1.
Vickers light machine gun
–
The Vickers–Berthier light machine gun manufactured by Vickers-Armstrong was based on a French design of just before World War I intended for use on aircraft. In 1925 Vickers in Britain purchased licence rights for production in their Crayford factory and it was an alternative to the water-cooled Vickers machine gun of same manufacture. The weapon used a gas and tipping bolt mechanism to the Bren gun, and also had a removable barrel. It was adopted by the Indian Army in 1933, during the British Army trials of several light machine guns which began in 1932, the Vickers–Berthier was in direct competition with the Bren light machine gun. The British Army adopted the Bren, and the Vickers–Berthier was adopted by the British Indian Army, a production line for the Vickers–Berthier Light Machine-Gun Mk 3 was established at the Ishapore Rifle Factory. It was slightly heavier, at 24 pounds than the Bren at 22 pounds and it was also slightly longer, and harder to stow away. The Bren also had a cyclic rate of 500 rpm. The only major advantage the weapon had over the Bren was the far simpler design, apart from India, it was only sold to a few Baltic and South American states, but the design was modified into the Vickers K machine gun, called the Vickers Gas Operated. It was used in small numbers by the Latvian army during 1930s, its unknown what happened to these weapons during. It is fairly rare to see the weapon nowadays, but it remains in reserve with the modern Indian Army, http, //world. guns. ru/machine/mg82-e. htm Rifle-Machine Gun Increases Efficiency of Infantry Popular Mechanics, December 1930 early article with photos of first Vickers–Berthier
Vickers light machine gun
–
Vickers–Berthier
2.
Battle of the Menin Road Ridge
–
The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, sometimes called Battle of the Menin Road, was the third British general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The battle took place from 20–25 September 1917, in the Ypres Salient in Flanders on the Western Front, in early September, optimism increased among German commanders that the Flanders offensive had been defeated and several divisions and air units were transferred elsewhere. Drier weather and extensive repairs made it much easier for the British to move vast amounts of supplies forward from the original front line. German defences on the Gheluvelt Plateau, which had retained or quickly recaptured in July and August were lost. The Kerensky Offensive by Russia in July had accelerated the disintegration of the Russian Army and these defensive successes had been costly and by mid-August, German satisfaction at their defensive achievements was accompanied by concern at the extent of casualties. The rain, constant bombardments and British air attacks had put great strain on the German defence between British attacks. II Corps had been ordered to capture the rest of the line on 2 August. Principal responsibility for the offensive was transferred to General Plumer on 25 August, the Second Army boundary was shifted north into the area vacated by II Corps on the Gheluvelt plateau. Haig put more emphasis on the fringe of the plateau. Plumer issued an order on 1 September, which defined the Second Army area of operations as Broodseinde. Few German concrete pill-boxes and machine gun nests had been destroyed during earlier preparatory bombardments and attempts at precision bombardment between attacks had also failed, Plumers tactical refinements sought to undermine the German defence by making a shallower penetration and then fighting the principal battle against German counter-attack divisions. More infantry was provided for the stages of the advance, to defeat German counter-attacks. During a lull in early September, both tried to improve their positions, on 1 September, a determined German attack at Inverness Copse was repulsed. Further north in the XIX Corps area, a battalion of the 61st Division rushed Hill 35 but only took a small area, next day, the division attacked Aisne Farm and was repulsed but the neighbouring 58th Division took Spot Farm. On 5 September, the 61st Division tried again at night, took a German outpost on Hill 35, an attack from south of Hill 35 by the 42nd Division with the 125th Brigade and part of the 127th Brigade, took place on 6 September. For several days, practice barrages were conducted and a reconnaissance by a small party probed to within 25 yd of Beck House. During the night, the Germans sent up flares and rockets, disclosing their barrage line. The British barrage schedule required four rounds per-gun-per-minute but the gunners fired up to ten, the 125th Brigade attacked Iberian, Borry and Beck House farms, captured Beck House, then small-arms fire from Hill 35 stopped the rest of the attack, which was a costly failure
Battle of the Menin Road Ridge
–
Wounded men at the side of a road after the Battle of Menin Road
Battle of the Menin Road Ridge
–
Battle of Menin Road, Map showing British objective lines.
