A chap on Twatter is wondering what this is. Apparently done the rounds of some WW1 forums, but you never know, somebody might have an idea. Allan Douglas on Twitter Signal light, Grenade launcher. Lord knows. I'm personally leaning towards 'Historic Firearms' suggestion that it might be a Parachute Flare gun, but some crisper info might be nice:
I wonder if that flat portion was supposed to be hooked or mounted onto something, maybe the side of a vehicle or cannon. That might suggest a fixed angle.
I think the Great War Forum folk veered towards it being a faked photo. Not sure how much of a concensus, or on what specific grounds though. Pat
The flare guns of that period seem rudimentary in comparison. It has a modern look and finish. If not an outright fake then perhaps an early Nerf gun.
It's not a precise science, & I'm relatively new to using it, but results from the Fotoforensics site look to me like there's been some work on creases or stains, but nothing certain around the thingy itself: 'ImageEdited' is not so sure, though. Thinks Gimp might have been involved. (but also lists a variety of other image handling/storage/web programs... I don't really trust the site.) Trouble is, it's a 23kb image, so has been scanned/resized rather drastically, & there's not enough pixels to be sure about anything. Which is exactly what you might do with a fake, but also what people do with web images, particularly when shared about a lot.
There's all sorts of shenanegans going on at the moment however I don't veer towards ''it's too modern a design". The shape of what would be a copper alloy (e.g. brass) or aluminium alloy, looks generally like contemporary examples. I'll try to find some parallels (and look for how to post pics...)
It has been identified. Hooray! Sir Samuel Davidson's 'Hand Howitzer'. Mr Gillingham expands: Taff on Twitter Patents: US1299136A - Projection of explosive shells, bombs, or grenades. - Google Patents
As he also invented a periscope sight for machine guns it might seem that he was interested in being able to fire from a trench without exposing oneself - however the Stokes seems a simpler solution although less portable. Although the weapon has been IDed the photo still looks dodgy. The HH must have been bloody heavy and in the shot it is hanging without seeming to put any strain on the Sam Brownie.
His 'Scirocco Works' firm appear to have been expert casters of aluminium. Fans, very early air conditioning etc. It's counterintuitive given the period, but I've little issue that something carefully made of Ali could hang like that.
So a WW1 version of a WW2 Kampfpistole or Sturmpistole https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...px-German_soldier_with_Sturmpistole,_1943.jpg
It’s not putting any strain on his Sam Browne as it is not hung from it but has its own shoulder strap. Regardless of its hanging arrangement, what an outstanding piece of ordnance and reminds me of the weaponry with which orks were equipped in my sons’ Warhammer days! It should therefore be a mega-kannon or some such.