To: 2ndDivisionVet
The FP-45 Liberator was a pistol manufactured for the United States military during World War II for use by resistance forces in occupied territories. It was designed with the idea of offering an enemy soldier a cigarette, putting a round of .45 ACP twixt his eyes or in the base of his skull, and "liberating" the now deceased soldier's rifle, SMG, grenades, or anything else of military utility. A crude and clumsy weapon, the Liberator was never intended for front line service. It was originally intended as an insurgency weapon to be mass dropped behind enemy lines to resistance fighters in occupied territory. The weapon was valued as much for its psychological warfare effect as its actual field performance. It was believed that if vast quantities of these weapons could be delivered into Axis occupied territory, it would have a devastating effect on the morale of occupying troops. The plan was to drop the weapon in such great quantities that occupying forces could never capture or recover all the weapons. It was hoped that the thought of thousands of these unrecovered weapons potentially in the hands of the citizens of occupied countries would have a deleterious effect on enemy morale. The pistol had its origins in the US Army Joint Psychological Committee and was designed for the United States Army in 1942 by the Inland Guide Lamp Manufacturing Division of the General Motors Corporation in Dayton, Ohio.[1] The army designated the weapon the Flare Projector Caliber .45 hence the designation FP-45. This was done to disguise the fact that a pistol was being mass produced.[2] The original engineering drawings label the barrel as "tube", the trigger as "yoke", the firing pin as "control rod", and the trigger guard as "spanner". The Guide Lamp Division plant in Anderson, Indiana assembled a million[2] of these weapons. The Liberator project took about 6 months from conception to end of production with about 11 weeks of actual manufacturing time, done by 300 workers. The FP-45 was a crude, single-shot pistol designed to be cheaply and quickly mass produced. The ejection system was a wooden rod that was pushed down the barrel from the muzzle end to eject the fired cartridge case. The Liberator had just 23 largely stamped and turned steel parts that were cheap and easy to manufacture. It fired a .45 caliber pistol cartridge from an unrifled barrel. Due to the unrifled barrel, maximum effective range was only about 25 feet (less than 8 m). At longer range, the bullet would begin to tumble.
41 posted on
08/10/2009 4:57:41 PM PDT by
DMZFrank
To: DMZFrank
While in the dreaded Walmart last week one of the gun mags( not sure which one ) had an article on the LIBERATOR. You can purchase clones of the original that are now being made or the original that will set you bacl a lot of $$$$.
To: DMZFrank
maximum effective range was only about 25 feet (less than 8 m). At longer range, the bullet would begin to tumble. ............................. We need to drop something similar to these in Iran. Forget the fp-45, its cheaper to send High Point pistols with a greater clip capacity than these pocket derringer type. The cost of producing FP-45s has gone up, the replicas are expensive as hell. Heck I’m sure the freedom loving Iranians would take even a Jiminez, Raven or Jennings and be grateful to have it.
536 posted on
08/08/2012 5:22:52 PM PDT by
Bringbackthedraft
( WHO WE ELECT AS PRESIDENT IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS WHO THEY APPOINT.)
To: DMZFrank
Many old and useful things to remember from WWII.
The Sten 9mm submachine gun was easily manufactured by any competent plumbers, and was designed that way.
551 posted on
12/21/2012 3:44:17 PM PST by
Hardraade
(http://junipersec.wordpress.com (Vendetta))
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson
The FP-45 Liberator was a pistol manufactured for the United States military during World War II for use by resistance forces in occupied territories. It was designed with the idea of offering an enemy soldier a cigarette, putting a round of .45 ACP twixt his eyes or in the base of his skull, and "liberating" the now deceased soldier's rifle, SMG, grenades, or anything else of military utility. A crude and clumsy weapon, the Liberator was never intended for front line service. It was originally intended as an insurgency weapon to be mass dropped behind enemy lines to resistance fighters in occupied territory. The weapon was valued as much for its psychological warfare effect as its actual field performance. It was believed that if vast quantities of these weapons could be delivered into Axis occupied territory, it would have a devastating effect on the morale of occupying troops. The plan was to drop the weapon in such great quantities that occupying forces could never capture or recover all the weapons. It was hoped that the thought of thousands of these unrecovered weapons potentially in the hands of the citizens of occupied countries would have a deleterious effect on enemy morale. The pistol had its origins in the US Army Joint Psychological Committee and was designed for the United States Army in 1942 by the Inland Guide Lamp Manufacturing Division of the General Motors Corporation in Dayton, Ohio.[1] The army designated the weapon the Flare Projector Caliber .45 hence the designation FP-45. This was done to disguise the fact that a pistol was being mass produced.[2] The original engineering drawings label the barrel as "tube", the trigger as "yoke", the firing pin as "control rod", and the trigger guard as "spanner". The Guide Lamp Division plant in Anderson, Indiana assembled a million[2] of these weapons. The Liberator project took about 6 months from conception to end of production with about 11 weeks of actual manufacturing time, done by 300 workers. The FP-45 was a crude, single-shot pistol designed to be cheaply and quickly mass produced. The ejection system was a wooden rod that was pushed down the barrel from the muzzle end to eject the fired cartridge case. The Liberator had just 23 largely stamped and turned steel parts that were cheap and easy to manufacture. It fired a .45 caliber pistol cartridge from an unrifled barrel. Due to the unrifled barrel, maximum effective range was only about 25 feet (less than 8 m). At longer range, the bullet would begin to tumble.