Battle of the Menin Road Ridge
–
German troop dispositions opposite 1 ANZAC Corps, 1 Sept 1917.
Battle of the Menin Road Ridge
–
Men of the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 23rd Division, resting in trenches during their advance on Veldhoek, 20 September 1917
3.
Medium machine gun
–
A medium machine gun, in modern terms, usually refers to a belt-fed automatic firearm firing a full-power rifle cartridge. In the late 19th century, Gatling guns and other externally powered types, such as the Nordenfelt, were made in different ranges of calibers. Thanks to their barrels, overheating was not a major issue. When Hiram Maxim developed his recoil-powered machine gun used a single barrel. As depicted in a photo of Maxim, it could be picked up complete with its 15-pound tripod with one arm. It was similar to later-design medium machine guns, but it could not be fired for extended periods, as a result, he created a water-jacket cooling system to enable it to fire for extended periods. This added significant weight, as did changes to more powerful cartridges and this class of heavy, water-cooled machine gun would eventually be regarded as the classic heavy machine guns. Many new designs were developed, some powered by air or recoil, also, instead of the rather heavy water jacket, new designs introduced other types of cooling, such as barrel replacement, metal fins, and/or heat sinks or some combination of all of them. Machine guns then diverged into heavier and lighter designs, the later model water-cooled Maxim gun and its derivatives, were all substantial weapons. The.303 inch Vickers, for example, weighed 33 lb alone, the heavier designs could, and in some cases did, literally fire for days on end. The need was to be able to cut down, potentially, the heavy machine gun was mounted on a tripod and was often water-cooled, a well-trained and well-supplied crew could fire for hours on end. Carefully positioned heavy machine guns could stop a force before they reached their objectives. The first machine guns in use before World War I covered a range of characteristics. In addition to these designs, there were also a number of lighter types. During the same period, a number of new air-cooled designs were developed that, instead of weighing well over 30 lb, were lighter and more mobile. In World War I, they were to be as important as the designs, and were used to support squads and infantry on the move, on aircraft. The two that would become critical were new medium and light machine guns, the new medium machine guns offered less, or more difficult-to-use, cooling than the heavier designs, but more than the lightest. Light machine guns were introduced as lighter, more portable automatic weapons and they still fired the same full-power rifle caliber ammunition, but used lighter barrels without extra cooling and were fired from a bipod
Medium machine gun
–
U.S. Marines firing an
M240G at Camp Hansen, Okinawa
Medium machine gun
–
U.S. Army soldiers firing an
M60 during a live-fire training exercise.
Medium machine gun
–
US Marines with the water-cooled M1917 during WW2
Medium machine gun
–
The air-cooled Browning M1919 during WW2.
4.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
World War I
–
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the
Battle of the Somme,
Mark V tanks cross the
Hindenburg Line,
HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a
mine in the
Dardanelles, a British
Vickers machine gun crew wears
gas masks during the Battle of the Somme,
Albatros D.III fighters of
Jagdstaffel 11
World War I
–
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the
Austrian annexation in 1908.
World War I
–
This picture is usually associated with the arrest of
Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
World War I
–
Serbian Army
Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
5.
