The Browning M2, or Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .50, M2, HB, Flexibel, was possibly the most used weapon during the war! Designed in 1918, it is still in service in many countries today! It was used during the war by ground personnel, by ground vehicles (mostly as anti-aircraft gun), by aircrafts (a variant was the AN/M2) and by ships as anti-aircraft guns. Maxson mounts M33 and mass produced M45 were quite succesful. Its nickname was Ma Deuce, derived from: M2, but U.S. military personnel simply called it "Fifty-Cal". The M2 was an automatic air-cooled belt-fed weapon. It can be used against ground and air targets. The weapon has a folding visor with a scale for distances from 400-2300 metres. It can fire around 500 rpm on a maximum distance of 1800 metres. The Soviet equivalent is the DShK.
A twin mount with a small gunshield on a tripod, both used as an emplacement on the ground and on ships. There are also Maxson gunmounts mounting two (M33) or four (M45) with much more protection for the operator. On the Elco 80 and Elco 103 the twin mount is on a turret ring without a gunshield.
