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84-450: The SPAD 11 had some resemblance to Béchereau's single-seat fighters and employed much the same method of simple construction. Longer and heavier than the fighters, the SPAD 11's lower wings were designed with cut-outs to improve the observer's view of the ground. The aircraft was armed with a single 0.303-inch (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun firing forward and a single Lewis machine gun of

168-464: A boat-tailed spitzer 'streamlined' bullet, could be used against targets at a range of approximately 4,500 yd (4,115 m). The bullet jackets were generally made of an alloy of cupro-nickel , and gilding metal . Ammunition for the Vickers used colour-coded annuli. Tracer ammunition was marked with a red annulus; armouring-piercing ammunition with a green annulus, and incendiary ammunition with

252-454: A pan magazine ) were also used among others in Poland, where 777 of them were converted to 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge in 1933–1937. The larger calibre (half-inch) version of the Vickers was used on armoured fighting vehicles and naval vessels. The Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. II was used in tanks, the earlier Mark I having been the development model. This entered service in 1933 and

336-720: A base for many other weapons. For example: The Union of South Africa retained a large inventory of surplus Vickers machine guns after World War II. Many of these were donated to the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) during the Angolan Civil War . Angolan militants were usually trained in their use by South African advisers. Small quantities re-chambered for 7.62 mm NATO ammunition remained in active service with

420-501: A blue annulus. Explosive ammunition was marked with an orange annulus before the Second World War and was changed to black. The gun and its tripod were carried separately and both were heavy. The Vickers Mk I was 30 lb (13.6 kg) without the water and tripod, and weighed 40 lb (18.1 kg) with the water. The original design did not anticipate it being carried up jungle-covered mountains on men's backs, but such

504-486: A location might be zeroed in during the day, and then attacked at night, much to the surprise and confusion of the enemy. New Zealand units were especially fond of this use. A white disc would be set up on a pole near the MMG, and the gunner would aim at a mark on it, knowing that this corresponded to aiming at the distant target. There was a special back-sight with a tall extension on it for this purpose. The only similar weapon of

588-403: A meeting on March 15, 1913 to consider the adoption of a new type of machine gun. ... The Board is of the opinion that, with the exception of the Vickers gun, none of the other guns submitted showed sufficiently marked superiority for the military service, in comparison with the service [Benét–Mercié] Automatic Machine Rifle to warrant further consideration of them in the field test. The Board is of

672-478: A red band to differentiate it and restricted it to Home Guard use. The weight of the gun itself varied based on the gear attached, but was generally 25 to 30 pounds (11 to 14 kg) with a 40-to-50-pound (18 to 23 kg) tripod. The ammunition boxes for the 250-round ammunition belts weighed 22 pounds (10.0 kg) each. In addition, it required about 7.5 imperial pints (4.3 L) of water in its evaporative cooling system to prevent overheating. The heat of

756-680: A reputation for being a strong subscriber to military innovation and reform, which he demonstrated in Africa. There he used machine guns, explored other unconventional ideas, and founded an Egyptian camel corps. The gun's design was also purchased and used by several other European countries. In January 1899, just before the outbreak of the Philippine-American War , the Philippines had forty-two Maxim guns. An English observer who had seen one of them, described it as being "of

840-642: A reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg , in Weapons & War Machines , describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns to deliver sustained fire for twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without breakdowns. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared

924-541: A trained team. The Vickers gun could sustain fire for long durations of time exceeding the recommended 10,000 rounds an hour due to the water-cooled barrel and hourly barrel swaps. One account states that a Vickers fired just under 5 million rounds in a week as a test in 1963 at Strensall Barracks and was still operable. The muzzle velocity was 2,440 ft/s (744 m/s) ±40 ft/s (12 m/s) with Mark VII(z ) ammunition and 2,525 ft/s (770 m/s) with Mark VIIIz ammunition. The Mark VIIIz cartridge, which had

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1008-622: Is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited , originally for the British Army . The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and operate it: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the others helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition, and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft . The weapon had

1092-451: Is fired from a closed bolt . When ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the breechblock assembly and working parts are forward. It has a recoil operated , floating action with a toggle lock similar to a Luger pistol . However, unlike the Luger, the mechanism is totally contained within the receiver or body of the Vickers. When operated, the floating action, which consists of

