Marlin Machine Guns

[wingstrutdotcom]

Anyone know of a website that has info on Marlin Machine guns that were outfitted on some USAS aircraft?

I am currently doing some DH 4 profiles and would be interested in any info on these guns. I have seen several photos showing even dual Marlins forward on DH4. Were they a good gun?

Wingstrut,

Champlin had a good display of weaponry. I took some photos of them while there they are at;

http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/artattack/rh...tm

There is one good shot of a Marlin on that page. I dont know if that is of use to you or not.



cam

I believe it was Harold Hartney, C.O. of the 27th -and then the entire First Pursuit group- who mentions, I seem to recall, his frustration in knowing of an ordinance warehouse in France full of Marlins, destined for the USAS, which could not be used as received as they had not been machined to accept the remote actuating (Bowden-type) cables. This was at a time when machine guns were not available for a/c already at the front and a few Americans occasionally, in their eagerness, flew in proximity to and even over the front lines without any guns mounted on their N-28s. Regards, Lee

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Wingstrut:
you will find dimensioned 6 view drawings of the aircraft Marlin Machine Gun with the trigger motor on page 118 of Harry Woodman's EARLY AIRCRAFT ARMAMENT, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washinton, D.C. 1989, ISBN 0-87474-994-8.
Dan-San Abbott

[wingstrutdotcom]

thanks, I will see if I can find a copy of that. I am considering doing a "profile" just of the Marlin as it appears on nearly every US DH4 I have seen. Just finished my profile of my first DH4 from the 20th BS at : http://members.nbci.com/_XOOM/wingstrut/profiles.htm

In the book FIRST TO THE FRONT it states that on the day Waldo Heinrichs of the 95th was shot down and captured, his Spad was armed with Marlins (both jammed).
Regards,
Steve

[Billy_Bishop]

According to Military Small Arms of the 20th Century by Ian Hogg and John Weeks, the Marlin was a development of the Colt machine gun of 1895, otherwise known as the "potato digger".

The Marlin design removed the lever below the barrel and replaced it with a piston. Several other alterations were also incorporated into the Marlin design.

The Marlin version was lighter than the Colt design, and the quote in the book says "undoubtedly a better gun". According to this book, it remained in USAS use through WWI and for several years afterwards.

There were 38,000 aircraft guns made, and 1,470 tank models were made.

In 1941, when Britain was desperately short of all types of weapons, several thousand Marlins were supplied by the USA, all of them dating from WWI and all heavily protected in preservative grease. These guns were activated in a very short time and used, for anti-aircraft defence on small merchant ships.

VBR,

Al Lowe

[Barrett]

AND the "Potato Digger" was yet another product of the fertile mind of John M. Browning.

Q: Why was JMB's middle name "Moses"?
A: Because he was beloved of God.

The previous exchange actually occurred in a Colt factory armorer's class I attended.