Hot on the heels of the death of the airgun historian D T Fletcher comes sad news about the great inventor and airgunsmith John Whiscombe. BBS member greenwayjames, who is well connected, reports he died recently.
Very very rarely someone has a brainwave about building an airgun and then has the engineering skills and the guts to make it a reality. The powerful Whiscombe recoilless air rifles will live on for many decades to come as a testament to JW's genius. By all accounts he was a top bloke too.
(Edit: a US friend who talked regularly with John tells me he has been 'phoning without result and has been unsuccessfully trying for a couple of weeks to contact JW's daughter Kate...)