. The M2 uses the larger and more powerful .50 BMG cartridge, which was named for the gun itself (BMG standing for Browning Machine Gun). The M2 has been referred to as "Ma Deuce", or "the fifty" in reference to its caliber. The design has had many specific designations; the official designation for this WWII infantry type is Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .50, M2. It is effective against infantry, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles and boats, light fortifications, and low-flying aircraft.

The M2 machine gun was widely used during World War II, and in later postwar conflicts, as a remote or flexible aircraft gun. For fixed (offensive) or flexible (defensive) guns used in aircraft, a dedicated M2 version was developed called the .50 Browning AN/M2. The "AN" stands for "Army/Navy", since the gun was developed jointly for use by both services (unusual for the time, when the delineations between the Army and Navy were much stricter, and relations between armed services were often cool, if not outright hostile[citation needed]). The AN/M2 had a cyclic rate of 750–850 rounds per minute, with the ability to be fired from an electrically operated remote-mount solenoid trigger when installed as a fixed gun. Cooled by the aircraft's slip-stream, the air-cooled AN/M2 was fitted with a substantially lighter 36-inch (91 cm) length barrel, reducing the weight of the complete unit to 61 pounds (28 kg), which also had the effect of increasing the rate of fire. The official designation for this weapon was Browning Machine Gun, Aircraft, Cal. .50, AN/M2 (Fixed) or (Flexible). The B-17G Flying Fortress heavy bomber was armed with up to 13 AN/M2 guns in both turreted and flexible positions, with only the later versions of the B-25J Mitchell medium bomber, field-fitted with solid metal noses carrying more AN/M2 guns. These could carry from 14 to 18 M2s, mostly aimed forward for attack duties, including two guns on the forward-located dorsal turret of the B-25H and J models.