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I have replaced my FJ73 Old Exhaust with New one, the old one has no holders and no brackets, the old one was not sealed and you can hear the engine noise before, but after installing the new exhaust now very nice engine voice ...
A traditional rope is used to seal the crank. Soaking it in parafin before hand makes it easier to insert.
Originally South Australian Railways, coming under control of Australian National Railways in 1975, ANR was privatised in 1997. Cowan Sheldon 60t crane 1925
I found this on the camera when I downloaded my pictures -- Brian obviously took a picture while we had a giant hole in the front of our house. Pretty neat! (and cold and noisy, I understand)
Some traditions are priceless and cannot be replaced.
The Children had the writing practice in the traditional slates to improve their fine motor skills and love to have it often.
A Healthy start!
We are learning about Fruits...
A fresh Sunday, started with refreshing their memories with phonics and numbers of last week.
The kids week has kicked off with yummy fruits basket study, which was good to improve their communication skills.
They enjoyed exercising their bodies during their frog jump, that was a great activity for their Physical Development.
Apple Maths, during our bean master class was mind refreshing and was interesting to know about the simple operations.
What a great garden of fruits they made today! This activity was to express their artistic skills and to know more about the things that they are seeing and using around them.
Still studying about fruits, they sorted the seeds during their numeracy class to enhance their cognitive skills.
They had an Outdoor practice for tomorrow 's National Day Celebration .
Watch out for their performance!!!
Replaced wingnuts with nylock nuts. Will check with Flightstar to make sure this joint doesn't need to be able to pivot.
The second running of the Clongowes 5KM Road Race and Fun Run was held in Clongoweswood College, Clane, Co. Kildare, Ireland on Sunday March 24th 2013 at 11:00. The wonderful spring weather for the race last year was replaced by a biting Artic wind and a very strong head-wind for the runners coming into the finish along the avenue. Almost 400 participants braved the conditions and lined up on the start line for this event. This is a charity event and all proceeds will go towards the International Camp for Young Disabled, which takes place in August 2013.
The race starts and finishes in the grounds of the college. The start of the race is at the southerly part of the grounds near to Clane Golf Club. The race then proceeds out onto the Clane Kilcock Road, takes a back-road route to the Prosperous road and then back to the college. The final four hundred meters are down the wonderful straight tree lined avenue from the archway at the gate.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the organisation of this race. The race met the high starts that it set last year. This race has the potential to become a very prominent annual fixture on the North Leinster running calendar.
How can I get a full resolution copy of these photographs?
All of the photographs here on this Flickr set have a visible watermark embedded in them. All of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available, free, at no cost, at full resolution WITHOUT watermark. We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not know of any other photographers who operate such a policy. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, Google Orkut etc or (2) other websites, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us. This also means the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a wall post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember - all we ask is for you to link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc.
I ran the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set!
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information below.
If you want to contribute something for these images?
We do not charge for these images. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that they are good enough that you would ordinarily pay for their purchase we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible.
Please note: that we cannot be responsible for the content of any external links (outside of our Flickr account) as we have no control over them. Links are provided for your information only. Responsibility lies solely with the operators of these websites.
Some links, related to this race, which you might find useful:
Clongowes 5KM Race Homepage: www.clongowes5k.ie/
Clongowes 5KM Race on Facebook: www.facebook.com/clongowes5k
Our Flickr Set from the Clongowes 5KM 2012: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157629350666870/
Race Results 2013: www.precisiontiming.net/result/racetimer?v=%252Fen%252Fra...
Google StreetView of the famous archway gateway to Clongowes Wood College: goo.gl/maps/RQt8I
Clongowes Wood College Homepage: clongowes.net/wordpress/
كل حين لا بد من تغيير التربة المستخدمة في الأوعية حيث أنها تكون قد نفذت من المواد الغذائية وقد أصبحت عبارة عن كتلة ضخمة من التراب تستطيع أن تخنق جذور النباتات بسهولة
Show Rádio Metropolitana FM : November 07, 2009 - Santo André/SP
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In case you publish this photo please don't forget the credits |
Ao publicar, por gentileza, dar os devidos créditos
Foto por Rodrigo Bertolino: rodrigobertolino.com
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¬ ADD MSN: jwg_rdg@hotmail.com
¬ SITE: rodrigobertolino.com
The Model A Ford, replaced the aging Model T.
