The Browning M1919 is a .30-06 caliber weapon developed by John M. Browning as an adaptation of the Browning M1917 to an air-cooled, closed-bolt, belt-fed medium machine gun. It served as the main general-purpose machine gun of the United States military during World War II and the Korean War era. After the Lend-Lense Act was signed, many M1919's were re-chambered in the standard rifle cartridges of other alllied nations' militaries. Famously, .303 caliber M1919s served as the main aircraft armament of the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane fighters, and other countries with their own industrial bases such as FN Herstal of Belgium were allowed to mass-produce their own M1919s under license.
The Browning M1919 is usually seen mounted as the fixed armament or movable turret on militaryaircrafts and ground vehicles. In the infantry role, the early-war M1919A4 was used as a medium machine gun with a tripod, though later in the war saw the development of the M1919A6 with a rifle stock and bipod in order to turn the weapon into a true light machine gun. It could also be picked up and fired from the hip in times of true need or desperation, though artistic depictions of this are usually references to Dr. Strangelove.
