History Literature / TheMachineGunners

''The Machine Gunners'' was adapted by the BBC for television in 1983 and again for radio in 2002. A stage play by Westall also exists and had a run at the Polka Theatre in London, commissioned by the Imperial War Museum. The book won the UsefulNotes/CarnegieMedal in 1975 and was voted in 2007 as one of the ten most important children's novels of the last seven decades by the Carnegie Medal panel.

** the author clearly has no experience of actually handling and firing a weapon of this sort.

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero -- Chas: he's the serious and driven one whose plan the whole affair is right from the start.
** TheLancer -- Cem: Chas [=McGill=]'s longest friend, even if their fathers don't entirely see eye-to-eye. Quieter and slower to act than Chas.
** TheSmartGuy -- Nicky: Thin, slightly sickly, described as being effeminate and initially more the TagalongKid, Nicky gets 'upgraded' after [[spoiler: his house gets bombed and his mother dies]] providing a place for the gang to build the gun's hiding place.
** TheBigGuy -- Clogger: recruited to the gang by Chas mostly because of his school reputation as a hard, quiet soul that no one wants to mess with. Definitely not a case of DumbMuscle.
** TheChick -- Audrey. Tomboyish, knows First Aid and also tends to be the one to resolve arguments between the group. She was also the only person who sympathised with Chas during his WhatTheHellHero? time; as a girl, she sees nothing wrong with beating someone bigger and harder than you with a weapon.

''The Machine Gunners'' was adapted by the BBC for television in 1983 and again for radio in 2002. A stage play by Westall also exists and had a run at the Polka Theatre in London, commissioned by the Imperial War Museum (no, not [[Franchise/StarWars that Empire]]). The book won the UsefulNotes/CarnegieMedal in 1975 and was voted in 2007 as one of the ten most important children's novels of the last seven decades by the Carnegie Medal panel.

* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Averted. From the outset, one of the most major concerns the authorities have about the missing machine gun is that, in the wrong hands, it's bullets can accidentally kill people some way off by going through walls. Indeed, towards the end of the novel, the police sergeant pursuing Chas and the gun gets a lead precisely because a bullet from the weapon lodged in someone's wall.

But the police and his teachers know someone at the school stole the machine gun from the wreck, and [=McGill=] is one of the prime suspects. How long can they keep the gun and its hiding place a secret, from both the adults ''and'' [=McGill=]'s collection rival, school bully Boddser Brown. Things are further complicated when the gang attempts shoot down a Me 110, causing it to ''actually'' be shot down by a trio of three Spitfires. The rear-gunner bails out and manages to blunder into the children's secret fort and be captured by them. They can't let him go; in case he tells the authorities about them. What to do with a captured German airman and a stolen machine gun, especially when the signal of a German invasion comes.

During one air raid, a German Heinkel bomber is shot down and crashes in the woods near to [=McGill=]'s home. He finds it one morning and discovers that it's rear turret machine gun is still in place, intact and in full working condition. This, he decides, will be the finest war souvenir he's ever collected. It is only during the next bombing that he gains another plan, to gather his friends together to create a fortress of their own to fight the Germans themselves.