The Model T Ford, Launched in 1908 was to become one of the most important cars of the 20th century. As the year progressed, Henry Ford became reluctant to replace the Model T with a more up to date model, and as competitors introduced new, more modern designs, sales of the Model T declined.
The Model T was the most popular car in its era, and made Henry Ford a world-wide household name, but it was Edsel Ford’s insistence in 1926 to start work on a replacement that secured the company’s future.
The order was finally given on July 20th 1926 to start work on the new car although the name had not been picked yet.
Ford spent US$ 100,000.00 on the Model A design and for retooling of the Rouge plant to build the new Model A. The first Model A rolled off the production line in Detroit on the 20th of October 1927 and was available in seven body styles and four colors.
The Model A was also produced in Australia at Ford’s Geelong plant.
Specifications
Launched:1927
Body:2-Door Sedan
Engine:4-Cylinder 200.5 Cu In
Power: 40 hp @ 2200rpm
Transmission:3 speed sliding gear with 1 speed reverse
Suspension:Houdaille shock absorbers with semi-elliptical springs
Brakes: 4 Wheel, fully enclosed – internal expanding drums
Final Drive:Three quarter floating type with spiral bevel gears
Replaced the worn leatherette, light-seals and batteries. Ready to run the first roll of film through it.
Design, Remove and refit ensuite with Utopia Bathroom furniture, Merlyn shower Enclosure, Aqualisa shower and Amtico Flooring
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Messerschmitt Me 210 was a German heavy fighter and ground-attack aircraft of World War II. Design started before the war, as a replacement for the Bf 110. The first examples were ready in 1939, but they proved to have unacceptably poor flight characteristics due to serious wing planform and fuselage design flaws. A large-scale operational testing program throughout 1941 and early 1942 did not cure the type's problems. The design entered limited service in, but in Luftwaffe service the Me 210 was soon replaced by the Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse, a further, re-badged development of the Me 210 which rectified many of its shortcomings.
The type was, however, offered for license production, despite its flaws. In Europe the Me 210 was license-produced in Hungary (where 179 were built with the designation Me 210 Ca-1 from 1942). In Asia, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service received one aircraft (Werksnummer 2350, a modified Me 210 A-2 which already incorporated many elements that would be integrated into the improved Me 410) bought in Germany for tests and delivered by U-boat. It was operated by the Testing unit of the First Tachikawa Air Army Arsenal. Despite its improvements the upgraded Me 210 did not find favor by the IJA, but the Imperial Japanese Navy became interested in the type because it would provide its land-based units with a versatile two-engine aircraft that could be adopted into a wide range of uses.
An agreement for license manufacture in Japan by Watanabe Tekkōjo, Kyūshū Hikōki K.K. (九州飛行機, Kyūshū Aircraft Company Ltd.) was signed by the Imperial Japanese Navy Aviation Bureau in late 1942. However, the IJN found the original Me 210 to be too complicated and heavy, and demanded changes that eventually led to the Kyushu G11W, how the license-built but much modified derivative was designated. The most important and obvious modification was the deletion of the original liquid-cooled DB 601 engines and their exchange with domestic air-cooled Mitsubishi Ha-102 14-cylinder radial piston engines. This required a re-design of the nacelles and of parts of the landing gear, as well as new engine mounts. The Ha-102s offered less power than the German DB 601 but provided net weight savings of almost 600 kg because the coolers and their respective ducting could be omitted, too.
Another weight-saving measure concerned the Me 210’s defensive armament, originally a pair of remote-controlled Ferngerichtete Drehring-Seitenlafette FDSL 131/1B barbettes on the fuselage flanks behind the cockpit. IJN officials were impressed by the engineering efforts behind this installation but had doubts about the weapons’ efficiency, its relative weight and reliability, so that the whole installation was rejected and deleted, too. Instead, two manually operated 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 97 aircraft machine guns were installed in simple ball mounts, operated by the rearward-facing navigator/radio operator. In service, these were frequently upgraded to 13.2 mm (0.520 in) Type 3 machine guns, though. The deletion of the motorized barbettes saved roughly another 400 kg, and with some other structural simplifications the reduction of overall weight could compensate for the slightly enlarged frontal area and loss of power induced by the radial engines, so that the G11W’s performance remained on par with the Me 210. As another side effect, due to a shift of the aircraft’s center of gravity forward, the G11W’s overall handling became less hazardous than the Me 210’s and the lower gross weight made the aircraft more responsive to control input.
