AUTOMATIC PISTOL SHOOTING
Walter Winans
G. P. PUTNAMS'S SONS, New York & London, 1915
A classic automatic pistol manual published in 1915, written by the celebrated Olympic marksman, firearms expert and noted sculptor, Walter Winans. Automatic Pistol Shooting (1916) is a practical shooting manual covering the use of both the automatic pistol and the revolver. In Winan's opinion the automatic was the weapon of the future, although the revolver was by no means redundant in 1916. The book covers a wide range of topics, including selecting a pistol, cleaning, sights, rapid firing, target shooting, competion shooting, duelling and self defence. There are also sections on more unusual subjects such as stage shooting and trick shooting. The coverage of duelling now seems rather eccentric, at a time when the practice had been almost completely abandoned, and the automatic pistol was hardly a suitable weapon in such a contest. The pistols covered in the book include the 1911 Colt .45 Automatic, the Smith & Wesson revolver and the Savage .38 Automatic.
The book is signed on the front endpapers by 'F. N. MacFarlane, Capt. R.F. A.' This is Frank Noel Mason Macfarlane - a British army officer, who would later be involved in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Berlin in April 1939.
Lt-General Sir F. N. Mason-MacFarlane KCB, DSO, MC (1889-1953): Frank Noel Mason-MacFarlane was a senior British Army officer, administrator and politician who served as Governor of Gibraltar during WW2. He was born in 1889 and was educated at Rugby School. After attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1909. Until February 1909, his surname was Mason, but he changed it to Mason-MacFarlane in recognition of his Scottish heritage - MacFarlane was his mother's maiden name.
Mason-MacFarlane served in the First World War on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia. In the winter of 1915–16, he served with the relief forces involved in the bloody fighting outside Kut. As a young officer Mason-MacFarlane had a reputation as someone who was always on the "look out for trouble", and who had a profound distrust of the higher command. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1916, a bar to the award in 1918 (gazetted in September) and a second Bar in the same year, awarded while he was attached to the Artillery Headquarters of the 41st Division. The citation for the second Bar in the London Gazette on 2 December 1918 reads: "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. While he was engaged on a reconnaissance another officer who was with him was severely wounded by a sniper. He removed him to a place of safety and also brought in a stretcher-bearer who was wounded by the same sniper. He then completed his reconnaissance and returned with valuable and accurate information". Mason-MacFarlane was also awarded the French Croix de guerre and was mentioned in despatches.
The most extraordinary episode in Mason-Macfarlane's long and eventful career occured when he was the military attache in the British Embassy in Berlin in the spring of 1939. Mason-Macfarlane had calculated that during the parade for Hitler’s 50th birthday on April 20, the Fuhrer would be on a raised dais and within easy rifle shot of the attache’s drawing room window.
Mason-Macfarlane outlined the assassination plan to his friend, Ewen Butler, The Times correspondent in Germany. Butler later wrote about the plan in Mason-Mac (Macmillan, 1972): 'The idea of ridding the world of Adolf Hitler and thereby, perhaps, of saving Europe and the world from war, was never far from the front of Mason-Mac's mind. . . The windows of Mason-Mac's drawing room overlooked the Charlottenburg Chaussse. As we looked at the workmen who were busily hanging swastika banners on the shoddy plywood columns which now flanked this triumphal avenue, in anticipation of Hitler's birthday parade, Mason-Mac pointed towards the saluting-base from which the Fuhrer was graciously to accept the homage of his armed forces. "Easy rifle-shot" he said laconically'. "I could pick the bastard off from here as easy as winking, and what's more I'm thinking of doing it”. The listener, whose ideas were identical to those of the military attache, felt bound, nevertheless, to utter conventional words of disapproval, while agreeing that the proposed assassination, however reprehensible in itself, might be a blessing to mankind. "Oh, I know. There'd be all hell to pay, of course, and I'd be finished in every sense of the word," Mason-Mac replied. "Still I doubt if they'd declare war, and with that lunatic out of the way we might be able to get some sense into things." "It's certainly an idea," I said. "Yes. Bloody awful one, of course, but I'd be prepared to do it, if the worst came to the worst."'
Mason-Macfarlane was deadly serious about his plan, and he proposed it to his superiors - but they were having none of it. Britain was not at war with Germany in early 1939 and no such action would be sanctioned by the British authorities. The Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, was unmoved by Mason-Macfarlane’s proposal, apparently commenting “We have not reached that stage when we have to use assassination". Mason-Macfarlane was recalled from Berlin in May 1939, promoted to Brigadier-General, and the plan was forgotten.
When war finally broke out, Mason-Macfarlane held several senior positions. He was Director of Military Intelligence with the BEF in 1939-40, and during the Battle of Dunkirk he was operational commander of 'Mac Force', covering the British right flank. Amongst many other important appointments he went on to serve as Head of the British Military Mission in Moscow, and as Governor of Gibraltar. After the toppling of Mussolini, in 1944 he was for a time effectively head of the interim Government in Italy.
After the war, he was elected as the Labour Party Member of Parliament for the constituency of Paddington North, serving from from 1945 to 1946. He had defeated Winston Churchill's close associate Brendan Bracken at the general election, but was forced to stand down the next year due to ill-health.
Walter Winans (1852-1920): After settling in America in the late 17th century the Wynants family changed their Dutch name to Winans and prospered with the development of the railroads. Walter Winans' father was one of two brothers who went to Russia to direct the building of the national railway system and the future Olympic champion was born and educated in St. Petersburg. Winans eventually settled in England and showed great talent in many fields. Apart from his Olympic rifle successes, he was a noted pistol shot, a firearms expert and a renowned equestrian sculptor, exhibiting 14 times at the British Royal Academy. In this field he won a second Olympic gold medal in the Arts Competition at Stockholm in 1912 – the only American to win medals both in the art and sport phases of Olympic competition. At the 1908 Olympics, there was a question raised about Winans' eligibility because he had never set foot in America and he was required to swear his allegiance to the U.S. Consul General in order to participate. Winans did eventually visit America, but not until he was 58 years of age. Trotting, another of his interests, led to his death. While driving in a race in England in 1920, he suffered a heart attack and fell, fracturing his skull and dying instantly. He was the author of many books on subjects as diverse as firearms and sculpture, including The Art of Revolver Shooting, Automatic Pistol Shooting, Practical Rifle Shooting and Animal Sculpture.
Condition:
In very good condition. The boards are in very good condition. The binding and hinges are very good and secure. The text and illustrations are in very good condition. Signed on the front endpapers 'F. N. MacFarlane, Capt. R.F. A.'
Published: 1915
Red illustrated boards
Illustrated with one B/W plate, and one page of diagrams
Dimensions: 115mm x 175mm
Pages: 133