Chaco War
–
The Chaco War was fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region of South America, which was thought to be rich in oil. It is also referred to as La Guerra de la Sed in literary circles and it was the bloodiest military conflict fought in South America during the 20th century, between two of its poorest countries, both having previously lost territory to neighbors in 19th-century wars. During the war, both landlocked countries faced difficulties shipping arms and supplies through neighboring countries, Bolivia faced particular external trade problems, coupled with poor internal communications. Although Bolivia had lucrative mining income and a larger, better-equipped army, a series of factors turned the tide against it, the ultimate peace treaties granted two-thirds of the disputed territories to Paraguay. The origin of the war is commonly attributed in Latin America to a conflict between the oil companies Royal Dutch Shell backing Paraguay and Standard Oil supporting Bolivia. The discovery of oil in the Andean foothills sparked speculation that the Chaco might prove a source of petroleum. Standard Oil was already producing oil wells in the high hills of eastern Bolivia. However, it is if the war would have been caused solely by the interests of these companies. Both Bolivia and Paraguay were landlocked, though the 600,000 km2 Chaco was sparsely populated, control of the Paraguay River running through it provided access to the Atlantic Ocean. This became especially important to Bolivia, which had lost its Pacific coast to Chile in the 1879 War of the Pacific, Paraguay had lost almost half of its territory to Brazil and Argentina in the Paraguayan War of 1864-1870. The country was not prepared to surrender its economic viability, in international arbitration, Bolivia argued that the region had been part of the original Spanish colonial province of Moxos and Chiquitos to which Bolivia was heir. Meanwhile, Paraguay based its case on the occupation of the land, as of 1919, Argentine banks owned 400,000 hectares of land in the eastern Chaco while the Casado family, a powerful part of the Argentine oligarchy, held 141,000. The presence of Mennonite colonies in the Chaco, who settled there in the 1920s under the auspices of the Paraguayan parliament, was another factor in favour of Paraguays claim. He assumed that the new settlement was well inside Bolivian territory, the Paraguayan government sent in a naval detachment aboard the gunboat Pirapó, which forcibly evicted the Bolivians from the area in 1888. Two agreements followed — in 1894 and 1907 — which neither the Bolivian nor the Paraguayan parliament ever approved, meanwhile, in 1905 Bolivia founded two new outposts in the Chaco, Ballivián and Guachalla, this time along the Pilcomayo River. The Bolivian government ignored the half-hearted Paraguayan official protest, Bolivian penetration in the region went unopposed until 1927, when the first blood was shed over the Chaco Boreal. Fortín was the used for the small pillbox and trench-like garrisons in the Chaco. While the Bolivian government formally regretted the death of Rojas Silva, after the subsequent talks arranged in Buenos Aires failed to produce any agreement and eventually collapsed in January 1928, the dispute grew violent
Chaco War
–
Map of the Chaco showing the fortines (strongholds) and maximum advances by both sides
Chaco War
–
Paraguayan (1924, 1927 and 1932) and Bolivian (1928) stamps. In 1924 the Paraguayan stamp shows no border with Bolivia, in 1927 the border is to the north from Gran Chaco, later moved even further north with the disputed territory called Paraguayan Chaco; with slogan saying "was, is and will be [ours]". On the Bolivian stamp the region is called the Bolivian Chaco.
Chaco War
–
Ford truck like those used by both armies to resupply their troops
Chaco War
–
The 146km-long railway from the Paraguay river to the heart of the Chaco was vital for the Paraguayan army, especially during the
battle of Boquerón
6.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
World War II
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
World War II
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
World War II
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
World War II
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
7.