Conceived as a fast bomber, the G11W’s offensive armament remained comparable with the German Me 210, with two light machine cannon and machine guns each in the nose, just Japanese weapons were mounted. The shallow bomb bay under the cockpit was retained, too, and could hold up to 1.000 kg (2.205 lb) of bombs. However, indigenous additions were plumbed hardpoints under the outer wings for 300 l drop tanks to extend range for long-range missions over the sea and for ferry flights in the PTO.
G11W serial production started in 1944, but the establishment of the type’s production line at the Kyushu plant was delayed and indigenous aircraft designs had received priority, so that the work’s capacity was never fully exploited. Only limited numbers of the new multi-purpose baseline aircraft, the G11W1, were delivered to frontline units, primarily to fill operative gaps.
Most were adapted to special missions, though, and this led to a wide range of modifications of the equipment and even of the basic airframe. Beyond the original fast bomber/attack role many G11Ws were re-equipped as G11W1-C heavy fighters; their bomb bays were filled with more guns, and some late aircraft even received on-board radar to convert them into night fighters (called G11W1-S), even though the type’s maximum altitude was not sufficient to intercept the fast heavy B-29 bombers. Instead of additional forward-firing guns in the bomb bay these machines were frequently outfitted with an extra pair of forward up-firing Type 99 20 mm cannons behind the cockpit, in the space where the Me 210 formerly carried its motorized gun barbettes. A small number of G11Ws were furthermore outfitted with cameras in the bomb bay, lost their offensive gun armament, were lightened wherever possible, and used for tactical reconnaissance (as G11W1-R).
A special role the G11W was adapted for, too, was the attack of enemy ships with newly developed guided air-to-surface weapons, including missiles and glide bombs. These machines were typically baseline bombers and were designated G11W1-KAI which had a reduced offensive armament (typically the light machine guns in the nose were deleted) to compensate for additional radio equipment to control guided air-to-surface weapons.
One of the few weapons that found its way into operational use on board of G11Ws was the Mitsubishi Igo-1-A, also known as Mitsubishi Ki-147 within the IJA. Developed along its sister projects of Kawasaki Igo-1-B and Tokyo Imperial University designed Igo-1-C, the Igo-1-A was a simple, visually guided, and radio-controlled glide bomb propelled by a Toku-Ro Model 3 solid-fuel rocket booster, which provided 240 kgf of thrust for up to 80 seconds.
The Igo-1-A’s design began in 1944 and it was developed in a hurry, probably with engineering support from Germany. The weapon resembled a classic torpedo with wings and tail surfaces. The Igo-1-A had an overall weight of 1.400 kg (3,083 lb), including an 800 kg (1.762 lb) HEAT warhead from a No. 80 standard bomb, a length of 5.77 m (18 ft 11 in) and a wingspan and wing area of 3.60 m (11 ft 10 in) and 3.60 m² (38.6 sq ft), respectively. Test trials were already carried out from a modified Kawasaki Ki-48 light bomber in late 1944 and quite successful. Launched at an altitude of 5.000m (16,000 ft) the Igo-1-A demonstrated a maximum effective range of about 11 km (7 miles), and the rocket boosters allowed an even higher range. However, effectively aiming the glide bomb into a major ship target beyond this distance turned out to be impossible.
Despite its many deficiencies the weapon was quickly refined into the operational Igo-1-A-I, which had a modfied configuration to make it better suited for aircraft operations. In this form the weapon was ordered by the war ministry and adopted by both IJA and IJN. The Igo-1-A-I’s planned standard mother aircraft were IJA’s Kawasaki Ki-102 heavy fighter and the IJN’s G11W. In both cases, a single glide bomb was carried under the fuselage on a massive pylon, in the case of the G11W its protruded from cut-outs in the bomb bay doors.
