British Nieuport 17/23 Ammo question
 

I have asked a couple times before with no definitive answer, Where were the spare lewis drums stored on British Nieuports? If I had to guess I would place a box of some sort where the ammo container would have been if a Vickers were mounted? Any comments or better guesses welcome:huh:
RAGIII

Posted by Gregvan on 21 June 2006, 10:44 AM:

Just thought you might be interested in the thoughts of William Fry, an ace who flew Nieuports in 60 Sqn, in his wonderful book "Air of Battle":

"(the Nieuport's Lewis) was on a quadrant so that it could be pulled down to a vertical position to enable the pilot to change ammunition drums when empty and clear stoppages. Two spare full drums fixed on spindles by a catch were located one each side on the inside of the cockpit. Special drums, twice the normal capacity of ground types, were made for the RFC, each carrying just under 100 rounds

Thus a total of 5 drums 97 rounds each was carried. Your guessed location, although rational, would have been not accessible.

GB

Thanks for the quote from the book! As this is research for a Nieuport from 60 squadron this will certainly work and be hard to dispute with available references. :D
RAGIII

There is a photo of a Nieuport 11, 2 Wing RNAS with spare ammunition drums in holder just below the windshield.

Nieuports in RNAS, RFC and RAF service. Cross & Cockade International, 2007, page 174.

May be we should ask Mark Miller to test-fit drums into his Nie.17 structure.

Regards,
Yavor

Yavor, thanks for the further info! That is sort of what I had in mind originally. It is still hard to ignore first hand info in the form of a statement by a pilot from the squadron I am researching. That being said, re-reading the quote I see 2 spare drums(one to each side) mentioned for a total of three. This seems more in line with the available space. Yes a drawing by Mark would be great :rolleyes:
RAGIII

Yep three drums that quote should be read as
2 spare drums (one each side..)

Plus the one on the gun = 3

Early craft would have the 47 round drums, for a total of 141 rounds.
Later with near double capacity drums (97) around 291.

We did a compromise in OFF for the N11 added an extra drum.
But it goes to show you why the German craft with 2 guns with 1000 rounds total were something to worry about - especially when your 47 round drum emptied and you had to now stand up with the stick held between your legs in a dogfight and try to reload (no chance). So it's 47 rounds v 1000 !

I am sure there would be customised ammo and fuel depending on the mission and if you could get the mechanic to add another place to store one.