Indo-Pakistan War of 1947
–
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948, sometimes known as the First Kashmir War, was fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four Indo-Pakistan Wars fought between the two independent nations. Pakistan precipitated the war a few weeks after independence by launching tribal lashkar from Waziristan, in an effort to secure Kashmir, the inconclusive result of the war still affects the geopolitics of both countries. The Maharaja faced an uprising by his Muslim subjects in Poonch, on 22 October 1947, Pakistans Pashtun tribal militias crossed the border of the state. These local tribal militias and irregular Pakistani forces moved to take Srinagar, Hari Singh made a plea to India for assistance, and help was offered, but it was subject to his signing an Instrument of Accession to India. The war was fought by the J&K State Forces and by tribal militias from the Frontier Tribal Areas adjoining the North-West Frontier Province. Following the accession of the state, Indian troops were air-lifted to Srinagar, the British commanders officers initially refused the entry of Pakistani troops into the conflict, citing the accession of the state to India. However, later in 1948, they relented and the Pakistani armies entered the war after this, the fronts solidified gradually along what came to be known as the Line of Control. A formal cease-fire was declared at 23,59 on the night of 31 December 1948, the result of the war was inconclusive. However, most neutral assessments agree that India was the victor of the war as it was able to successfully defend about two-thirds of the Kashmir including Kashmir valley, Jammu and these were collectively referred to as the Punjab Hill States. These small states, ruled by Rajput kings, were variously independent, following the decline of the Mughals, turbulence in Kangra and invasions of Gorkhas, the hill states fell successively under the control of the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh. The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire, which asserted sovereignty over Kashmir, and the East India Company. In the Treaty of Lahore of 1846, the Sikhs were made to surrender the region between the Beas River and the Sutlej River and required to pay an indemnity of 1.2 million rupees. The years 1946–1947 saw the rise of All-India Muslim League and Muslim nationalism, the demand took a violent turn on the Direct Action Day and inter-communal violence between Hindus and Muslims became endemic. The two provinces Punjab and Bengal with large Muslim-majority areas were to be divided between the two dominions, an estimated 11 million people eventually migrated between the two parts of Punjab, and possibly 1 million perished in the inter-communal violence. Jammu and Kashmir, being adjascent to the Punjab province, was affected by the happenings in Punjab. The original target date for the transfer of power to the new dominions was June 1948, however, fearing the rise of inter-communal violence, the British Viceroy Lord Mountbatten advanced the date to 15 August 1947. This gave only 6 weeks to all the arrangements for partition
Indo-Pakistan War of 1947
–
Indian soldiers during the 1947–1948 war.
Indo-Pakistan War of 1947
–
Indian defence of the Kashmir Valley 27 October 1947 – 17 November 1947
8.
Korean War
–
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance. Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the days of World War II. In August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as a result of an agreement with the United States, U. S. forces subsequently moved into the south. By 1948, as a product of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Korea was split into two regions, with separate governments, both governments claimed to be the legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither side accepted the border as permanent. The conflict escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces—supported by the Soviet Union, on that day, the United Nations Security Council recognized this North Korean act as invasion and called for an immediate ceasefire. On 27 June, the Security Council adopted S/RES/83, Complaint of aggression upon the Republic of Korea and decided the formation, twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force, with the United States providing 88% of the UNs military personnel. After the first two months of war, South Korean forces were on the point of defeat, forced back to the Pusan Perimeter, in September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was launched at Inchon, and cut off many North Korean troops. Those who escaped envelopment and capture were rapidly forced back north all the way to the border with China at the Yalu River, at this point, in October 1950, Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and entered the war. Chinese intervention triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-1951, after these reversals of fortune, which saw Seoul change hands four times, the last two years of fighting became a war of attrition, with the front line close to the 38th parallel. The war in the air, however, was never a stalemate, North Korea was subject to a massive bombing campaign. Jet fighters confronted each other in combat for the first time in history. The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed, the agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war. Periodic clashes, many of which are deadly, continue to the present, in the U. S. the war was initially described by President Harry S. Truman as a police action as it was an undeclared military action, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations. In South Korea, the war is referred to as 625 or the 6–2–5 Upheaval. In North Korea, the war is referred to as the Fatherland Liberation War or alternatively the Chosǒn War. In China, the war is called the War to Resist U. S
Korean War
–
Clockwise from top: A column of the U.S.
1st Marine Division 's
infantry and
armor moves through Chinese lines during their
breakout from the Chosin Reservoir; UN landing at
Incheon harbor, starting point of the
Battle of Incheon; Korean refugees in front of an American
M26 Pershing tank; U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant
Baldomero Lopez, landing at Incheon;
F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft
Korean War
–
Three Koreans shot for pulling up rails as a protest against seizure of land without payment by the Japanese
Korean War
–
Soviet troops in Korea, October 1945
Korean War
–
U.S. troops in Korea, September 1945
9.
