MG 151: post-WWII use

The guns arming WWII warplanes were usually of limited general interest, just a component of the overall aircraft and leaving service with the planes they were installed in. Germany’s MG 151 on the other hand, had an extremely long and varied career after WWII, being used in any number of roles in the air, on the ground, and even on the sea; all around the world for many decades.

(MG 151 being serviced on a Luftwaffe fighter during WWII.)

(French MG 151 crew on a “Pirate”, or up-gunned H-34 Choctaw, during the Algerian War.) (photo via tenes.info website)

(Image from a 1980s South African VHS video promoting Vektor’s helicopter mount of the MG 151.)

AAC.1 Toucan: France’s post-WWII Ju-52

France restarted domestic production of the Junkers Ju-52 transport after WWII. Although intended as a quick, cheap stop-gap solution, the AAC.1 Toucan fought in three post-WWII conflicts and quietly served as long after WWII as the famous original Junkers did before and during WWII.

(Junkers Ju-52s of the Luftwaffe training Fallschirmjäger during WWII.)

(A French air force AAC.1 Toucan – the post-WWII French copy of the Ju-52 – flies over a burning Vietnamese jungle during the Indochina War.)

(A French air force AAC.1 Toucan in Africa during the 1950s Algerian War.)

Guided missiles on Corsairs

Originally designed as a carrier-based gun dogfighter, the F4U Corsair, and it’s later attack variant, the AU-1, was used heavily as a ground attack plane during WWII, and almost exclusively in that role during the Korean War.

(The first prototype Vought Corsair during WWII.)

A wide variety of weapons not originally envisioned were successfully used by the Corsair: air-to-ground rockets, napalm tanks, radar, depth charges, cluster munitions, and so on.

Easily the most unusual was something that could have never been envisioned by Vought’s engineers when they designed the plane; a guided missile.

(French navy Corsair with SS.11 guided missiles aboard.)

StG-44 in Africa after WWII

The StG-44 assault rifle was probably the most advanced German infantry firearm of WWII. Surprisingly, some of these weapons ended up on the continent of Africa after WWII.

(Top: A soldier of the 28th Waffen-SS division “Wallonien” with a StG-44 during WWII. Bottom: A female Somali guerrilla with a StG-44 in 1977 during the Ogaden War.)

Post-WWII use of the MAS-36 rifle: Part I (French use)

Due to France’s defeat and occupation in 1940, the MAS-36 was one of the less-consequential rifles of WWII. However it ended up having a very long and diverse career after the war ended.