1176-573: Is the British L7 variant of the FN MAG general purpose machine gun. In 1913, a Vickers machine gun was mounted on the experimental Vickers E.F.B.1 biplane , which was probably the world's first purpose-built combat aeroplane. However, by the time the production version, the Vickers F.B.5 , had entered service the following year, the armament had been changed to a Lewis gun. During World War I,

1260-613: The Abushiri Revolt . Wissmann was issued one of the first Maxim guns which had reached Germany and used it successfully in his capture of Pangani . The Singapore Volunteer Corps received a Maxim gun in 1889, but it was never used. This was a civilian volunteer defence unit on the British colony. The Maxim gun was first used extensively in an African conflict during the First Matabele War in Rhodesia . During

1344-524: The Battle of the Shangani on 25 October 1893, 700 soldiers fought off 5,000 Matabele warriors with just five Maxim guns. It played an important role in the " Scramble for Africa " in the late 19th century. The extreme lethality was employed to devastating effect against obsolete charging tactics, when African opponents could be lured into pitched battles in open terrain. As it was put by Hilaire Belloc , in

1428-575: The Ceylon Army in the 1971 JVP insurrection . By the early 1900s, the U.S. military had a mixed collection of automatic machine guns in use that included M1895 "potato diggers" , 287 M1904 Maxims , 670 M1909 Benét–Mercié guns, and 353 Lewis machine guns . In 1913, the U.S. began to search for a superior automatic weapon. One of the weapons considered was the British Vickers machine gun. The Board of Ordnance & Fortifications held

1512-588: The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition in 1886–1890, under the leadership of Henry Morton Stanley . More a publicity stunt than a serious military contribution, in view of the main financier of the expedition, William Mackinnon , "merely exhibiting" the gun was likely to "prove a great peace-preserver". The weapon was used on several occasions, especially during the expedition's retreat from central Africa, not because of its devastating effects, but as an effective means to scare off attackers. One of

1596-899: The Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the Russian Army employed the Maxim in combat and placed a rush order for another 450 units from overseas suppliers, which were mostly delivered to front-line troops before the end of the war. By World War I , many armies had moved on to improved machine guns. The British Vickers machine gun was an improved and redesigned Maxim, introduced into the British Army in 1912 and remaining in service until 1968. Production took place at Erith in Kent, and some models were fitted to early biplanes also fabricated there. The German Army's Maschinengewehr 08 and

1680-499: The South African Defence Force until the mid-1980s, when they were all relegated to reserve storage. Six were withdrawn from storage and reused by a South African liaison team operating with UNITA during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale , after which the weapons were finally retired. In the mid-1960s, the Vickers machine gun remained in service in countries such as India, Israel and Egypt. It saw action with

1764-408: The firing pin and trigger mechanism. The firing pin, under spring tension, strikes the primer of the cartridge through a hole in the extractor block. It must therefore be retracted before the extractor block moves down as part of the loading cycle. Once retracted, the firing pin is held in a cocked position by a sear , ready for the next firing cycle. As the breechblock assembly fully closes on

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1848-542: The "Balloon Buster", and was adopted by the Allies as a standard anti-balloon armament, used by both the British and French in this role until the end of the war. The famous Sopwith Camel and the SPAD XIII types used twin synchronized Vickers, as did most British and French fighters between 1918 and the mid-1930s. In the air, the weighty water-cooling system was rendered redundant by low temperatures at high altitude and

1932-522: The Armistice) but most of the French aircraft Vickers machine guns were British-made. By 1917 it had been determined that standard rifle calibre cartridges were less satisfactory for shooting down observation balloons than larger calibres carrying incendiary or tracer bullets; the Vickers machine gun was chambered in the 11mm Vickers round, known as the Vickers aircraft machine gun and sometimes

2016-467: The Colt–Vickers machine gun, and many aircraft were armed with the weapons as well (2,888 guns were converted). 7,653 guns were issued during the war out of 12,125 produced in total. War damage losses reduced the number of M1915s in the U.S. Army inventory from 9200+ to about 8,000 total. After World War I, the Colt–Vickers machine guns were kept in reserve until World War II. Several hundred were sent to

2100-720: The Dutch East Indies and the Philippines, and were all eventually lost to enemy action. In 1940 and 1941, a total of 7,071 M1915 guns were purchased by the United Kingdom to re-equip their forces after the Dunkirk evacuation , which depleted the weapon from the U.S. inventory before their entry into the war. Because the M1915 Colt–Vickers was not chambered for the standard British .303, it was painted with