Congo Crisis
–
The Congo Crisis was a period of political upheaval and conflict in the Republic of the Congo between 1960 and 1965. It began almost immediately after the Congo became independent from Belgium and ended, unofficially, constituting a series of civil wars, the Congo Crisis was also a proxy conflict in the Cold War in which the Soviet Union and United States supported opposing factions. Around 100,000 people are believed to have been killed during the crisis, a nationalist movement in the Belgian Congo demanding the end of colonial rule led to the countrys independence on 30 June 1960. Minimal preparations had been made and many issues, such as the questions of federalism and ethnicity, in the first week of July, a mutiny broke out in the army and violence erupted between black and white civilians. Belgium sent troops to protect fleeing whites and two areas of the country, Katanga and South Kasai, seceded with Belgian support, the involvement of the Soviets split the Congolese government and led to impasse between Lumumba and the President, Joseph Kasa-Vubu. Mobutu, in command of the army, broke this deadlock with a coup détat, expelled the Soviet advisors, Lumumba was placed in captivity and subsequently executed in 1961. A rival government, the Free Republic of the Congo, founded by Antoine Gizenga and Lumumba supporters in the city of Stanleyville. Meanwhile, the UN took an aggressive stance towards the secessionists after Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in late 1961. Supported by UN troops, Léopoldville defeated the secessionist movements in Katanga, before these could be held, however, Maoist-inspired militants calling themselves the Simbas rose up in the east of the country. The Simbas took control of a significant amount of territory and proclaimed a communist Peoples Republic of the Congo in Stanleyville, government forces gradually retook territory and, in November 1964, Belgium and the United States intervened militarily in Stanleyville to recover hostages from Simba captivity. The Simbas were defeated and collapsed soon after, following the elections in March 1965, a new political stalemate developed between Tshombe and Kasa-Vubu, forcing the government into near-paralysis. Mobutu mounted a second coup détat in November 1965, now taking personal control, under Mobutus rule, the Congo was transformed into a dictatorship which would endure until his deposition in 1997. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century, the Belgian governments ambivalence about the idea led Leopold to eventually create the colony on his own account. Belgian rule in the Congo was based around the colonial trinity of state, missionary, the privileging of Belgian commercial interests meant that capital sometimes flowed back into the Congo and that individual regions became specialised. There was also a degree of racial segregation. Large numbers of immigrants who moved to the Congo after the end of World War II came from across the social spectrum. One of the results of the measures was the development of a new class of Europeanised African évolués in the cities. By the 1950s the Congo had a labour force twice as large as that in any other African colony
Congo Crisis
–
Belgian paratroopers in action in the Congo during
Operation Dragon Rouge, 1964
Congo Crisis
–
Independence
Congo Crisis
–
Patrice Lumumba, leader of the MNC-L and first Prime Minister, pictured in
Brussels at the
Round Table Conference of 1960
Congo Crisis
–
A Swedish peacekeeping soldier in the Congo. The
UN deployed troops from a variety of nations during
ONUC.
10.
