Dolphin Lewis gun(s)

[EdStevens]

I'm curious about the actual operation of the Lewis gun or guns on a Dolphin.

How were the Lewis guns on the Dolphin triggered? Was there a Bowden cable running to the trigger(s), or was the pilot expected to pull the trigger by hand? If the latter, how was he expected to fire both Lewis guns in the event that the Dolphin carried two instead of one?

Although an impressive piece of firepower, I've always wondered about the usefulness of these extra guns. I know that many pilots removed one or both, and that this was due in large part to the sheer danger of having all of those gun butts projecting into the area near your face. The Vickers butts would do quite enough rearranging of your face in the event of a crash, let alone the Lewis guns. Equally important though, were they actually practical in combat? They could not be synchronized, and so had to be fired at a 45 degree angle upwards to clear the airscrew--far from ideal in most combat situations. If the pilot was expected to fire them by hand, while guiding the aircraft and operating the throttle at the same time, were they of any real use? Are there examples of the Lewis guns being used to actually shoot anything down?

The Dolphin seems to have been a fine aircraft in most respects, but I keep thinking I would have ditched the weight of those Lewis guns and their magazines immediately. If you could actually train four machine guns on an enemy it would have been devastating, but you couldn't. If, as I suspect, you were expected to use both hands to fire them while flying the aeroplane at the same time--no thanks!

[wingstrutdotcom]

As far as I know no Dolphin were ever fitted with 2 lewis above cockpit for front line combat use. Some carried a single lewis when the planes initially started combat service. Most photos taken later in war show no lewis guns at all.

87 RAF fitted a few planes with a single lewis on each lower wing (fired with a cable of course). Once the ammo was expended from the canister they were obviously useless. Nevertheless, they were an interesting arrangement for trench straffing.

[Lufbery]

There's some excellent info on the Dolphin here:

http://pilots-n-planes-ww1.com/Allied/Brit.../SW-Dolphin.htm

Maybe there's some answers to your quesiton about the Lewis guns there.

Regards,