2184-619: The Mark II. Intended for British light tanks , some were used during the war on mounts on trucks by the Long Range Desert Group in the North Africa Campaign . The Vickers machine gun was produced, between the wars, as the vz.09 machine gun . The Vickers was widely sold commercially and saw service with many nations and their own particular ammunition. It was also modified for each country and served as

2268-765: The Maxim Gun Company with financing from Albert Vickers  [ la ] , son of steel entrepreneur Edward Vickers . A blue plaque on the factory where Maxim invented and produced the gun is located in Hatton Garden at the junction with Clerkenwell Road in London. Albert Vickers became the company's chairman, and it later joined hands with a Swedish competitor, Nordenfelt , to become Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company . The Post Office Directory of trades in London of 1895 lists its office at 32 Victoria Street SW (London) on page 1579. Finally,

2352-601: The Maxim machine gun since 1887. Model 1889 and Model 1900 Maxims were used for testing, which lasted for years but not continuously. The gun was finally adopted in 1904 as the Maxim Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1904 as the first rifle-caliber heavy machine gun for standard service in the U.S. Army. The design was characteristic for its visually distinctive cage-like muzzle recoil booster designed by Trevor Dawson and J. Ramsay of Vickers. The first 50 guns and tripods were made by Vickers, Sons & Maxim in

2436-511: The Maxim was far more reliable than its contemporaries. A more immediate problem was that, initially, its position was easily given away by the clouds of smoke that the gun produced (although the same was true of artillery pieces and units of troops that the machine gun was intended to replace or supplement, so this wasn't viewed as a particular drawback by the early users). The advent of smokeless powder (developed by, among others, Hiram's brother Hudson Maxim ), helped to change this. The weapon

2520-506: The Maxim was heavy, bulky, and awkward. A lone soldier could fire the weapon, but it was usually operated by a team of men, usually 4 to 6 in number. Apart from the gunner, other crew were needed to speed reload, spot targets, and carry and ready ammunition and water. Several men were needed to move or mount the heavy weapon. In 1884, Maxim began to develop his machine gun in Hatton Garden , London. In November of that year, he founded

2604-735: The Maxim, firing a one-pound shell, was built by Maxim-Nordenfeldt. This was known in the Second Boer War (in South Africa) as the Pom-Pom from its sound. The Boers' "one-pounder" Maxim-Nordenfeldt was a large-caliber, belt-fed, water-cooled "auto cannon" that fired explosive rounds (smokeless ammunition) at 450 rounds per minute. The Maxim gun was also used in the Anglo-Aro War (in present-day Nigeria ) of 1901–1902. National and military authorities were reluctant to adopt

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2688-447: The Mk I 600 rounds of continuous fire to boil the water in the jacket, evaporating at a rate of 1.5 pints (0.852 L) per 1,000 rounds. The steam would reach the top of the jacket and enter a steam tube which led to a port that was situated under the jacket near the muzzle. A hose was connected to this, which released the steam into a metal water can allowing it to be vented away from the rest of

2772-534: The Philippines, Hawaii, Mexico, and Central and South America, but never saw much combat use. During World War I, it remained in the U.S. for training. The Maxim, in the form of the PM M1910 chambered in 7.62×54mmR , has been used by both sides of the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022. Many Maxim guns were retrofitted to suit the nature of modern warfare, including its installation on technicals and

2856-650: The Russian Pulemyot Maxim were both more or less direct copies of the Maxim. It also saw use during the Russian Civil War , which followed the Revolution in 1917. A picture of the period depicts a Maxim gun mounted on a tachanka , a horse-drawn carriage, along with the gunner, firing backwards at a pursuing White Army regiment. Anarchists attribute this mobile setup to Nestor Makhno . The United States Army had shown interest in

2940-437: The SPAD 11. The original handling problems were largely unresolved. The SPAD 16 arrived at the front line around the end of 1917. It equipped 27 French squadrons and 305 two-seater SPADs, mainly SPAD 16s, which were in service with French reconnaissance squadrons at the armistice, as opposed to 530 Salmson and 645 Breguet reconnaissance aircraft. The SPAD 16 served with five post-war French squadrons. Six SPAD 16s were bought by

