#Wwi color machine gun license#

The aircraft version of the Vickers Gun was by far the most used weapon on British and French fighter aircraft of World War I and the interwar period with some still in use towards the end of World War II.

#Wwi color machine gun license#

These 11mm Vickers became known as “Balloon Busters.” The Vickers Machine Gun – 11mm “Balloon Buster” made under license in the U.S.

Additionally they were modified for aircraft use, with the appropriate cooling slats cut into the water jacket assembly. All of the previously Russian sized 7.62s were altered to accept the 11mm round. It was decided to use the 11 mm French gras round. The thousands of guns that had been produced sat in storage until a need arose in Europe for a machine gun that could fire larger caliber incendiary rounds to destroy German hydrogen filled balloons. After the Russian revolution kicked off in early 1917, the Russian orders were cancelled. and had a large order for the guns from Russia in 1916. The introduction of the synchronizer gear system allowed for forward firing through a propeller’s field of rotation.Ĭolt was licensed to manufacture Vickers Machine Guns in the U.S. In a closed bolt type of firing mechanism there is virtually no delay between the trigger being pulled and the firing of the weapon, unlike the open bolt design utilized by the Lewis Gun. The closed bolt design of the Vickers Gun lent itself to forward firing use in aircraft due to its ease of integration with a synchronizer system. The belt links were a disintegrating type which meant each belt link was ejected along with each spent cartridge as the weapon fired. However the water jacket assembly had to be retained due to the barrel action mechanism, but several rows of aircooling slots were added.Īn enclosure was added to cover the belt feed to prevent wind from kinking the incoming ammunition belt. The water cooling system was deemed unnecessary due to the more than adequate flow of cool, fast-moving air over the barrel in flight. The gun recieved a few modifications for aircraft use. The first use of the Vickers Gun on an aircraft was on Vickers’ own experimental E.F.B.1 biplane prototype, the first British aircraft ever to be designed for military purposes. Thanks to its water cooling it could be fired practically continuously, requiring only a barrel change for roughly every hour of operation. Despite its bulk and weight of around 30 lbs (15 kg), not including water and ammunition, it was praised by crews for its dependability.

The Vickers attained a solid reputation upon its introduction in 1912. Another significant improvement was the addition of a muzzle booster, which restricts the escaping high pressure gases from the barrel, forcing more energy to the backwards motion of the barrel without increasing recoil force. Vickers improved on this design by lightening the overall weight of the weapon as well as simplifying and strengthening the parts of the internal mechanisms. The Vickers Machine Gun Design The Vickers Aircraft Machine Gun – Fires British. The weapon was also water-cooled for maximum efficiency and due to this could be fired for long durations. This machine gun was extremely efficient due to its novel recoil based feed operation, which utilized the recoil of the weapon to eject the spent cartridge and insert another one. Maxim’s original ‘Maxim Gun’ that came to prominence in the 1880s as a deadly armament of the British Empire. The origins of the Vickers gun can be traced back to Hiram S. The weapon, originally water cooled and based on the successful Maxim gun, was designed and manufactured by Vickers Limited of Britain and fitted to many early British and French fighter planes. The Vickers Gun or Vickers Machine Gun as it is often called was one of the first armaments fitted to an airplane for combat in the early 1910s.