Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-09-12
STAR WASHINGTON D. c. SEPTEMBER T. 1913
Machine-Gun Exhibit
One Of Most Popular
AT Army Bond Show
An argument is brewing ut tn

~ AWy DVIIu JuVW
An argument is brewing ut the
Army's War Bond Show.
Any time Chemical Warfare Serv-
Ice members want to claim that
their tear gas chamber is more pop
ular than the machine gun tent Of
the Ordnance Department, ord
nance personnel will ask them over
for conclusive proof that the ma
chine guns are the No. l attraction
at Washington Monument Grounds,
where the Treasury-sponsored ex-
hibition to promote the sale of War
bonds has drawn more than zoe, 900
people since Thursday.
A large turnout is expected today,
with hours the same as on week
days.
Young and old, men and women,
they tussle to keep their places in
line before the 80 and 80 caliber
weapons operated by compressed air
while recorded battle sounds raise
an unholy din in the tent.
One boy, who had eluded military
police before the opening hour and
haunted the ordnance tent, re-
fusing to believe the guns could not
be operated for another hour, said:
TITS okay. I can wait. don't
have to be home for supper until
o'clock"
According to 1t. Clifford G. Storey,
So, q native Of Amsterdam, N. Y,
and now stationed at Aberdeen
Proving Grounds, who is IN charge
of the machine gun exhibit, women
do better than men in letting fly
plastic pellets at cardboard planes.
''They are frightened ut first at
all this clatter," he said. But once
they get their hands around the
handle they are much more steady
in their firing. They find the target
and hold it. Men, especially those
who have never shot machine gun.
are apt to want to experiment with
it. and the result is they spoil their
aim"
Many witnesses, 1t. Storey said,
cock their heads on one side and
say:
"Ha! It's easy to hit little plane
so feet away. What would you do
to real plane, say at 10000 feet?"
The answer is that the models on
strings in the ordnance tent are
scaled to size, move Is feet per
second at q distance of SO feet, and
compare with planes moving 800
miles an hour at 10000 feet. Theo-
retically, if you hit q plane with
the guns in the ordnance tent you
would have better than an even
chance to become q good aerial gun
ner.
Women's Arms Numbed.
The guns have every effect of a
regulation machine gun, including
the noise. They operate at II
pounds of air pressure. To operate
them at the 10 pounds Of pressure
for which they were designed would
send the white plastic pellet ammu-
milton, which can be used again
and again, zinging out through the
rear Of the tent toward the Potomac
River.
Although the guns get their
power from air, they are timed by
electricity. Sometimes young women
operate the heavier weapon and
they walk away casually swinging
their arms.
Their arms are numb and they
don't know it," 1t. Storey said.
wait until they try to powder their
noses"
There are so shots allotted each
marksman. The plastic pellets are
50 light woman who picked one
up remarked:
This stun feels like breakfast
food" ~
Ofncially, the guns are known as
the Mo machinegun trainer, and
housewives might be interested to
know that they are manufactured
by company which formerly made
electric irons.
But housewives, when they pluck |
up courage enough to seize the
handle of the gun, need not worry
about any remarks from other spec |
tators If they should miss the target.
1t. Storey said: ~
Bashful People Return.
"One reason bashful people like
to come back again and again is
that they can't hear what's being
said about their craftsmanship on
account of the noise from our
records. Once they find how simple
1t Is, they want to try it again. It's
like the old circus trick of throwing
beanbags at tar-babies. They never
get enough"
Yesterday, while Maj. Gen. Levin
Campbell Of the Ordnance Depart
ment looked on, Stephen Brugge,
not yet three years old, sat on 1t.
Storey's knee and looked up the
barrel like veteran. The boys
father, Col. Byron E. Brugge, of
1928 Sixth street S.W., is a member
Of the Army air forces.
Ordnance personnel would like to
restrict the use Of the guns to the
periods between shows in the arena
because the noise of the guns oper-
alton distracts spectators.
But it isn't an easy rule to en-
force. AS 1t. Storey said:
How can you tell kid no when
he's never even seen a machine gun
before?"
50 Children In Tour.
Nobody was saying mo" yesterday
to the 50 children who toured the