The first photo is the Lewis on a post with the spare mag attached at Torry Point in Aberdeen 1939. The second photo is the Lewis mounted on a tripod in The Western Desert. The third photo shows Scotland again.
The first photo is the Lewis on a post with the spare mag attached at Torry Point in Aberdeen 1939. The second photo is the Lewis mounted on a tripod in The Western Desert. Nice photos. I wonder how many people realize that the lewis gun was an offical addition to the armamament of the Lancaster bomber. They were used to defend the aircraft from attacks by aircraft underneath!
Here's One for Geoff Men of 2nd Oz div. They look water cooled like the vickers but appearances can be deceptive.
By no means water cooled! Cooling was by radiation. That fat barrel is the outer face of an aluminum radiator, light and good heat conductor. The gun barrel was surrounded by an Al. jacket, with a number of lengthwise fins connecting it to the outside barrel. The total radiation surface was very large, and there was supposed to be good aeration inside the outside jacket, as the radiated heat had to go somewhere. For air use the jacket assembly was discarded as there was enough air circultion at speed to keep the gun cool. The Lewis Gun - Product Information Guns Magazine - Find Articles
I dont thinkthe jacket was really needed just a bit of a hangover from WW1 nobody would trust an air cooled MG??? Always wondered why the lewis wasnt more of a success. Want much wrong with it was there? Kev
Lovely thing seen at a Militaria stall last year was a large box neatly full to the top with heavily rusted Lewis magazines. Stick a sheet of glass over it and it would have made a fine coffee table, if a rather expensive one.
By no means water cooled! Cooling was by radiation. That fat barrel is the outer face of an aluminum radiator, light and good heat conductor. The gun barrel was surrounded by an Al. jacket, with a number of lengthwise fins connecting it to the outside barrel. The total radiation surface was very large, and there was supposed to be good aeration inside the outside jacket, as the radiated heat had to go somewhere. For air use the jacket assembly was discarded as there was enough air circultion at speed to keep the gun cool. The Lewis Gun - Product Information Guns Magazine - Find Articles appearances can be deceptive.:wink: Ah yeah...thought I said that.
Herr, If you look straight into the jacket assembly of a Lewis gun what you see is something like the wheel in the flag of India: The barrel is in the center surrounded by an aluminium sleeve, and you have a large number of fins connecting to the outer jacket. A bit disconcerting the first time you look.
Herr, If you look straight into the jacket assembly of a Lewis gun what you see is something like the wheel in the flag of India: The barrel is in the center surrounded by an aluminium sleeve, and you have a large number of fins connecting to the outer jacket. A bit disconcerting the first time you look. I can just hear the Buddhists sighing and shaking their heads - "hey they're comparing the Ashoka Chakra to a Lewis gun!!"
IIRC the effect of the gases leaving the muzzle were supposed to draw air up the tube to give an active cooling effect, rather than just rely on convection, but there was debate about how effective this was? ;o)
Herr, If you look straight into the jacket assembly of a Lewis gun what you see is something like the wheel in the flag of India: The barrel is in the center surrounded by an aluminium sleeve, and you have a large number of fins connecting to the outer jacket. A bit disconcerting the first time you look. I was saying, For those of you in Rio Linda:nospeakhearsee: :icon_sleepy: , that it looks(that being the operative word) like water cooled(because of the large barrel) to the layman or average Joe. And then I went on saying that appearances can be deceptive.:wink: see the wink, figured that one out yet. Nice use of the flag to illustrate the fin cooling system though....5pts Your ball.
Does anyone know if the Lewis was ever used by the Long Range Desert group. I can see from the original picture that they were used in the AA role but I've heard tell of them being mounted on trucks and usd by the LRDG...
Does anyone know if the Lewis was ever used by the Long Range Desert group. I can see from the original picture that they were used in the AA role but I've heard tell of them being mounted on trucks and usd by the LRDG... A number of sites say that it was used, for example - From: LRDG Weapons And have a look at LRDG - Long Range Desert Group Preservation Society
A number of sites say that it was used, for example - From: LRDG Weapons And have a look at LRDG - Long Range Desert Group Preservation Society Bugger, sorry, wrong picture
I wasn't gonna mention but...yeah, the other two photos are great though...thanks (I'm curretnly doing some LRDG modelling so these pics are great refrences!)
This is an IWM picture showing the gun mounted to a Home Guard sidecar and without a heat-exchanger. I'm a bit surprised that the old Ariel side-valve can move fast enough with three blokes aboard to provide any sort of cooling effect. The limited arc of fire means that they would have to have ridden directly at the enemy as well. Brave men indeed Rich.
I remember reading once, years ago, that leaving the barrel jacket off had no adverse effect on the gun. Don't ask me where I read it , was 20+ years ago. Those poor buggers lugged all that extra weight around for no reason.
This is an IWM picture showing the gun mounted to a Home Guard sidecar and without a heat-exchanger. I'm a bit surprised that the old Ariel side-valve can move fast enough with three blokes aboard to provide any sort of cooling effect. The limited arc of fire means that they would have to have ridden directly at the enemy as well. Brave men indeed Rich. I think the idea wasnt really to kil lthe enemy but just to add ectra power, by turning the gun round to the read and firing the recoil added at least 50% to the engine power........ Kev
I was saying, For those of you in Rio Linda:nospeakhearsee: :icon_sleepy: , that it looks(that being the operative word) like water cooled(because of the large barrel) to the layman or average Joe. And then I went on saying that appearances can be deceptive.:wink: see the wink, figured that one out yet. "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here."