South African Border War
–
It was fought between the South African Defence Force and the Peoples Liberation Army of Namibia, an armed wing of the South West African Peoples Organisation. The South African Border War resulted in some of the largest battles on the African continent since World War II and was intertwined with the Angolan Civil War. Fighting broke out between PLAN and the South African authorities in August 1966, between 1975 and 1988 the SADF staged massive conventional raids into Angola and Zambia to eliminate PLANs forward operating bases. It also deployed specialist counter-insurgency units such as Koevoet and 32 Battalion trained to carry out external reconnaissance, South African tactics became increasingly aggressive as the conflict progressed. The SADFs incursions produced Angolan casualties and occasionally resulted in collateral damage to economic installations regarded as vital to the Angolan economy. Beginning in 1984, regular Angolan units under Soviet command were confident enough to confront the SADF and their positions were also bolstered by thousands of Cuban troops. PLAN launched its final campaign in late March 1989. South West Africa received formal independence as the Republic of Namibia a year later, despite being largely fought in neighbouring states, the South African Border War had a phenomenal cultural and political impact on South African society. It remains an integral theme in contemporary South African literature at large and Afrikaans-language works in particular, various names have been applied to the undeclared conflict waged by South Africa in Angola and Namibia from the mid 1960s to the late 1980s. Border War entered public discourse in South Africa during the late 1970s, due to the covert nature of most South African Defence Force operations inside Angola, the term was favoured as a means of omitting any reference to clashes on foreign soil. Where tactical aspects of various engagements were discussed, military historians simply identified the conflict as the bush war, the South West African Peoples Organisation has described the South African Border War as the Namibian War of National Liberation and the Namibian Liberation Struggle. In the Namibian context it is commonly referred to as the Namibian War of Independence. However, these terms have been criticised for ignoring the wider implications of the war and the fact that PLAN was based in. Namibia was governed as German South West Africa, a colony of the German Empire, until World War I, when it was invaded and occupied by Allied forces under General Louis Botha. Following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, a system was imposed by the League of Nations to govern African and Asian territories held by Germany. Nevertheless, the bestowal of a mandate by the League of Nations did not confer full sovereignty, in principle mandating countries were only supposed to hold these former colonies in trust for their inhabitants, until they were sufficiently prepared for their own self-determination. Under these terms, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand were granted the German Pacific islands, and it soon became apparent the South African government had interpreted the mandate as a veiled annexation. According to Smuts, this annexation in all but in name
South African Border War
–
South African paratroops on border patrol
South African Border War
–
A map of the territories during the conflict
South African Border War
–
Angolan
BTR-60PB knocked out by South African forces at
Xangongo.
South African Border War
–
Plaque at the
Voortrekker Monument representing South African servicemen killed in the line of duty
11.
Vickers
–
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999. Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a foundry by the miller Edward Vickers. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson and Vickers brother William owned a steel rolling operation, edwards investments in the railway industry allowed him to gain control of the company, based at Millsands and known as Naylor Vickers and Company. It began life making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bells and its great architects, the historian Clive Trebilcock writes, Colonel T. E. and Albert Vickers. Both men were autocrats by temperament, but neither shunned advice or avoided delegation, each, in 1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in Brightside. The company went public in 1867 as Vickers, Sons & Company and gradually acquired more businesses, in 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts, in 1872 they began casting marine propellers and in 1882 they set up a forging press. Vickers produced their first armour plate in 1888 and their first artillery piece in 1890, Vickers bought out the Barrow-in-Furness shipbuilder The Barrow Shipbuilding Company in 1897, acquiring its subsidiary the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company. At the same time, to become Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Ordnance and ammunition made during this period, including World War I, was stamped V. S. M. The yard at Barrow became the Naval Construction Yard, with these acquisitions, Vickers could now produce a complete selection of products, from ships and marine fittings to armour plate and a whole suite of ordnance. In 1901 the Royal Navys first submarine, Holland 1, was launched at the Naval Construction Yard, in 1902 Vickers took a half share in the famous Clyde shipyard John Brown and Company. In 1911 a controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Company, in 1919, the British Westinghouse electrical company was taken over as the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company, Metrovick. At the same time came into Metropolitans railway interests. In 1927, Vickers merged with the Tyneside based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth, founded by W. G. Armstrong, to become Vickers-Armstrongs, armstrongs shipbuilding interests became the Naval Yard, those of Vickers on the west coast the Naval Construction Yard. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was not absorbed by the new company, in 1928 the Aviation Department became Vickers Ltd and soon after acquired Supermarine, which became the Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. In 1938, both companies were re-organised as Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, although the former Supermarine and Vickers works continued to brand their products under their former names. 1929 saw the merger of the railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon. In 1960 the aircraft interests were merged with those of the Bristol, English Electric Company and this was owned by Vickers, English Electric and Bristol. BAC in turn owned 70% of Hunting, the Supermarine operation was closed in 1963 and the Vickers name for aircraft was dropped in 1965
Vickers
–
Vickers, Sons & Maxim's Naval Construction Works (ca. 1900)
Vickers
–
1914 advertisement in
Jane's presenting Vickers broad naval capabilities
Vickers
–
The Vickers works in
Cross Gates,
Leeds
12.
