Twin 40MM Anti-Aircraft Gun - Bristow, OK
Posted by: hamquilter
N 35° 49.745 W 096° 24.355
14S E 734327 N 3968097
This gun is on display at VFW Post 3656 War memorial in Bristow.
Waymark Code: WMZYA9
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 01/22/2019
Views: 1
VFW Post 3656 maintains a large area east of their meeting house as a war memorial, which includes the National Wake Island Memorial. Among the many pieces of military equipment on site is this World War II Twin 40MM Anti-Aircraft Gun which was mounted on the USS Gunboat Charleston PG51.
Alongside the gun is a marble slab documenting the history of this weapon. It reads:
This WW II Twin 40MM Anti-Aircraft
Gun was part of the armament on
the USS Gunboat Charleston
PG51 that in the ATTU Operation
shot down one Mitsubishi 97
Jap bomber and sent
three away smoking May 22, 1943
[Excerpt from Wikipedia]
The Bofors 40 mm gun, often referred to simply as the Bofors gun, is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. It was one of the most popular medium-weight anti-aircraft systems during World War II, used by most of the western Allies as well as by the Axis powers. A small number of these weapons remain in service to this day, and saw action as late as the Persian Gulf War.