3024-525: The SPAD S.XVI. Three Belgian squadrons used the SPAD 11 and two from the United States. The SPAD 11 was unpopular in American service, as in French, and so much so that one of the two squadrons issued with SPADs replaced them with Sopwith 1½ Strutters . Uruguay purchased a small number of aircraft after the war and some examples are known to have been used by Russia and Japan. A single SPAD 11

3108-439: The U.K. chambered for .30-03 . Colt's Manufacturing Company was selected to produce it domestically, but challenges with schematics and specifications delayed its introduction. By the time Colt began production in 1908 (which was also the last year orders were placed for the guns), a total of 90 M1904s were made by Vickers. Colt made their machine guns for the new .30-06 caliber, and the ones made by Vickers were re-chambered for

3192-565: The U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, Colt had not manufactured a single M1915. Production began in late 1917 with shipments to the Western Front in mid-1918. The first twelve divisions to reach France were given French Hotchkiss M1914 machine guns , and the next ten had M1915s. The next twelve divisions were to have Browning M1917 machine guns, but there was a shortage of parts. By August 1918, thirteen U.S. divisions were armed with

3276-811: The United States. One of these, flown by Billy Mitchell , is preserved at the National Air and Space Museum . He personally flew reconnaissance missions in it when the Second Battle of the Marne started in the Château-Thierry sector, in July 1918. The exact number of SPAD 16s built is uncertain but was probably around 1,000. Data from The Complete Book of Fighters General characteristics Performance Armament Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun

3360-600: The Vickers gun as part of a widescale change from rimmed to rimless rounds; one of the contenders was the 7.92mm Besa machine gun (British-built Czech ZB-53 design), which eventually became the British Army's standard tank-mounted machine gun. However, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Its last operational use was in the Radfan during the Aden Emergency . Its successor in UK service

3444-404: The Vickers gun became a standard weapon on British and French military aircraft , especially after 1916, initially in a single gun configuration ( Nieuport 17 , SPAD VII , Sopwith Triplane ), increased to a twin-gun standard in later war fighters ( Nieuport 28 , SPAD XIII , Sopwith Camel ), with exceptions such as the S.E.5 , which had a single synchronized Vickers and a Lewis gun mounted above

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3528-439: The Vickers in 1914, and the gun was unanimously approved by the board for the army under the designation "Vickers Machine Gun Model of 1915, Caliber .30, Water-Cooled". One hundred twenty-five guns were ordered from Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1915, with an additional 4,000 ordered the next year, all chambered for .30-06. Design complexities, design modifications, and focus on producing previously ordered weapons meant that when

3612-414: The Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one. It never broke down; it just kept on firing and came back for more." The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in 1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it, inverting the mechanism as well as reducing its weight by lightening and simplifying

3696-566: The action and using high strength alloys for certain components. A muzzle booster was also added. The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standard machine gun under the name Gun, Machine, Mark I, Vickers, .303-inch on 26 November 1912. There were shortages when the First World War began, and the British Expeditionary Force was still equipped with Maxims when sent to France in 1914. Vickers

3780-470: The aircraft's poor performance yet more. Handling problems were encountered, including tail-heaviness, making the aircraft tiring to fly, and a propensity to stall. In spite of these flaws, the SPAD was still superior to the Sopwiths and Dorands, and 12 squadrons were fully equipped with SPAD 11s. Some 1,000 SPAD 11s were built, most of which were out of service by the autumn of 1918, in most cases replaced by

3864-504: The barrel boiled the water in the jacket surrounding it. The resulting steam was taken off by a flexible tube to a condenser container—this had the dual benefits of avoiding giving away the gun's location, and also enabling re-use of the water, which was very important in arid environments. In British service, the Vickers gun fired the standard .303 inch cartridges used in the Lee–Enfield rifle , which generally had to be hand-loaded into

3948-413: The barrel, breechblock assembly and toggle mechanism, reciprocate as a unit within the body of the gun. The mechanism is held together by recoiling plates, that connect the breech end of the barrel to the rear of the toggle mechanism. The breech is locked closed when the toggle is straight. The crank cocking handle is part of the floating action. It acts through the rear pivot of the toggle lock. Pulling

4032-423: The belt during the return cycle of the feed pawls. The breechblock assembly is roughly as high as the receiver of the gun. On its front face is the extractor block. Levers cause this to move up and down as the action is cycled. It has a slot with two grooves which allow the rim of the cartridge to be held from each side, much like a stripper clip does. With the breechblock assembly closed and ready to fire,

