18-04-2014, 11:57 PM
Drew Phipps Wrote:Don't know if this is good news or bad, but this isn't the first time that this particular feat of trickery has been spotted. A gentleman with the unlikely name of Walt Cakebread, a former Navy man and gun enthusiast, looked at a published photo of the "magic bullet" (unknown if it was labeled CE 399 or not) in 1964 and concluded that there were 6 set of lands and grooves on the bullet, and determined that the spin rate was 1 / 7.37 inches. Knowing that wasn't right for a M-C 91/38, he shopped his observations around but wasn't taken seriously. 10 years later, the HSCA comes along and publishes a different pictures of the bullet (almost certainly by now labeled CE 399), and it shows a different pattern of lands and grooves! When Cakebread realizes that this meant that either the WC evidence was a forgery, or the HSCA evidence was, he again tried to interest researchers in it. He had no luck until he ran into author Jack White. Jack White examines all of the bullet photos and concludes that CE 399 has 5 sets of lands and grooves, and published a short article about it.
You can read all about Walt Cakebread and Jack White in the Harold Weisberg Archives (online). It appears that Harold used the article as "evidence" in support of one of his many FOIA lawsuits.
This is all new to me, although I have to admit I was a little surprised that no one else had noticed the peculiarities of CE 399 in the last 50 years. I can sympathize with Mr. Cakebread's (is that a real name?) inability to arouse any interest in the ballistics of this case. People seem to be far more fascinated with LHO's tonsils than the ballistics of the weapon allegedly used to kill JFK.
In your searching, have you found anyone pursuing the finer details of SA Robert Frazier's testimony to the WC?
Mr. HILL. The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.
Warren Commission testimony of Secret Service Agent Clinton J. Hill, 1964
Warren Commission testimony of Secret Service Agent Clinton J. Hill, 1964