Beyond the simple radio guidance, more sophisticated means of target acquisition were under development, too, primarily to make it possible for the bomber to turn away after dropping the weapon without having to continue observing the target or even having to fly over it. One direction was a television seeker and a transmitter on board of the guided bomb and a viewing device on the carrier aircraft. Images of the target were transmitted via a VHF transmitter to the image receiver in the guided aircraft, which could be used by the bombardier for target control and flight path directions. The most important part of the television camera was a compact image pickup tube (a super iconoscope). It converted the optical image provided by a lens into electrical signals, with which the transmitter built into the bomb was modulated and the HF signal was fed to an amplifier with an antenna for transmission. The picture consisted of 441 lines with 50 picture changes according to the interlaced method. In the carrier aircraft, the gunner observed the monitor on which the image recorded by the camera was reassembled into a television image. The combination of transmitter, transmitter output stage and TV receiver was built and tested in only a small number, though.
Another guidance method for anti-ship weapons used a heat-seeker. The idea behind the concept was simple and resulted in one of the first fire-and-forget weapons: a bomb with a heat-sensitive seeker head, which would, when locked onto its ship target, steadily correct the bomb's flight path from constant deviations, without external guidance. This concept was based around the idea that a steam-powered (battle) ship would produce a distinct heat signature and therefore an easy target - esp. at night, in good contrast to the colder sea around and with no sun interferences which could jam or distract the sensor. The seeker head used a bolometer, a device for measuring radiant heat by means of a material having a temperature-dependent electrical resistance, to home in on its target. Deviations from the ideal flight path (with the strongest recognized temperature signal) would cause tail rudders to correct the flight path, so that the bomb would follow a zig-zag path during its braked dive from about 2.000 m launch altitude. Tests were made with a target float on which a huge fire burned, but with appallingly poor results at first, because there was no way to confirm whether the seeker had locked onto the intended target upon launch or not. However, the heat-seeker was constantly improved, including a transmitter to control the bolometer’s readings and confirm its correct input, and it was expected to be ready for service in late 1945. Another novel guidance concept used the shock waves of a battleship’s firing guns to attract/guide a missile or guiding bomb without the need to actively control it.
None of these more sophisticated guidance measures made it to the operational Igo-1-A-I glide bombs, though. Until the end of hostilities, approximately 180 missiles were built and launched against Allied ships, but only with highly limited success and many carrier aircraft lost to AA fire and Allied air supremacy.
General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length: 11.41 m (37 ft 4 1/2 in) w/o Igo-1-A guidance antenna
Wingspan: 16.3 m (53 ft 6 in)
Height: 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 36.2 m² (390 sq ft)
Empty weight: 7,069 kg (15,584 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 9,705 kg (21,396 lb)
Fuel capacity: 2,500 L (660 US gal; 550 imp gal) in four wing tanks
Powerplant:
2× Mitsubishi Ha-102 (Army Type 100) 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines,
810 kW (1,080 hp) each for take-off and 787 kW (1,055 hp) at 2,800 m (9,186 ft),
driving 3-bladed all-metal constant-speed propellers
Performance:
Maximum speed: 580 km/h (360 mph, 310 kn) at 6,700 m (21,980 ft)
507 km/h (315 mph, 274 kn) at sea level
Cruise speed: 400 km/h (250 mph, 220 kn) at 4,000 m (13,123 ft)
Range: 2,000 km (1,200 mi, 1,100 nmi) with internal fuel
3,102 km (1,927 mi, 1,675 nmi) ferry range
Service ceiling: 8,900 m (29,200 ft)
Rate of climb: 9.083 m/s (1,788.0 ft/min)
Time to altitude: Climb to 6,000 m (19,700ft): 11 min
Armament:
2× 20 mm (0.787”) Type 99 cannon with 120 RPG and
2× 7.7 mm (0.303”) Type 97 aircraft machine guns with 500 RPG in the nose, plus
2× flexible/manually operated 7.7 mm (0.303”) Type 97 aircraft machine guns with 500 RPG
firing backwards (often replaced with 13.2 mm (0.520”) Type 3 machine guns and 200 RPG)
Shallow bomb bay under the cockpit for 2× 500 kg (1,100 lb), 2× 250 kg (550 lb) or up to 8× 50 kg
(110 lb) bombs
2× underwing hardpoints for a single 250 kg (550 lb) bomb or a 300 l drop tank each
Total in- and external ordnance of 1.500 kg
The kit and its assembly:
This project had been lingering on my to-do list and in The Stash™ for quite a while, because it’s a combination of leftover parts from previous builds. The inspiration was based in real life, though: the German Me 210 was actually tested in Japan, and I wondered what a serial production/service aircraft could have looked like – primarily only livery-wise.
