George Hyde (gun designer)

For other people named George Hyde, see George Hyde (disambiguation).
George J. Hyde
Born(1888-01-04)January 4, 1888
Äpfingen, Baden-Württemberg, German Empire
DiedDecember 2, 1963(1963-12-02) (aged 75)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
NationalityGerman-American
Occupation(s)Machinist, gunsmith and gun designer
Known forDesigning the M3 grease gun, designing the FP-45 Liberator pistol

George J. Hyde Sr. (born Heide; January 4, 1888 – December 2, 1963) was a German-born American machinist, gunsmith and gun designer best known for his submachine guns. He was born in Apfingen, Germany. Already a skilled machinist, he immigrated to the United States in 1927. His family followed the next year.

Before 1935 George J. Hyde was a machinist and shop foreman at Griffin & Howe.[1] He quit Griffin & Howe and went on to become the co-owner of Leonard & Hyde in New York. He partnered with Samuel A. "Harry" Leonard, an expert shotgun and rifle stock maker, who had trained at James Purdey & Sons of London. Hyde also did contract gunsmithing work for Roberts and Kimball in Woburn, Massachusetts. (The latter was an early semi-custom maker of rifles chambered in .257 Roberts.)

Hyde's gun designs

An M3 Grease Gun

Hyde was the chief gun designer for the Inland Division of General Motors (GM) during World War II. He also did gun design work for Bendix Aviation Corporation. Among others, he was the designer or co-designer of these guns:

  • The Hyde Model 33, a prototype submachine gun.[2]
  • The Hyde Model 35, a prototype submachine gun.[2] A patent was issued to Hyde for this model on August 4, 1936.
  • The M2 Hyde submachine gun.[3]
  • The M3 grease gun submachine gun.[4][5] About 700,000 were produced at a unit cost of around $20 each.
  • The FP-45 Liberator pistol.[6][7][8] About 1,000,000 were produced at a unit cost of $2.10 each.
  • The Bendix Hyde carbine.[9] (A prototype he designed for Bendix Aviation Corporation that never went into production.)[10]

Personal life and death

Hyde was married in Germany about 1917, to German-born Margaretta ("Greta") Levy (1895–1985). Their first child was George J. Hyde Jr., born 9 March 1918 in Germany. He died in 1999 in Florida. They also had a daughter, Giselle, born about 1924 in Germany.

George Sr. died on December 2, 1963, at Adelphi Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.[11]

References

  1. ^ "Home". griffinhowe.com.
  2. ^ a b The World's Submachine Guns, Volume 1, by Thomas B. Nelson, Pages 70-72.
  3. ^ Canfield, Bruce N. American Rifleman (August 2008) p. 52
  4. ^ Iannamico, Frank, The U.S. M3-3A1 Submachine Gun, Moose Lake Publishing, ISBN 0-9701954-4-3, ISBN 978-0-9701954-4-9 (1999)
  5. ^ "The National Firearms Museum: U.S. General Motors - Guide Lamp Division (Detroit, MI) M3 Submachine Gun". Archived from the original on 2013-05-11. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
  6. ^ Bruce N. Canfield "Desperate Times: The Liberator Pistol" American Rifleman August 2012 pp.48-51&83-84
  7. ^ "An Official Journal of the NRA | the Liberator Pistol".
  8. ^ "Liberator Pistol Book". Archived from the original on 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2012-07-12. The Liberator Pistol, by Ralph Hagan
  9. ^ "Hyde Carbine". 27 October 2010.
  10. ^ "Ordnance Department Procurement | PDF | Ordnance Corps (United States Army) | Artillery".
  11. ^ "George Hyde Sr". New York Daily News. 1963-12-03. p. 46. Retrieved 2022-01-10 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon