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Monday, August 29, 2011
The Lewis Gun
(Video source)
The video shows the gun being fired with 47 round magazines. They had 97 round magazines, as well, and those were used on early fighters and observation aircraft during the Great War. Imagine the fun that a fighter pilot had when he had to change out the drum during the middle of a dogfight.
6 comments:
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Usually it would have been the observer (in a 2 man plane) who had a freely movable lewis gun. AFAIK, you couldn't
ReplyDeletesynchronise them to fire through the prop.
I have actually flown a Fokker triplane and a Bucker Jungmann (a biplane) and can tell you these are not stable gun platforms, so you'd need to get really close.
Von Richthofen et al recommended getting to within 100 yards before opening fire. Anything over 300 yards was just wasting ammo.
Besides 600 rounds/min with a 97 round drum translates to just 10 seconds :-(
Although he did not use a Lewis, the late German Ace Erich Hartmann, said that the secret of his 252 Confirmed Kills was to "...was to give the enemy target the full effect of my weapons. If you wait until the other plane fills the entire window of the cockpit, you don't waste a single round." Given the dimensions of the BF-109 forward window and the size of his intended target this would typically put one within 20 Meters or 22 Yards of the enemy aircraft. Getting close is the secret, in that it allows the element of surprise, and you do not have to be such a good shot. Practically every round hits the target. Hartmann had numerous midair collisions, a testament to just how solid the Bf-109 was and how close we would get before he would open fire.
ReplyDeleteStu, yes, but the Allied fighters used Lewis guns set on the top wing so they'd shoot over the arc of the prop. Early on, the story is that pilots had to stand up to reload the gun. Then they developed a rail system so that the gun could be slid back down to the pilot. Billy Bishop discovered that the gun could still be fired when slid back, he used that feature to attack from below (sort of an early version of the "slanting music" guns of the German night fighters).
ReplyDeleteSE5a had a Lewis on the upper wing, plus another synchronized, behind the prop. (Maxim? Browning?)
ReplyDeleteI've done a lot of dogfighting in WWII planes. (Simulated, of course.) Filling the windshield with enemy before firing is dangerous, but effective. Nothing more satisfying than a high deflection shot from above that takes a wing off, though. Much safer, too.
Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STRJIUqRc7k&playnext=1&list=PL31312F2100C9738F
". . . a rail system so that the gun could be slid back down to the pilot." I was incredulous, so I looked it up, and sure enough, there is an article about the "Foster mounting" on Wikipedia. Put that together with yesterday's video of Lewis Gun and I am doubly astounded.
ReplyDeleteThank You. That was a pleasant way to start my Tuesday. Full Auto is almost a symphony to me. Very relaxing.
ReplyDeletew3ski