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Originally Posted by 54thAIB
Hi- I'm brand new to the forum but its been a wealth of info. I'm currently building a 1/28 SPAD and here's where I could use some help. How were the Vickers MGs cocked by the pilot? My model has the cocking levers pointing up and to the rear towards the pilot. I've never sat in a SPAD cockpit but I guess it possible for the pilot to reach up past the windscreen and pull the right lever back to cock it -- but the left gun's lever would have the pilot reach over the windscreen to reach the lever. Now I have seen beautiful pics of a vickers aerial MG with the levers pointing up on the Vintage Aircraft website--but in this forum I started to see pics of scale models of Vickers guns with the levers pointing down and to the rear. So the cocking levers would be down into the cockpit. This makes more sense for the pilot to grab the levers and even to smack them with his mallet if a gun jammed. The Memorial Flight website has been a gem of source for many things but this is one aspect that isn't very clear. That SPAD looks like the levers are pointing down but its not clear. I would welcome any opinions. And one final thing. How were these guns actually fired? Teh SPAD had triggers and cables but what were they connedted to? Sorry for the long msg. Regards
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I think the guns on the SPAD sat in metal wells so the leavers wouldnt have been able to be pointed into the cockpit without modification to the gun wells.... that might have been possible but the instrument panel may have gotten in the way. On the other hand, the Camel had its handles pointed into the cockpit. Which your right, makes more sense for the pilots ease of use.