Evelyn Ernest "Evo" Owen (15 May 1915 – 1 April 1949) was an Australian who developed the Owen submachine gun which was used by the Australian Army in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
History[]
Owen developed an early .22 LR prototype of the Owen gun in 1938, and got the gun to be tested; despite suggestions that the weapon should be upgraded to a larger caliber, he was informed that the Australian army would not have any interest in the weapon. Dismayed, he enlisted in the army in 1940; he was discharged a year later so he could produce the weapon. He received £10,000 in royalties for the weapons, which he used to establish a sawmill near Wollongong. After his production of the Owen, he continued to experiment with firearms. He died in 1949 from cardiac syncope.