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Dear Al,
*Yes, but not half as ridiculous as Bishop's claim that he jettisoned his Lewis gun to save weight in case he had to escape four German scouts; in Bishop's own words:
*"To my dismay I discovered four enemy scouts above me. I was terrified that they would see me, so flew directly underneath them, for some time -- almost a mile, I should think -- going directly south. Then, deciding that I must do something, I took the bit in my teeth and slipped away. They did not attempt to attack me at all, so I am not sure whether they even saw me or not."
*One wonders if he took the Bowden cable in his teeth as well...
*Further on, having returned to his aerodrome, Bishop then relates:
*"I personally congratulated the man who had charge of my gun, suddenly relaizing that if it had jammed at a critical moment what a tight corner I would have been in."
*... But I'll wager not quite as tight as the corner he would have been in WITHOUT his ordnance! (Can you just picture the poor, dumbfounded armorer, politely accepting Bishop's sincere thanks, all the while pointing mutely at the top wing of the Nieuport???)
*There is one instance that I know of where an aviator lost his weaponry -- and that was 'Tiger' Jones dropping his Lewis whilst trying to get a better shot at an Eindecker that had flown beneath his aircraft. So much for that tactic...
* Whatever could have possessed Bishop to have, so to speak, 'dropped the gun'?
* To paraphrase Ricki Riccardo, "Beelee, you have some 'splaining to do!"
VBR,
Captain "The Gun" Lewis
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