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It's pretty clear that he was someone's fairhaired boy. You need only recall the time when Barker asked to keep the cockpit watch from the plane that he had used to dispatch so many HA, and was turned down--but throwing away a Lewis gun?!?
Hard to believe that it represented so much weight, or drag, up or down, that it was worth the effort to toss it away, especially since it represented his only armament--even a jammed gun allows you to scare off an enemy by diving at them; once they see you are unarmed you can feint *away to no effect.
(And if it was jammed in the back position, I'd think the armorer would get a bollocking instead of thanks.)
It's no wonder that some people think he did so only to get rid of the evidence of a weapon that jammed after firing a few rounds. . . .
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Someone once cited another incident where someone's Lewis gun jammed in the back or "pointing up" position. Although, if I recall, no mention of whether or not the gun was dropped.
With regard to getting rid of it to cover it's possible jamming after only a few rounds, he wouldn't have to drop the gun for that. All he'd have to have done was chuck the extra magazines over the side.
As for any "splaining," I suppose it's obvious by now that whatever he told Jack Scott was satisfactory. And if it's not that obvious, well, I just won't comment any further on that.
As for the Bowden cable, from the looks of it, I'd guess it was a flexible cable that he could just as easily have put behind or under his seat. I doubt he had to hold it in his teeth.
VBR,
Al Lowe