September 19, 2021

This window sticker threatens to shoot you

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 2:03 pm

Orangemaster and I came across this sticker on a window overlooking the back alley of taco bar Mr. Haz in the Jordaan neighbourhood of Amsterdam.

It shows a drawing of a revolver pointed straight at the viewer and a text that reads “Beveiligd door” (“Secured by”), followed by a company name and phone number.

I had to chuckle. Security guards in the Netherlands are not allowed to carry arms, making this is a crude joke or an announcement that the security company staff are worse than the people they are supposed to stop. It strikes me as a variant of the sticker that contains a picture of a dog and the text “hier waak ik” (“I guard this place”) – except of course that guard dogs are legal.

Recently, there have been voices from the Dutch security industry, especially from the so-called BOAs (community service officers), asking to be armed (Dutch).

(Photo: Orangemaster)

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April 18, 2019

Dutch Air Force F-16 shoots itself by mistake

Filed under: Aviation by Orangemaster @ 11:07 am

An incident that took place in January of this year is being investigated, in which a Dutch Air Force F-16 managed to shoot itself with its own MA61A1 Vulcan Gatling gun at a military range on the island of Vlieland, bringing the concept of friendly fire to a whole new level.

On 21 January, two F-16s were carrying out firing exercises, and the aircraft in question managed to catch up with its own 20-millimetre cannon rounds, damaging the fuselage and parts of the engine. No pilots were injured during this incident.

“The incident reflects why guns on a high-powered performance jet are perhaps a less than ideal weapon.” The Vulcan is able to fire 6,000 rounds a minute, but its magazines only hold 511 rounds, which is enough for five seconds of constant shooting. A pilot can accelerate and manoeuvre in such a way that they get hit by their own bullets.

The Dutch Air Force is currently replacing its F-16s with Lockheed F-35As, which have four-barrel General Dynamics GAU-22 Equalizers, with 25-millimetre cannons that can hold 182 rounds for two seconds of constant fire, hopefully providing less opportunities for ‘potentially deadly friendly fire’.

(Link arstechnica.com, Photo opmerkelijk.nieuws.nl)

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April 3, 2019

Van Gogh’s revolver under the hammer in Paris

Filed under: Art,History by Orangemaster @ 3:32 pm

It has been announced today in Paris that the revolver with which Vincent Van Gogh is believed to have shot himself will be auctioned off on June 19. Auction Art calls it “the most famous weapon in the history of art”, the 7 mm Lefaucheux revolver is expected to fetch upwards of 60,000 euro when it is sold on June 19.

“Discovered by a farmer in 1965 in the same field where the troubled Dutch painter is thought to have fatally wounded himself 75 years before, the gun has already been exhibited at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.”

Experts say that Van Gogh shot himself near the village of Auvers-sur-Oise north of Paris where he spent the last few months of his life in 1890. The revolver belonged to the owner of the inn where he was staying. Van Gogh died 36 hours after he wounded himself in the inn and in the dark.

There are still many discussions about whether he actually shot himself or that maybe a local boy shot him inadvertently.

(Link: phys.org)

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October 25, 2015

Tiny revolver found in Amsterdam flat

Filed under: General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 6:12 pm

The flat of a deceased Amsterdam resident was recently being cleaned out by a neighbour and in the process they found a revolver no bigger than 4 cm (photo). The neighbour who found the gun told the police who in turn searched the home carefully and concluded the deceased was a collector.

The wee revolver was 28 millimetres in height and 40 millimetres long, and it was loaded. The police said it could wound someone, but not kill them.

Hopefully the gun collection will end up in a museum instead of being destroyed.

(Link: www.waarmaarraar.nl, Photo by Joe Loong, some rights reserved)

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July 21, 2014

Armoured vehicles of the Dutch East Indies army

Filed under: History by Branko Collin @ 11:23 am

marmon-herringto-ctls-4tac-pd

Overvalwagens.com is a website dedicated to “the research of military, commercial and improvised vehicles as used in the Netherlands East and West Indies before 1945”.

