Quoted:
Cool pics, thanks for posting. Wasn't the DROR based on the '41 Johnson?
"everal of Melvin Johnson’s engineers sympathized with the Jewish cause. They helped smuggle the complete technical package on the Johnson LMG to the Israeli Hagannah despite the formal arms embargo"
"...and go to a small apartment on 114th Street in Manhattan.
Arriving there, he was introduced to Phil Alpert (a young mechanical engineer), Haim Slavin, and a pile of Johnson light machine gun parts (which he did not recognize at the time). He was told that each part had to be reverse engineered – measured and drafted – so they could be returned the next morning before anyone noticed they were missing from their proper home. David proceeded to work on this project for several days.
Thus began his involvement in procuring weapons for the Haganah (predecessor to the IDF), which would last another 18 months. The head of this operation was Haim Slavin, and the main project for his group was development of the Dror. The job was run from Haim’s apartment, which consisted of an office and a bedroom. A volunteer girl typed out purchase orders for tools and materials, all under fictitious company names. Meanwhile David Glassman and Phil Alpert visited companies and individuals the group was buying from. Eventually, they were able to succeed in shipping both technical blueprints, machinery, and tooling for Dror manufacture to Israel to begin production."