The Armourer August 2023

There have been some interesting things in the news, so I’m going to talk about those this month. This year saw the Trooping of the Colour for King Charles for the first time, after many years of performing it for the Queen. You can read about in the news pages. There are three runs of the Trooping, the first in front of the Major-General, the second was in front of Prince William, and then, lastly, the whole thing was performed as the King’s Birthday Parade, to officially celebrate his birthday. Which is in November by the way. The next item to catch the eye were the moves in Australia, prompted by right-wing thugs performing the Hitler salute at a rally regarding pro and anti-transgender rights. The politicians were outraged by…

King Charles III attended his first Trooping of the Colour on 17 June in London. Trooping of the Colour was introduced in 1805 and marks the official birthday of the reigning monarch. Queen Elizabeth II was the first UK monarch to celebrate her birthday twice, one being the actual birthday, the other being the official birthday, and King Charles is carrying on the tradition. He was actually born on 14 November 1948. Trooping of the Colour ceremonies ran in the courtyard of Horse Guards Parade on 3, 10 and 17 June this year, using the personal troops of the King, the Household Regiment. You can watch the procession in the barricaded streets between the Whitehall and Park exits and along streets leading in and out of the mall to Buckingham…

Australian politicians have capitalised on the outrage caused when a neo-Nazi group marched in support of an anti-trans rights rally which was being opposed by pro-trans rights supporters. The issue came to a head when 30 men from the neo-Nazi AU Nationalist Socialist Network marched outside Victoria’s parliament in Melbourne and repeatedly performed the Hitler salute. Immediately afterwards there was a call for the salute to be legally banned in Victoria and a bill to make the salute a criminal offense was proposed by the Liberal opposition. However, a parliamentary committee, backed by the government (Labour), rejected this in favour of introducing its own bill. Which brings us to a new Federal law to be introduced, when the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced that the government would criminalise the display of…

Exclusive to The Tank Museum, military history fans can now add tank-themed footwear to their wardrobe. The trainers showcase iconic tanks from World War II, including the Churchill Mark VII Crocodile from the Museum’s own collection and M4A3E8 Sherman ‘A Paper Doll’ tank. Lucy McCalister, Marketing & Communications Manager, said, “We are delighted to launch these fantastic new trainers in association with I Love A Hangar. Tank fans can choose between two different iconic tanks, with a choice of high and low tops, to ensure maximum comfort.” Made solely for The Tank Museum, the trainers are made to order and are shipped straight from production to the customer. The Churchill Crocodile was a British flame-throwing tank and was introduced as one of the specialised armoured vehicles developed for D-Day under…

The recent spell of good weather has allowed the staff and volunteers at Newark Air Museum to complete the long-overdue move of the Reid & Sigrist Desford VZ728, G-AGOS into its final display position in Hangar 1. Here the aircraft will reside alongside contemporary airframes such as the General Aircraft Monospar, de Havilland Tiger Moth and Avro Anson. Good progress is also being made on the repaint of Gloster Meteor T.7 VZ634; and the final top-coat has now been applied to the repaired spine panels on Avro Vulcan XM594. With continued good weather in the forecast other projects are expected to progress at a steady pace.…

The fine arms and modern weapons auction at Holts takes place on 10-11 July and covers everything from air rifles to flintlock pistols and shotguns. Let’s start then, with an exceptionally rare .21 Eisenwerke Gaggenau Model 2 Columbia air-rifle, serial No. 5461, being a date-code for 1861. It has a refinished octagonal to round 19 3/4in smoothbore barrel marked ‘PATENT’ and with the crossed pistols trademark. There’s a plain nickel-plated air-chamber, walnut straight-hand half-stock, chequered at the wrist and with raised cheek-piece and schnabel fore-end tip. The estimate is £600-£800 plus 5% VAT on the hammer price and a BP of 30%. Next we have a rare, boxed .177 Jubilee Edition original (Diana) 45 Air-Rifle, serial No. 0177, made in 1980 to celebrate 90 years of the Diana works at…