SE5a Standard Armament

[stephen]

Yes, Grey, pilots did reload the Lewis in FLIGHT, but rarely while in a FIGHT. I did a bit of research on this several years ago which included SE pilots Gordon Collinson, George Vaughn, Fred Tully and others. The concensus was that the wing-mounted Lewis was of marginal value at best. It was generally used until it ran out of ammo, after which the pilot would rely on the Vickers alone. In some cases it was used as a reserve gun as Dan has pointed out.

Albert Ball once chased a two seater for over seven miles, changing three Lewis drums as he fought a running battle for the lines. Rhys-Davids changed drums during the famous Voss fight. But aside from some exceptional pilots, the Lewis was almost never reloaded during a fight. Many pilots didn't bother to change it at all... those who did were forced to break away from the scrap or wait til it was over before they could manage it. Remember, the drum was this pan-shaped thing that caught air like a frisbee. You had to push the Lewis forward against the slipstream to release pressure from the Foster mount, then work the slide to bring the Lewis back toward you (the slipstream tried to jam it in your face at 100 mph). Then you took the drum off, wrestled another in place, and tried to force the gun back up the slide against the wind again. Not an easy task. It COULD be done and WAS done, but not as often as you might think and (almost) never during a fight.