A Bilek me 210 had, long ago already “donated” its FDL 131 weapon stations (to a modified He 115 floatplane), and after that it also lost its inline engines/nacelles and underwing radiators to a Germanized Ki-46III (the Gotha 146 B-1), leaving only the kit’s core. Since the Arii Ki-46III’s engines and respective nacelles were also left over the plan began to take shape to create a “Japanized” Me 210 with radial engines, as if the airframe had been adapted to local needs/preferences. And this is what became the Kyushu G11W1.
Building the Me 210 core went straightforward. The openings for the gun barbettes were filled, and as an alternative defensive armament I added mounts for single, hand-held machine guns that were fitted into the inside of the backward-facing flat glass panels of the rear cockpit section. Simple and effective.
Things became more demanding with the new radial engines and their respective nacelles from the Ki-46. The original nacelle fairings on the Me 210 wings had been completely cut away, leaving gaps in the wing surfaces, so I completed the new engines first, including their own nacelle extensions, and tried to trim them down so that they’d slip over the wings’ leading edges and upper/lower surfaces, attempting to minimize PSR. That turned out to be easier and more effective than expected – the Ki-46 nacelles just covered the gaps, and only the nacelles’ curvature for the upper wing surfaces had to be adjusted. The nacelles could be slipped over the Me 210 wings like gloves! The propellers were taken OOB, but – as usual – modified with long metal axles to make the spin freely and insert them once the whole model had been painted/finished. The landing gear was taken over from the Me 210 kit, I just had to scratch mounts for a stable hold of the struts inside of the new nacelles.
The Bilek Me 210 kit itself is …mediocre. Details are all a bit clumsy, and the fit of major parts (esp. of the ventral section that includes the bomb bay and the wing/fuselage intersection on both sides) is really poor. Nothing matched, and the whole thing required PSR on every seam.
Since the aircraft’s paint scheme would be quite simple (see below), I decided to add some special equipment, namely a Ki-148 glide bomb (an A&V resin “kit” from the Czech Republic, upgraded with some extra bits), and a PE guidance antenna (left over from an MPM Boulton Paul Dfiant night fighters) on the nose, inspired by real Japanese radar systems of the model’s era.
Even though I wanted to add a pair of drop tanks under the outer wings, taken over from a Ki-61, I eventually left them away because the glide bomb would have eaten away almost all of the Me 210's ordnance load capability of 1.5 tons.
Painting and markings:
This became intentionally “dry”, because many late-WWII IJN aircraft received very simple paint schemes, mostly with green upper surface and grey undersides. This concept was also applied to the G11W, even though I went a step further and tried to create the impression of a hastily camouflaged bare metal aircraft (only with grey-green fabric-covered rudders). For this purpose, the model received an initial overall coat withTamiya XF-16 (Flat Aluminum). Once dry, the upper surfaces were unevenly painted with Tamiya XF-11 (IJN Green,). To break the look up a little and add more Japanese flavor I painted the engine cowlings in anti-glare black-blue, mixed from Humbrol 85 and a little 15, and the propellers were painted with red-brown primer (Humbrol 160 for the blades, 186 for the spinners)
The cockpit interior was painted in a yellowish green (“bamboo”) tone, mixed from Humbrol 83 and 80, while the landing gear wells and the inside of the engine cowlings were painted with aodake iro over the white aluminum basis – actually a clear blue acrylic paint was used. The landing gear struts were painted in semi-gloss black.