4116-421: The belt from right to left, pull the next round out of the belt and into the chamber, fire it, then send the fired brass cartridge down and out of the receiver while the cloth belt would continue out the left side. During sustained fire, the barrel would heat up which heated the water in the jacket until hot enough for the water to evaporate or boil thereby cooling the barrel releasing the heat through steam. It took

4200-404: The breech, the sear disengages but the firing pin is held rearward by the trigger. The end of the trigger protrudes from the top of the breechblock assembly. To fire the loaded gun, the gunner depresses a paddle at the rear of the gun. Through a lever, this pulls on a sliding bar that trips the trigger to release the firing pin. The weapon then cycles to load the next cartridge for firing. If

4284-415: The breech. It accepts the canvas belt loaded with ammunition. With each firing cycle, it advances the belt by one round so that a fresh cartridge is presented ready for loading. The belt is advanced by pawls which move from side to side. The pawls are operated by a linkage that engages with the floating action. A second set of spring-loaded pawls tilt up and down as the belt passes over them. These hold

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4368-434: The cloth ammunition belts. There was also a 0.5 in calibre version used as an anti-aircraft weapon and various other calibres produced for foreign buyers. The gun was 3 feet 8 inches (112 cm) long and its cyclic rate of fire was between 450 and 600 rounds per minute. In practice, it was expected that 10,000 rounds would be fired per hour, and that the barrel would be changed every hour—a two-minute job for

4452-421: The cocking handle causes the toggle to rise. This unlocks the breech and then draws the breechblock assembly rearward. While firing, the opposite end of the crank handle cams on a round lug fixed to the body. Rearward movement of the floating action tips the cocking handle and unlocks the toggle. The recoil that unlocks the toggle is gas assisted . Propellent gases leaving the muzzle are partly contained within

4536-577: The company was absorbed into the mother Vickers company, leading first to the Vickers-Maxim gun and then, after Vickers' redesign, the Vickers machine gun . Maxim's first British patents relating to the development of the Maxim gun were granted in June and July 1883. The first prototype was demonstrated to invited guests in October 1884. A prototype of the Maxim gun was given by Hiram Maxim to

4620-457: The constant stream of air passing over the gun (and lack of any need for sustained fire such as employed by ground troops); but because the weapon relied on boosted barrel recoil, the (empty) water-holding barrel jacket or casing was retained. Several sets of louvered slots were cut into the barrel jacket to aid air cooling, a better solution than that which had initially been attempted with the 1915-vintage lMG 08 German aircraft ordnance. In 1918

4704-427: The earliest recoil -operated firing systems in history. Energy from recoil acting on the breech block is used to eject each spent cartridge and insert the next one. Maxim's earliest designs used a 360-degree rotating cam to reverse the movement of the block, but this was later simplified to a toggle lock. This made it vastly more efficient and less labor-intensive than previous manually-operated rapid-firing guns, such as

4788-422: The extractor block grips the base of two cartridges: the lower cartridge in the chamber ready to fire and an upper cartridge held in the canvas belt within the feed block. When the breechblock assembly unlocks after firing, the extractor pulls the spent cartridge from the chamber and, once clear, this falls through an ejection port in the underside of the gun's body. Unlocking the breechblock assembly also withdraws

4872-671: The first uses of the Maxim gun by British Forces was in the 1887 Yoni Expedition . The same prototype used by Stanley was brought back to central Africa by Frederick Lugard , where it played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Uganda Protectorate . The first unit in the world to receive the Maxim was the expeditionary force led by Hermann Wissmann which was sent in 1888 by the German Imperial government to its colonies in East Africa to suppress

4956-410: The gun hiding the steam cloud and the gun's position. This also allowed any condensate to be reclaimed from the steam. Before the can got too full, it would be emptied back into the jacket to replenish the water level which would have fallen as the water evaporated and boiled away. If the water jacket needed to be emptied, a plug under the jacket could be unscrewed to drain the entire jacket. The Vickers

5040-470: The gun. This problem was addressed using an insulating water jacket cover, introduced in 1918 but still in use during the Korean War. Some crews added vehicle antifreeze, others drained the water jacket, or simply fired a few rounds periodically to keep the water from freezing. The loader sat to the gunner's right, and fed in belts of cloth, into which the rounds had been placed. The weapon would draw in

