MARCH 30,

1939

FLIGHT.

325

hit is made friendly personnel on the ground will not suffer. The American Armament Corporation (represented in this country by W. S. Shackleton, Ltd.) have produced yj mm. Suns f r aircraft use, possessing, it is claimed, a number of advantages over the smaller types, apart from greater destructive power. For example, provision is made so that a shell cannot explode prematurely either in the barrel of the gun, in the process of the automatic functioning of the gun or in the handling of the ammunition. Although the shell is equipped with a super-sensitive nose fuse, which will cause an explosion on contact with even the lightest fabric, there is carried, in the fuse itself, a device which makes the ammunition bore-safe and detonator-safe. This means t h a t if the detonator in the fuse should explode through shock the charge in the shell will not be fired. The 37 mm. A.A.C. gun is available in two typesthe type M (movable) is of 20 calibres length and is designed for a free installation, while the type F (fixed) is a 50calibre gun for use from a fixed mounting.

The installation of a 23mm. Madsen shellgun on a Curtiss Hawk 75. The upper sketch shows how the rear part of the weapon is faired.

Data
The short gun has the following characteristics: length of recoil, ioin. ; rate of fire, 100 rounds a minute; weight of gun, ready for installation, 250 lb.'; recoil pull, 1,000 lb. ; weight of high explosive shell, 1.1 lb. ; weight of clip with five rounds, 8.2 l b . ; and muzzle velocity, 1,250 ft./sec. The type F gun has the following characteristics: muzzle velocity, 2,700 ft. / s e c . ; length of recoil, 15m. ; recoil pull, 1,700 lb. ; weight of gun without supports, 440 lb. ; maximum rate of fire, 90 rounds a minute; overall length, iooin. The manufacturers are believed to be developing a 75 mm. gun for aircraft use. The installation of guns in aircraft presents problems almost as difficult as those associated with the design of the guns. In fixed machine gun installations there are usually one to eight belt-fed guns. Wing mounting is favoured in single-engined types because synchronising gear is rendered unnecessary and the rate of fire is not limited by engine speed. Twin-engined machines, as demonstrated in the Fokker G-i, can accommodate a battery of guns in the nose and fuselage, though staggering is necessary to permit feeding. The problems of heating for high-altitude flying have lately proved troublesome in certain installations of multiple machine guns.

Shell-guns are similarly installed, though an alternative arrangement is the Hispano moteur canon already mentioned. In view of the competition offered by independently mounted shell-guns it may be that the Hispano moteur canon will be developed to house guns of larger bore than the present 20 mm. model built under Oerlikon licence. If it is correct that a 37 mm. gun has been installed on the Americaii Curtiss P-37 Allison-engined single-seater fighter it would seem that the U.S. Army is interesting itself in a similar arrangement. A 37 mm. gun fired by compressed air is visualised for installation in the little Payen Flechair single-seater being constructed in France.

Turrets
The power-driven turrets developed to house batteries of small-bore machine guns are likely to be adopted in strengthened form to house shell-guns. The short A.A.C. weapon is normally supplied with a rotating turret which is traversed by gearing operated by a hand-wheel. A second hand-wheel controls elevation and the gun is fired with the left foot, the right foot controlling the traversing brake. The sight is at right-angles to the bore of the gun. I t would seem that power operation is desirable for such an installation, and a turret embodying this feature has been produced experimentally by the manufacturers. The Nash and Thompson turrets supplied to the R.A.F. are equipped with heating devices, inter-communication 'phones, gun heating, oxygen, and lighting for a reflector sight.

The American Armament Corporation has developed a 37 mm. shell-gun which has great destructive power. This Seversky wing; demonstrates the effect of one of the shells. From left to right are the wing intact (showing the aiming mark) ; the point of entry ; and the exit