Gun barrel
–
A gun barrel is a part of firearms and artillery pieces. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, a gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out by the expanding gas. Modern small arms barrels are made of known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength, early firearms were muzzle-loading, with powder, and then shot loaded from the muzzle, capable of only a low rate of fire. During the 19th century effective mechanical locks were invented that sealed a breech-loading weapon against the escape of propellant gases, the early Chinese, the inventors of gunpowder, used bamboo, a naturally tubular stalk, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons. Early European guns were made of iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings. The Chinese were the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. Bore evacuator Bore snake Cannon Muzzle Polygonal rifling Rifling Slug barrel Smoothbore
Gun barrel
–
A US
240 mm howitzer in use in 1944
13.
Cartridge (firearms)
–
Military and commercial producers continue to pursue the goal of caseless ammunition. A cartridge without a bullet is called a blank, One that is completely inert is called a dummy. Some artillery ammunition uses the same concept as found in small arms. In other cases, the shell is separate from the propellant charge. In popular use, the bullet is often misused to refer to a complete cartridge. The cartridge case seals a firing chamber in all directions excepting the bore, a firing pin strikes the primer and ignites it. The primer compound deflagrates, it does not detonate, a jet of burning gas from the primer ignites the propellant. Gases from the burning powder pressurize and expand the case to seal it against the chamber wall and these propellant gases push on the bullet base. In response to pressure, the bullet will move in the path of least resistance which is down the bore of the barrel. After the bullet leaves the barrel, the pressure drops to atmospheric pressure. The case, which had been expanded by chamber pressure. This eases removal of the case from the chamber, brass is a commonly used case material because it is resistant to corrosion. A brass case head can be work-hardened to withstand the pressures of cartridges. The neck and body portion of a case is easily annealed to make the case ductile enough to allow reforming so that it can be reloaded many times. Steel is used in some plinking ammunition, as well as in military ammunition. Steel is less expensive than brass, but it is not feasible to reload, Military forces typically consider small arms cartridge cases to be disposable, one-time-use devices. However, case weight affects how much ammunition a soldier can carry, conversely, steel is more susceptible to contamination and damage so all such cases are varnished or otherwise sealed against the elements. One downside caused by the strength of steel in the neck of these cases is that propellant gas can blow back past the neck
Cartridge (firearms)
–
A variety of rifle cartridges: (1).17HM2 (2).17HMR (3)
.22LR (4).22 Win Mag R/F.22 WMR (5).17/23 SMc (6)
5mm/35 SMc (7)
.22 Hornet (8)
.223 Remington (9)
.223 WSSM (10)
.243 Win (11)
P.O. Ackley#Wildcats & Ackley Improved Cartridges.243 Win Improved (Ackley) (12).25-06 Rem (13).270 Win (14)
.308 Win (15)
.30-06 Springfield (16)
.45-70 Government (17)
.50-90 Sharps
Cartridge (firearms)
–
Historic British cartridges
Cartridge (firearms)
–
Chassepot paper cartridge (1866).
Cartridge (firearms)
–
(From Left to Right): A
.577 Snider cartridge (1867), a
.577/450 Martini-Henry cartridge (1871), a later drawn brass.577/450
Martini-Henry cartridge, and a
.303 British Mk VII SAA Ball cartridge.
14.