5124-471: The hands of the new Machine Gun Corps (when heavier 0.5 in/12.7 mm calibre machine guns appeared, the tripod-mounted, rifle-calibre machine guns such as the Vickers were further re-classified as "medium machine guns"). After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was disbanded and the Vickers returned to infantry units. Before the Second World War, there were plans to replace

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5208-607: The manually-cranked Mitrailleuse of 1851, the Gatling gun of 1861, the Gardner gun of 1874, or the Nordenfelt gun of 1873. The Maxim gun was water cooled , allowing it to sustain its rate of fire far longer than air-cooled guns. The extra weight and complexity this added, however, made it heavier and less flexible in use. Trials demonstrated that the Maxim could fire 600 rounds per minute. Compared to modern machine guns,

5292-602: The most improved type." In 1895, the Imperial Japanese Army purchased a number of Maxims and tested them during the 1895 invasion of Taiwan but later decided to standardize on the Hotchkiss machine gun . The Imperial Russian Army likewise purchased 58 Maxim machine guns in 1899 and contracted with Vickers in 1902 to manufacture the design in Russia, although manufacturing did not start until 1910. During

5376-447: The muzzle cap and act on the muzzle cup (attached to the barrel) to assist in propelling the floating action rearward to the point where the toggle mechanism is unlocked. The breechblock assembly then opens fully while opposed by a spring which ultimately returns it to the closed position. The spring under tension acts on a crank mounted on the opposite side of the body to the cocking handle. The feed block assembly sits directly above

5460-608: The new round. A total of 287 M1904 Maxims were manufactured. The U.S. procured other machine guns after M1904 production ended, including the M1909 Benét–Mercié , the Colt–Vickers M1915 , and the Browning M1917 . M1904 Maxims were issued to infantry companies and cavalry. Each company had four guns with associated tripods, ammunition, and 20 mules to transport the heavy guns. The M1904 was deployed in operations in

5544-477: The paddle is still depressed when the breech closes, the trigger is tripped again and a further firing cycle occurs. Maxim gun The Maxim gun is a recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim . It was the first fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian Martin Gilbert , and

5628-482: The same calibre on a flexible mount for the observer. Testing of the SPAD 11 showed poor performance, said to be little better than that of the SPAD S.A of 1915 and it was rejected as a C.2 class fighter aircraft, being reclassified as an A.2 reconnaissance aircraft. Further problems were encountered with the SPAD 11's Hispano-Suiza 8 B engine. Some aircraft were fitted with a 12-cylinder Renault engine, but this lowered

5712-454: The slotted modified original barrel jacket was replaced with a slimmer jacket on the Mk. II version, and in 1927 a muzzle flash suppressor was added on the Mk. II*. As the machine gun armament of US and UK fighter aircraft moved from the fuselage to the wings in the years before World War II , the Vickers was generally replaced by the faster-firing and more reliable Browning Model 1919 using metal-linked cartridges. The Gloster Gladiator

5796-483: The time to use indirect fire was the German MG 08 , which had a separate attachment sight with range calculator. A British World War II Vickers medium machine gun platoon typically had one officer in command of four guns, in two sections of two, each with a crew and a small team of riflemen whose job was to protect the gun and keep it supplied with ammunition. The Vickers is a fully automatic belt-fed firearm which

5880-550: The unanimous opinion that the Vickers rifle caliber gun, light model, stood the most satisfactory test. As to the merits of the Vickers gun there is no question—it stood in a class by itself. Not a single part was broken nor replaced. Nor was there a jam worthy of the name during the entire series of tests. A better performance could not be desired. Captain John S. Butler, Office of the Chief of Ordnance Field tests were conducted of

5964-399: The upper round (the next round to be chambered) from the belt. When there is sufficient clearance, the extractor block lowers the new round until it is aligned with the chamber. Forward movement of the breechblock assembly then chambers the round. Near the very end of the forward cycle, the extractor block rises to engage the next round ready to be loaded. The breechblock assembly houses

6048-610: The upper wing. Although heavier than the Lewis, its closed bolt firing cycle made it much easier to synchronise to allow it to fire through aircraft propellers . The belt feed was enclosed right up to the gun's feed-way to inhibit the effect of wind. Steel disintegrating-link ammunition belts were perfected in the UK by William de Courcy Prideaux in mid-war and became standard for aircraft guns thereafter. From 1917 to 1919, French Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault produced under license .303 Vickers machine guns (240 were delivered before

