KWC
MINI
UZI
A
s iconic weapons go, the IMI
(Israel Military Industries) UZI
is up there with the best of
them. Just as everybody says
‘Hoover’ when talking about a
vacuum cleaner (or ‘Dyson’ in recent years), the
Uzi became the byword for every submachine
pistol of the late 1970s and 80s.
The first Uzi submachine gun was designed
by Major Uziel Gal in the late 1940s. The
prototype was finished in 1950 and first
introduced to IDF (Israeli Defense Force)
Special Forces in 1954. Although countless
millions of defence dollars are spent promoting
a new weapons system it only takes an iconic
026
March 2012
Ron Mahoney’s had
KWC’s replica of the IMI
Mini UZI out in the field to
see just how it performs
moment in a weapons’ life and you have
the kind of publicity money cannot buy.
For example, when pictures of the SAS
storming the Iranian Embassy flashed
around the world, Heckler & Koch probably
rested a little on its laurels in terms of
promotional budget for the MP5.
The Uzi really had two iconic moments.
First was the daring rescue of Israeli
passengers from the terminal building
at Ugandan airport Entebbe. Operation
Thunderbolt, or The Raid on Entebbe as
it became known, involved 100 Israeli
commandos who flew over 2,500 miles in four
Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules to Uganda.