Ammo recording

[mikebrn]

Just a quickie - did pilots who had twin forward firing Vickers or Spandau machine guns have any way of knowing how much ammo they had remaining? Were the belts visible to the pilot so it is possible to gauge it that way?

Many thanks!

MIKE

[Romani]

I have heard references to round counters, but never seen one,but there are some photos of the Fokker DVII where one is visible, is a little clock with a gauge between the guns. Others can futher elaborate on this surely.

[silverback]

The Spandau-style of round counter operates much like the push-button (clicker) counters used to count crouds, inventory &tc. With each round fired, the barrel and extension cycles rearward by approximately 1" or 25mm. At the end of its stroke, the left extension arm "taps" the pin that advances the counter. Rather than an odometer-style counter, the ammo counter advances an indicator one increment around a circular dial.
I have been unable to find a good clear picture of the dial face, but it appears that each mark would indicate 10 rounds, and the marks extend around an arc of about 300º. The dial does not appear to have any numeric markings. The indicator appears to be a simple oblong block (that look suspiciously like "twist" handles).
Purely speculation: When the ammo bins are loaded, the round counter are set to 0 and advance to 250 (or, possibly, visa versa), so that the dial shows rounds expended (or, alternately, rounds remaining). I doubt the counters could be reset in the air.
I'm not sure if Vickers used a similar device. I would surely like more information.
Phil

[gipsymoth236k]

Here are the ammo counters on my Spandau reproductions:

Regards, Gary

[mikebrn]

They're excellent - thanks for that snap.

MIKE

[Machinbird]

I havew a couple of additional photos of LMG08/15 shot counters. The first is on the excellent glennhyatt.com website, http://www.glennhyatt.com/usmcguns/acntr1.jpg
and the second is a morrell shot counter. There is also a photo of the reverse side of the shot counter available if useful. The Morell shot counter photo may have come from an earlier post on this forum.

[SCMc]

One person at the Wings of Valor forum wrote that some aircraft had a slot in the ammo box, that allowed a pilot to see when his ammunition was running low. If the ammo box was visible from the cockpit, this would have been a very simple solution for earlier aircraft, but I don't know if it was true. My being the first to mention it might be an indication that it was not.

Steve