6132-482: The weapon, and Maxim's company initially had some trouble convincing European governments of the weapon's efficiency. Soldiers generally held a great mistrust of machine guns due to their tendency to jam . In the 1906 version of his book Small Wars , Charles Callwell says of machine guns: "The older forms are not suitable as a rule... they jammed at Ulundi , they jammed at Dogali , they jammed at Abu Klea and Tofrek , in some cases with unfortunate results." However,

6216-530: The words of the figure "Blood" in his poem "The Modern Traveller": Whatever happens, we have got The Maxim gun, and they have not. However, the destructive power of the Maxim gun in colonial warfare has often been embellished by popular myth. Modern historical accounts suggest that, while it was effective in pitched battles, as in the Matabele wars or the Battle of Omdurman , its significance owed much to its psychological impact. A larger-calibre version of

6300-603: Was adopted by the British Army under the guidance of Sir Garnet Wolseley , who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1888. In October that year, he placed an order of 120 rifle-calibre Maxims using the same .577/450 ammunition as the Martini–Henry rifles. Wolseley had previously led military expeditions in Africa (the Ashanti war and the Gordon Relief Expedition in 1884–85) and had

6384-532: Was good for 1,500 yd (1,400 m) range. Maximum rate of fire for the Mark III was about 700 rpm from a 200-round belt carried in a drum. They were fitted from the 1920s onwards, but in practical terms, proved of little use. During the Second World War, the naval 0.5 in (12.7 mm) version was also mounted on power-operated turrets in smaller watercraft, such as Motor Gun Boats and Motor Torpedo Boats . The Mark IV and V guns were improvements on

6468-454: Was heavily used by colonial powers during the " Scramble for Africa ". Afterwards, Maxim guns also saw extensive usage by different armies during the Russo-Japanese War , the First and Second World Wars , as well as in contemporary conflicts. The Maxim gun was greatly influential in the development of machine guns, and it has multiple variants and derivatives. The Maxim gun featured one of

6552-465: Was modified as a night fighter , fitted with a searchlight on a framework mounted ahead of the propeller, under the Cn2 specification. The SPAD 16 was a development of the SPAD 11. It was essentially a SPAD 11 with a Lorraine-Dietrich engine of 240 bhp, or 250 bhp according to some sources. The new engine, while more powerful, resulted in a heavier aircraft and performance was slightly inferior to

6636-498: Was obsolete in 1944. Firing either single shot or automatic it had a pistol type trigger grip rather than the spades of the 0.303 in (7.7 mm) weapon. The Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. III was used as an anti-aircraft gun on British ships. This variation was typically four guns mounted on a 360° rotating and (+80° to −10°) elevating housing. The belts were rolled into a spiral and placed in hoppers beside each gun. The heavy plain bullet weighed 1.3 oz (37 g) and

6720-453: Was the last RAF fighter to be armed with the Vickers, later replaced by Brownings. The Fairey Swordfish was fitted with the weapon until production ended in August 1944. Several British bombers and attack aircraft of the Second World War mounted the Vickers K machine gun or VGO, a completely different design, resembling the Lewis gun in external appearance. Vickers machine guns, designated as models E (pilot's) and F (observer's, fed from

6804-431: Was the weapon's popularity that men were generally content to pack it to all manner of difficult locations. The tripod would be set up to make a firm base, often dug into the ground a little and perhaps with the feet weighted down with sandbags. The water jacket would be filled with about 4 litres (1.1 US gal) of water from a small hole at the rear end, sealed by a cap. The evaporative cooling system, though heavy,

6888-539: Was threatened with prosecution for war profiteering , due to the exorbitant price demanded for each gun. As a result, the price was much reduced. As the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became the British Army's primary machine gun, and was used on all fronts during the conflict. When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a light machine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns were redefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, and grouped in

6972-400: Was used for indirect fire against enemy positions at ranges up to 4,500 yards (4,115 m) with Mark VIIIz ammunition. This plunging fire was used to great effect against road junctions, trench systems , forming up points, and other locations that might be observed by a forward observer, or zeroed in at one time for future attacks, or guessed at by men using maps and experience. Sometimes

7056-419: Was very effective and enabled the gun to keep firing far longer than its air-cooled rival weapons. If water was unavailable, soldiers were known to resort to using their urine. It was sometimes claimed that crews would fire off a few rounds simply to heat their gun's cooling water to make tea , despite the resulting brew tasting of machine-oil. In extremely cold weather, the cooling water could freeze and damage

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