WWII brought about many changes in armament, one of which was the introduction of Bakelite spadegrip handles. They were Probably patterned after the ergonomic wooden handles of the earlier ANM2 .30 caliber Browning aircraft machine gun which was in use during the 1930s, and quickly replaced at the outset of WWII by the more effective Browning .50 caliber machine gun. The ANM2 remained in use with older aircraft still in service, and elsewhere to a limited extent. When Bakelite handles were introduced the ANM2 was fitted with red Bakelite.

On many of B-17 and B-25 heavy bombers, the waist position .50s were mounted in a simple carriage using open sights. These usually featured the round wooden spadegrip handles, but not always. The more sophisticated electronic compensating sited carriages, such as the K-13, had the ergonomic Bakelite spade grips. In addition, the Bakelite handle also appeared on experimental weapons, two of which are seen below.

Except for variations in mounting hardware, the Bakelite handle appears to be essentially the same on all .50 & .30 caliber Brownings.

Please feel free to correct any misinformation you find on this site, or to pass along any new information you think might be of interest by E-mailing me. I am by no means an expert on any of this and will happily yield to more informed sources.

The T-152. An experimental weapon for use in tanks.
It led to the M-37 which used the standard pistol grip.
Photo: Small Arms of the World by W.H.B. Smith. Stackpole Books, 1969.

The ANM2/MG 40 at work in WWII. This is a detail from a Western Electric ad I scanned from an October 2nd, 1944 copy of Life magazine. Click on image to see the full ad.

The plane is a Navy Dauntless.