Gun Mounting on Bristol Scout in Palestine

Another reason why Williams is one of my favourite AFC personalities, this is his comments on the Bristol Scout at Kantara in 1916. The Scout was 14 Squadron RFC's;

“Two or three days after I arrived at Kantara the flight commander [of 14 Sqn RFC] asked me whether i could fly the Bristol Scout and on being told I could he said he would have it cleaned so that I could 'stand by' with it for hostile aircraft warnings. I was not very happy about this as the aircraft had obviously not been flown for some time, appeared to be no ones responsibility and was in a filthy condition, being covered in dust over a coating of caster oil.

A Lewis gun was attached to this aircraft by some 'home-made' fittings and as it had to fire clear of the airscrew disc it could not be fired straight ahead. It could only be attached to the centre section struts and it pointed at about 40 degrees to the right of the line of flight. To hit a hostile aircraft one would almost have to be flying in formation with it. It was farcical as a fighter. I suppose it might have been said that it had some moral effect on enemy pilots providing they were not close enough to see how the gun was mounted. They would have been terribly unlucky to be hit by it.”


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