V E Day

[rpbcps]

Today I was visiting the Blyth Battery Museum, a WW1 & WW2 Coastal defense battery. I was visiting to arrange a Thompson show and talk weekend, no shooting here in the UK 😟

Their flyer, advertising the VE day celebrations next month, reminded me I am still looking for a 'V' marked 30 rnd magazines for my collection. To get one of those,  during this 80th anniversary year of the end of WW2 would be so meaningful.

Edited April 5 by rpbcps
Typo

[Chappy]

Enjoy. Get back to us about the remebrance as to show and if people are interested in the fight for freedom. Lest we forget! Really nice poster. Any chance they can be sent to the US? I collect WW1 and 2 recruiting and bond posters.

Chappy

[rpbcps]

16 hours ago, Chappy said:

Enjoy. Get back to us about the remebrance as to show and if people are interested in the fight for freedom. Lest we forget! Really nice poster. Any chance they can be sent to the US? I collect WW1 and 2 recruiting and bond posters.

Chappy

Chappy,

It is not  a poster, just what I call a flyer,  see photo next to XX mag. for size comparison.

If you want this one, PM me your address, and I'll forward it onto you.

[rpbcps]

Just recalled an old post from 2020 , which had a photo of members of the RAF Aerodrome Defence Corps receiving training with Thompson sub-machine guns at Whitley Bay, Northumberland, in January 1942. Whitley Bay is about 6 miles down the coast, from the Blyth Battery Museum.

 

Edited April 6 by rpbcps
Typo

[Arthur Fliegenheimer]

On 4/5/2025 at 12:19 PM, rpbcps said:

... I am still looking for a 'V' marked 30 rnd magazines for my collection. To get one of those,  during this 80th anniversary year of the end of WW2 would be so meaningful.

 

Try fellow Brit Bruce Crompton. 

Edited April 7 by Arthur Fliegenheimer

[rpbcps]

🤔

[rpbcps]

Back from an impromptu 'show and tell' at the Blyth Battery Museum. My intention was to show them some of my collection and idea I had for a display and talk; Once they saw the items I took they asked if I could show it today, so I did! 

Seemed to go well, loads of interest. They  asked if they advertise for a 'Thompson weekend' in June, if I could do it again.

Also booked for another 'show and tell' at a 1940's weekend at another location by a museum visitor who was impressed by the display.

 

[Dpedersen]

Awesome display!

Edited April 12 by Dpedersen

[John Dillinger]

Top job Richard and an excellent effort taking the time to transport all that kit and set it up. 
You are UKs Mr Thompson for sure 👌

[dalbert]

Very nice, Richard!  Now you have me wanting to cross the pond for a “Thompson Weekend!”

David

[Stampcollector]

Very Nice display! Thank you for posting, sir

[rpbcps]

David,

Compared to a Thompson 'show and shoot' in the USA, I think a Thompson 'show and talk' in the UK would be an anticlimax for you.🫣

Devin, John Dillinger and Stampcollector, thank you all for your kind words. It is thanks to many friends on the Forum, that I have been fortunate enough to build up my collection, and knowledge, over the last 14 years. 🙏🏼

[TD.]

Richard,

So very cool. Thank you for posting. +1

I can see why they wanted an immediate display. Perhaps it is me getting older, but I like the show part now just as much as the shooting. It would be a lot of fun to be there! 

[rpbcps]

4 hours ago, TD. said:

Richard,

So very cool. Thank you for posting. +1

I can see why they wanted an immediate display. Perhaps it is me getting older, but I like the show part now just as much as the shooting. It would be a lot of fun to be there! 

Thankyou Tom,

As you can see, I stripped down the Model of 1921 and a Model of 1928 to show the difference of the return springs and the Actuator, when explaining the USMCs request to slow down the Rate of fire.

Being interactive and hands on,both the younger and older visitors loved being able to put magazines on and dry fire them. Plenty of photos of visitors handling the Thompsons were taking too by family members.

After the impromptu 'show and talk', the museum curator thanked me for such an interesting display and said the Thompsons had been the most interesting and popular display in the museum yesterday afternoon, according to visitor feedback.

So he is hoping the next display which will be more  organised, ( and advertised) will attract a lot more visitors.

Thanks to a board member, I'll have a long awaited 'V' marked 30 rnd Seymour on display. Very poingnaint, and in pride of place, in this 80th anniversary year of VE and VJ days.

Another Seymour 30 rnd magazine, with soldered witness holes, arrived just in time to be added to yesterday's display. Thankyou Doug.

One item I am still looking for, is a first version 'AOC Bridgeport' marked 30 rnd magazine to complete that part of the collection.

Richard

 

[hntrdarren]

Very nice display Richard, thanks for sharing !!

[anticus]

Awesome display, preserving history.

[rpbcps]

21 hours ago, hntrdarren said:

Very nice display Richard, thanks for sharing !!

 

1 hour ago, anticus said:

Awesome display, preserving history.

Thankyou both for your kind words. A good few years of collecting and now finding avenues to share my interest in the Thompson and it's history.

David Albert wrote in a copy of 'Thompson Manuals, Catalogs and other paper items', that I bought from him in 2011 "To Richard, Keep the Thompson History Alive!"

I'm doing my bit.

[nate129]

Regarding Arthur's previous comment about Combat Dealer and Bruce - I have watched a few episodes of that show. Some episodes show Bruce or his team shooting weapons. I always assumed no live fire in the UK and from what I have read the new deactivated gun laws have become significantly stricter over the last several years. Rpbcps in the first post in this thread mentioned no shooting in the UK. I am curious if the segments of shooting in Combat Dealers is hammed up in some way such as CGI or blanks, being done in another country, or maybe he has some special permit for importers or theatrical use - which I get given the entertainment nature of the show. I am always interested to learn how this stuff can be owned in other counties. I know a few collectors in Belgium that have live guns but there is some strange rule that they can only be fired rarely for testing or gunsmithing purposes.

Edited April 16 by nate129

[rpbcps]

2 hours ago, nate129 said:

Regarding Arthur's previous comment about Combat Dealer and Bruce - I have watched a few episodes of that show. Some episodes show Bruce or his team shooting weapons. I always assumed no live fire in the UK and from what I have read the new deactivated gun laws have become significantly stricter over the last several years. Rpbcps in the first post in this thread mentioned no shooting in the UK. I am curious if the segments of shooting in Combat Dealers is hammed up in some way such as CGI or blanks, being done in another country, or maybe he has some special permit for importers or theatrical use - which I get given the entertainment nature of the show. I am always interested to learn how this stuff can be owned in other counties. I know a few collectors in Belgium that have live guns but there is some strange rule that they can only be fired rarely for testing or gunsmithing purposes.

Nate129,

Only people allowed to be armed in the UK now is the armed forces, the police, (and not all of them).... and the criminals. The nature of their business means they do not abide by the law, something our politicians do not seem to understand.

Same in France, since terror attacks in 2016, firearms laws were tightened up, (as well as deactivated weapons), but that did not stop criminals attacking French prisons today, with full automatic weapons.

You can still fire full auto on ranges in Poland and I think in Czech Republic, we have carried out firearms training for close protection courses in both those countries in the past. 

I know some guys in Belgium who own full auto weapons, but it is difficult to find anywhere to fire them, they tell me. Post 2016 terror attacks, the laws have been tightened up there too. 

So not sure where they are shooting their weapons on Combat Dealer, but it is not in the UK, unless they are blank firers...and not real full auto/ semi auto weapons. It is illegal for citizens to own full auto / semi auto in the UK.