In May 1940 Nazi Germany conquered the Netherlands, but it did not gain control over Dutch India. The outbreak of WWII made acquisitions difficult however for KNIL, the army in Dutch India. Overvalwagens.com writes: “Often the Netherlands Purchasing Commission was forced to acquire vehicles (as well as other military equipment) that was by no means standard allied material. Sometimes they bought off-the-shelf prototypes or equipment rejected by the US armed forces.”

An example is the tank shown above, the Marmon-Herrington CTLS-4TA. This was produced by the only company in the US “building tanks commercially, while not being involved in the re-armament process of the US Forces”. An interesting vehicle because the gun turret could not turn all the way around. As a result they were sold and used in pairs, one gun covering the left flank, the other one the right.

(Link: Martin Wisse, Photo: British armed forces, now in the public domain)

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December 11, 2012

Two companies to offer 3D printing services early next year

Filed under: Gadgets,Technology by Branko Collin @ 2:03 pm

A company called 3DSVP will start offering 3D printing services on the premises of the Meneer Paprika store in Haarlem next January, Hyped.nl reports.

The store expects to sell products mainly made of polyamide, but also jewellery made of silver and stainless steel. 3DSVP has been running a web shop since September, showcasing the type of products that you can have them print.

A similar service will be offered by Office Centre in the first quarter of 2013, the difference being that the Easy 3D printing service will use paper as its base material. Office Centre is a Dutch company (founded in 1993 as a merger) that is now owned by American office supplies company Staples. According to Engadget the service “will handle architectural designs, maps, medical models, replica weapons and anything else that can be made with fragments of paper arranged in 0.1mm layers up to a maximum height of six inches”.

Note that realistic replicas of guns are strictly forbidden in the Netherlands.

See also: Ultimaker, a lightning fast 3D printer.

(Link tip: Laurent Chambon. Photo of an Ultimaker-printed casing for a small video camera by HeatSync Labs, some rights reserved)

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August 17, 2011

Shooting incidents involving cops almost doubles

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 7:12 pm

The National Police Internal Investigations Department (Rijksrecherche) reports that incidents in which police officers injured or killed people using guns have increased from 14 in 2006 to 25 in 2010, Telegraaf reported last Thursday.

According to the department all uses were justified. Shooting incidents, the paper reports, formed the largest category of investigations, followed by investigations into corruption.

Dutch ‘beat cops’ are armed with handcuffs, a Walther P5, and “pepper spray, a truncheon, a walkie-talkie, a mobile phone and a ticket pad”, politie.nl lists meticulously. The site adds that all these items are worn on a belt. NOS Nieuws reported last January that police union NPB was surprised about not having been consulted about the new side-arm, the SIG Sauer, especially considering that the weapons testers chose another gun.

(Photo by Facemepls, some rights reserved)

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March 22, 2010

Remarkable weapons on display in Delft

Filed under: Gadgets,Weird by Branko Collin @ 8:29 am

knuckles-pistol-dagger

The Dutch Army Museum is exhibiting 100 of its most remarkable weapons. Among them is this brass knuckles slash revolver slash dagger (slash!).

Apart from this perfect way to shoot yourself in the chest while trying to knock somebody out, hidden weapons such as ballpoint pens, walking sticks and belt buckles are also on display. Moreover, personal arms of Prince Bernhard, General Snijders and a gun that was used by the 1975 Malukan train hijackers will be shown.

The exhibition will run from March 18 to October 31.

(Source image: legermuseum.nl. Link: RTL Nieuws.)

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January 8, 2009

Town outlaws use of metal detectors in ‘war forest’

Filed under: General,History by Branko Collin @ 8:05 am

The municipality of Haren in Groningen is considering outlawing the use of metal detectors, Groninger Internet Courant reports (Dutch). The town council wants to prevent people from digging up corpses and ammunition in the Appelbergen forest, where the Nazis buried 34 people they shot in retribution. Fifteen of those victims were never found.

A spokesperson of the municipality told GIC.nl that “The police regularly discover treasure hunters who think its exciting to search the forest. Though the chance is small, we don’t want them to start digging and find human remains. There’s a much bigger possibility they will find ammunition, also because the forest is a practice area for the army. That could lead to dangerous situations.”

Photo of the Appelbergen war monument by Wikipedia user Lampje, some rights reserved.

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