MichaelZWilliamson

Also, here's the citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross. He also had a Navy/Marine Presidential Unit Citation probably from this same mission, two USAF Presidential Unit Citations, Outstanding Unit Award (2 X), Air Medal with 6 Oak Leaf Clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Combat Readiness Medal, NDSM, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Gallantry, Armed Forces expeditionary, and Expert Marksman. Nerdy little guy about 5'6" tall. Very quiet and self-effacing. And apparently a steel-balled badass of a navigator. That was the day the NVA broke through the wire at Khe Sanh.

Yes, that's a 1958 tank, probably F105 or even earlier Century series. I kept a Finnish 81mm mortar as part of my commission. Stamped, works, 20' CEP at 500 yards. I paid them for the Soviet DPM, 1939. DEWAT that I had to reactivate--this is the one that had the wrong serial number on the registration paper. And my wife said, "I think we should get the Thompson. I mean, it's a Thompson." Still tuning that one to work. A friend of mine bought the Panzerschreck and is working up rockets for it. It may be one of two entirely complete, functional, with wiring harness and blast shield, on the Registry. The WWI Imperial helmets also came from the same estate.

This is after we excavated all the autographed books, electronics, comics, and misc piled around it. Anyway, for the modelers and archivists, we tried to get every image possible. If you need others, a friend of mine bought it for display outside his business, so we can possibly get more.

Ah, here's my writeup from last year: Finally shipped the last NFA weapon from Gary's estate. It took two years, me, Jess managing paperwork, two firearm attorneys, the estate attorney, an SOT who handles really oddball stuff, the executor, and a very nice, very knowledgeable, very efficient Examiner at NFA Branch. It started when I was helping him sell sabers, bayonets, etc, and he said he wanted to sell some of the firearms, so I assisted with photos, a Gunbroker account, research, listing. And he said, "I also have the deactivated machine guns I loaned to the Fort Harrison Museum. In 1968 I sent papers to the ATF and they sent papers back." I twitch. "So, those are DEWATs." "?" "DEactivated WAr Trophies." "I guess." "Well, with a Form 1 and $200, those can be reactivated. They're sellable." Pulls out his pipe. "Oh, well, I've got a Maxim, a Madsen, a Hotchkiss, a DP28, an MG42, an MP44, a Lewis Gun, a Japanese Type 99, a Thompson, an MP18, a Soviet mortar..." "Holy $#!+, Gary, that's $100,000 worth of hardware!" "I only paid a few hundred." "Yeah, in 1962 when they couldn't give them away." Then he passed away, and we had to find the paperwork buried in his house. A friend, my son and I are up in the attic pulling out guns. "That's a mortar...is that a firing pin? This is a live mortar." "Holy $#!+, that's a complete Sturmgewehr." "Is that a Boys Rifle?" "Wait...that's not a bazooka....that's...holy $#!+, it's a Panzerschreck." This is in addition to Lugers, Broomhandles, Carcanos, Mausers, SMLEs, Webleys, Arisakas, a Sharps buffalo rifle, Trapdoors, more sabers, Mosin Nagants, Walthers, a Gewehr 41 and a Gewehr 43, an original 1800s musket, a percussion cape gun, an FN49, a No4 Mk1(T) sniper rifle in transit chest with matching scope, a Japanese Type 97 sniper rifle, an M1D, a Soviet Mosin sniper, pre-import markings, a P14 sniper, a Reichsrevolver, a Radom P35, a stocked Inglis, a Dutch Hembrug carbine, a Bayard .32, a Steyr M95 8mm, a No 5 Jungle Carbine ... some of them still with the museum tags and receipts. Not counting sabers, Japanese swords, bayonets, uniforms, scarce helmets, a mine detector new in box, radios, a drop tank, and all the mundane autographed SF books, comics, anime, the woodblock prints, jewelry... Then the executor, and estate attorney, had to file a bunch of paperwork that my attorney assisted with. Then the first buyer was also a firearm attorney, and knew someone at NFA branch who helped find the missing records. Then we had to fix all the Amnesty forms, including a WRONG SERIAL NUMBER and wrong IDs. Maxim 08/15 Madsen 1908 Hotchkiss 1914 with tripod DP28 MG42 (not papered, now converted to semi) StG44 Lewis Gun, in transit chest, with tools and accessories, Irish surplused after being British surplused. Japanese Type 99 LMG, being converted to take either 7.7 Jap, .308, or 7.62X39, because original mags don't exist (drop in conversion, no structural changes). 1928A1 Thompson (mine now, with new barrel, all new springs, bolt, and some other tuning) MP18A1 50mm Soviet RM38 mortar Finnish 81mm M42 Savunheiten mortar Panzerschreck Boys Rifle (.55 Boys British anti-armor rifle) His family thought he died broke. We were able to fix that, and find caring homes for some amazing, historically important hardware. The Finns literally don't have a Savunheiten in their military museum. I've been getting detailed photos and measurements with the assistance of Oleg Volk so their few photos can be upgraded with better visuals and specs. ~~ The drop tank. Apparently, he was on the mailing list for Interarms. He was flying out of Germany when he got forwarded a catalog with THIS MAY BE YOUR LAST CATALOG! tagged on it. And he believed them. Because it's never your last catalog. So he bid at auction on three drop tanks, $25 each, figuring to get outbid. Who needs a drop tank? Pretty much no one. So he won the auction and a truck showed up at his parents' house with three drop tanks. I have no idea where the other two went, but this one went into his basement a few blocks from their house. It was buried under other hoard/collectibles, and it took four of us to remove the stair railing and get it out.

I was trying to ID it and found this thread. I'm retired USAF, contacted some old timers, and they told me which nomenclature to look for, and I made sure we took every image possible for you guys. Half the Fort Harrison museum was his collection. We sold most of it. I paid the estate for several to add to my collection.

Well, I'm resurrecting this thread because a late friend of mine had one of these tanks in his basement. He was a retired USAF navigator with a stack of decorations, a weird collection, and a long story as to how a drop tank got in his basement. But here's the link, and a couple of pics to start it. I took photos from every angle possible. https://www.michaelzwilliamson.com/randomfactoids.html