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Richard Carroll “Dick” Maguire (August 9, 1918 –October 11, 1985) was a foremost military firearm, tank turret and armament engineer for the United States Army and designer of the 20th century as well as an award winning marksman in high power rifle and pistol.

Dick Maguire, born in Worchester, MA, moved to Detroit, MI as a child with his family. He attended high school then Wayne State College in Detroit before working briefly for the Ford Motor Plant in River Rouge, Dearborn. When the U.S. entered WW II, Ford retooled for military vehicles. Dick’s position at Ford’s was considered strategic to the war effort, therefore he was exempt from military service. However, he immediately joined the Michigan National Guard which at that time was not yet federalized. He quickly rose in the ranks, reaching the level of Captain before his duties ended.

US Army Tank Automotive Command at Detroit Arsenal, Warren MI, 1945-1964.

In early 1945, shortly before the end of WW II, Maguire was hired by the Chief of Ordnance Dept. at the US Army Tank Automotive Command (located on the Detroit Arsenal) in Warren, Michigan, where he was assigned to the Research and Development team that redesigned a new turret and cupola to improve accuracy on the M-26 Pershing Tank 90mm main gun. After the war, Maguire designed and developed tanks’ primary and secondary weapon mounts on the M-46 Patton, M-47, M-48, M-48A2, M-48A3 and, in December 1960, the M-60 Patton, the first Main Battle Tank with a 105mm primary weapon. In addition to his engineering work on tanks, he also designed gun mounts for primary and secondary armament as well as .50 caliber and .30 caliber crew-served weapons. He was promoted to Department Chief of crew-served weapons where he did Research and Development on small-arm systems and worked extensively with contractors. It was here that he met Gene Stoner, the designer of the AR-15 rifle, along with Stoner’s chief assistant Robert Fremont and American firearms inventor Jim Sullivan. After Stoner left Armalite and went to Cadillac Cage in Warren MI, Maguire and Stoner collaborated with others in the development of the M16 and the Stoner 63 Weapons System.

In addition to his profession as an armament engineer, Maguire was passionate about military history, and he established close relationships with the head of the U. S. Military Technical Intelligence Corps, armament designers and museum curators throughout the world.

His dedication to history inspired him to research and write a 1200-page book which was eventually published as WEAPON MOUNTS FOR SECONDARY ARMAMENT in 1957. The book, prepared for the “Detroit Arsenal, Ordnance Corps, U.S. Army” was edited by George Otto Noville Associates under contract. Maguire’s extensive and substantial research on gun mounts from World War I to 1957 provided the expert content of the book. It was a limited edition intended for weapon designers and museums only.