Please help

Angiolillo · 3 October 2009, 12:55 PM

Hello!

On my aviation books I read reference to 5 mgs, or 3/5, or 3. Online I even found a couple of descriptions: "Two .303 inch Lewis machine guns in the nose, one or two .303 inch Lewis machine gun in the dorsal position, and one or two .303 inch Lewis machine gun in the ventral position." (HANDLEY PAGE BOMBER 2) On Wikipedia: "5 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Guns (2 on nose Scarff ring, 2 on dorsal position and 1 at ventral hatch)".

Usually I see pictures of unarmed planes, but one of a tractor pulling a O/400 clearly shows a plane with a single MG in the nose. Never saw a detail of a ventral weapon. Italian artists (Gueli, Cosentino) only depicts single weapons in each position; John W. Wood put two in nose.

I have no monographies on the subject. Can anybody shred light on this?

Were 6.000 pounds of bombsd the maximum load? (If I read the possibilities at the link above I can get to a total of slightly more than 3.000).

Is it correct to say that crew was 3-5?

Thaks so much!

Andrea

Angiolillo · 4 October 2009, 11:42 PM

I guess that Mgs were 1 or 2 in each position depending on full load for that mission.

Still doubtful about bombs. I guess the load is bombs + fuel + crew + ammo?

Thanks!

A.

LeicesterTiger · 6 October 2009, 04:12 PM

Probably depends on how the crew felt - with the bomb load carried and a couple of RR Eagle's each side, an extra Lewis or two won't hurt.

The ventral position was a triangular flap in the rear position, usually operated by the same person operating the 1/2 rear machine guns, and the Lewis would swing down to fire out.

Crew was usually three, occasionally see mention of four for hairier targets where two gunners in the back were used. New pilots and bomb aimers would be taken up for a few trips in the back position to get used to the experience

As for bombs, usual load was 16 112lb bombs, later in the war the SN 1650lb bomb was carried on some raids - also 20lb Coopers for dropping on searchlights

Angiolillo · 6 October 2009, 09:22 PM

Thanks a lot! Great insight.

Sorry if I am slow to understand: the SN 1650lb bomb was additional to the inner load, correct?

Thanks again!

Andrea

mik · 5 November 2009, 04:53 PM

Quoting from PUTNAM "The British Bomber since 1914"
armament
Standard gun armament was 5 0.303 lewis guns, two double yoked on nose Scarff ring, two on midships dorsal position with separate pillar mountings, and a single gun firing rearwards through a ventral hatch. The bomb load could comprise one 1650lb SN bomb, three 550lb, eight 250lb, or sixteen 112lb bombs. That is 4 different combinations of bombs.
All-up weight with sixteen 112lb bombs was 13360lbs
mik

Colin A Owers · 5 November 2009, 05:01 PM

The HP details you require are well illustrated in my two Datafiles available from Albatros productions. The SSN bomb was the only load when carried.

Colin A Owers

Angiolillo · 5 November 2009, 10:16 PM

Thanks a lot to both of you!

Congatulatios fo the Datafiles, it is a great collection. Sorry if I ask there instead, I have seveal but getting one here in Rome (Italy) when a need arises is impossible, if not with the slow process of buyig online (and for the delivery, Italian mail is maybe the slowest in Europe).

acbw · 28 November 2009, 07:52 PM

The only thing I can say for sure was that the Airfix model had twins Lewis guns at the front and 1 at the rear.