Dieselpunk + Steampunk Culture

Jake Holman Jr.'s Articles (124)

The Sten: Its Knock Offs and Inspirations

Last week we wrote about the Americans copied, part for part, a World War II German mine. And while the German's did lead in innovation, they too were not above wholesale copying of Allied weapons. Take for example, the ubiquitous Sten submachine gun.

British designed and constructed, this 9 mm submachine gun was lightweight and easy to use. It lacked the refinements of Axis or other Allied weapons, but its… Continue

Added by Jake Holman Jr. on May 19, 2010 at 1:00pm — 6 Comments

Deadly Little Butterfly

When Allied weapons engineers got a hold of the MG42 German machine gun, it was pulled apart and examined as inspiration for the next generation of United States small arms. While the MG42 lives on in several design, the American variation of it, the M60 was a long lasting, yet unpopular belt-fed machine gun.

Sometimes, in a bid to make a weapon different than the one it was reversed engineered from, the new device is more complicated and less effective. However, in the case… Continue

Added by Jake Holman Jr. on May 12, 2010 at 1:30pm — 2 Comments

Soldier Fleas

The campaign architects imagined a single plane, flying over the American West Coast, armed with a very special weapon, the Uji bomb.

The 55-pound bomb would be freed over the United States and somewhere between 900 and 660 feet, the case would explode expelling its deadly contents- plague carrying fleas.

Since the age of early civilizations, when plagues were expressions of God’s rage, the devastating effect of disease has methodically rewritten human…

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Added by Jake Holman Jr. on May 5, 2010 at 2:00pm — 2 Comments

Bite of the Belgian Rattlesnake

The Lewis Gun, dubbed the ‘Belgian Rattlesnake’ by the Kaiser’s forces, was a revolutionary gas-operated light machine gun fielded during the Great War. Notably, the Lewis was credited with being the first weapon to shoot down a Zeppelin during the War to End All Wars.

Oh and if you’ve ever seen Star Wars, then you’ve seen the Lewis Gun. Totted around Mos Eisley by…

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Added by Jake Holman Jr. on April 28, 2010 at 2:00pm — 2 Comments