The Igo-1-A was a bit challenging, because there is only little visual evidence about this weapon’s livery. A b/w picture I found suggests an overall light grey paint scheme (probably only a test weapon, though). I rolled with that with an overall basis of Humbrol 147 (FS36495), but to add some excitement I painted war head in grey and added triangular black markings to the wings to help identify the bomb’s direction for the guiding WSO in the mother ship.
The G11W's markings became minimal, just six Hinomaru (those under the wings without white contrast border), the tactical unit code as well as the "registration plate" on the tail, and - as the only extraordinary marking - a yellow fuselage band.
After some more weathering and wet-sanding on the surface the model was sealed with a shiny mix of matt and semi-gloss acrylic varnish, and some soot stains around the guns and the exhaust stubs were added. I also added some oil traces behind the engines' cooling louvres with Tamiya's Smoke.
The MAS-49 is a French semi-automatic rifle that replaced various bolt-action rifles as the French service rifle that was produced from 1949. It was designed and manufactured by the government-owned MAS arms factory. The French Army formal designation of the MAS-49 is Fusil semi-automatique 7 mm 5 M. 49 ("semi-automatic rifle of 7.5 mm model 1949").
The initial MAS-49 semi-automatic rifle was produced in limited quantities (20,600 units), whereas the shorter and lighter variant, the MAS-49/56, was mass-produced (275,240 units) and issued to all branches of the French military. Overall, the MAS-49 and 49/56 rifles gained the reputation of being accurate, reliable and easy to maintain in adverse environments. All the MAS-49 and 49/56 rifles feature a rail on the left side of their receivers to accommodate a designated rifle scope.
The MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 were replaced as French service rifles by the FAMAS assault rifle in 1979.
History-
The MAS-49 arrived after a series of small, distinct design improvements. Today, this might be termed spiral development, where small elements are changed with successive models, rather than large significant changes. The MAS-49 semi-automatic rifle evolved from the prototype MAS-38/39 and from the MAS-40, and lastly from the post-war MAS-44 and its minor variants 44A, 44B and 44C. Although 50,000 MAS-44 rifles were ordered in January 1945, only 6,200 were delivered to the French Navy. The MAS-49 was formally adopted by the French Army in July 1949. Its final form the MAS 49-56 was the French service rifle until adoption of the FAMAS.
As a service rifle, the MAS-49 replaced the diverse collection of aging bolt-action rifles (MAS-36, Lee–Enfield No4, M1903A3 Springfield, U.S. M1917, Berthier, and K98k) which had been absorbed into French service after the end of World War II. It saw significant service with French troops in the latter stages of the First Indochina War, as well as during the Algerian War and the Suez Crisis. The MAS-49 series had a reputation for reliability in conditions of poor maintenance, sometimes being cleaned with nothing more than rags and motor oil. The 49 and 49/56 series could also endure harsh service environments, seeing combat in Algeria, Djibouti, Indochina, French Guiana, and the Battle of Kolwezi.
An improved version called the MAS-49/56 was introduced in 1957 and incorporated lessons learned from service in Algeria, Indochina, and the Suez Crisis. The rifle was shortened and lightened to improve mobility for mechanized and airborne troops, and a knife bayonet was added. The MAS-49 built-in rifle grenade launcher was replaced by a combination compensator/rifle grenade launcher that fired NATO-standard 22mm rifle grenades. The rifle also incorporates an integral grenade launching sight that is attached to the front sight block and a gas cutoff that prevents gas from entering the gas tube from the gas port when firing grenade launching blank ammunition.
Attempts were made to replace the MAS-49, in the form of the MAS-54 and the FA-MAS Type 62, both 7.62×51mm NATO battle rifles, but neither were successful. The MAS-49/56 ended service in 1978 and was replaced with the 5.56×45mm NATO caliber FAMAS bullpup assault rifle. The MAS-49/56 was withdrawn from service in 1990. Whereas only 20,600 MAS-49 were manufactured, the MAS-49/56 was mass-produced, attaining a total of 275,240 rifles issued between 1957 and 1978.
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- I got this rifle w/accessories back in the early 90's, and haven't really done much with it. It's lightweight, compact and hard-hitting.
The black fence/gate at the entrance to Wollaton Hall's garden has been replaced with tacky 'event fencing' - in preparation for the filming of the new Batman movie.