.303 British
–
The.303 British or 7. 7×56mmR, is a. 303-inch calibre rimmed rifle cartridge first developed in Britain as a black-powder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee–Metford rifle. In 1891 the cartridge was adapted to use smokeless powder and it was the standard British and Commonwealth military cartridge from 1889 until the 1950s when it was replaced by the 7. 62×51mm NATO. The.303 British has 3.64 ml cartridge case capacity, americans would define the shoulder angle at alpha/2 ≈17 degrees. The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 254 mm,5 grooves, Ø lands =7.70 millimetres, Ø grooves =7.92 millimetres, land width =2.12 millimetres and the primer type is Berdan or Boxer. Rulings the.303 British can handle up to 365.00 MPa Pmax piezo pressure, regulated countries every rifle cartridge combo has to be proofed at 125% of this maximum C. I. P. pressure to certify for sale to consumers. This means that.303 British chambered arms in C. I. P, regulated countries are currently proof tested at 456.00 MPa PE piezo pressure. The SAAMI Maximum Average Pressure for this cartridge is 49,000 psi piezo pressure, the measurement. 303-inch is the nominal size of the bore measured between the lands which follows the older black powder nomenclature. Measured between the grooves, the size of the bore is. 311-inch. Bores for many.303 military surplus rifles are found ranging from around. 309-inch up to. 318-inch. Recommended bullet diameter for standard.303 British cartridges is. 312-inch, the bolt thrust of the.303 British is relatively low compared to many other service rounds used in the early 20th century. The original.303 British service cartridge employed black powder as a propellant, and was adopted for the Lee–Metford rifle, ballistite was a stick-type smokeless powder composed of soluble nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. Unlike Cordite, Riflelite was a powder, and contained no nitroglycerine. After extensive testing, the Committee on Explosives selected Cordite for use in the Mark II.303 British service cartridge, the initial.303 Mark I and Mk II service cartridges employed a 215-grain, round-nosed, copper-nickel full-metal-jacketed bullet with a lead core. After tests determined that the bullet had too thin a jacket when used with cordite. This led to the introduction of the Cartridge S. A. Ball.303 inch Cordite Mark III, similar hollow-point bullets were used in the Mk IV and Mk V loadings, which were put into mass production. The design of the Mk IV hollow-point bullet shifted bullet weight rearwards, improving stability, the remaining stocks were used for target practice. The concern about expanding bullets was brought up at the 1899 Hague Convention by Swiss, the British and American defense was that they should not focus on specific bullet designs, like hollow-points, but instead on rounds that caused superfluous injury. The parties in the end agreed to abstain from using expanding bullets, as a result, the Mark III and other expanding versions of the.303 were not issued during the Second Boer War
.303 British
–
Left to right:.303 British,
6.5×50mmSR Arisaka and
.30-06 Springfield soft point ammunition
.303 British
–
.303 British (7.7×56mm Rimmed)
.303 British
–
Longitudinal section of Mk VI ammunition 1904, showing the round nose bullet
.303 British
–
Longitudinal section of Mk VII ammunition circa 1915, showing the "tail heavy" design
15.
.30-06 Springfield
–
The.30 refers to the caliber of the bullet, and the 06 refers to the year the cartridge was adopted—1906. It replaced the. 30-03, 6mm Lee Navy, and. 30-40 Krag cartridges and it remains a very popular sporting round, with ammunition produced by all major manufacturers. In the early 1890s, the U. S. military adopted the smokeless powder. 30-40 Krag rimmed cartridge, the 1894 version of that cartridge used a 220-grain round-nose bullet. Around 1901, the U. S. started developing an experimental rimless cartridge for a Mauser action with box magazine and that led to the 1903. 30-03 rimless service round that used the same 220-grain round-nose bullet as the Krag. The. 30-03 achieved a velocity of 2,300 ft/s. Consequently, the round-nosed U. S. 30-03 service cartridge was falling behind. For these reasons, the U. S. military developed a new, lighter, cartridge in 1906, the cartridge was loaded with Military Rifle 21 propellant, and its maximum range was claimed to be 4,700 yd. The M1903 Springfield rifle, which had been introduced alongside the. 30-03 cartridge, was modified to accept the new. 30-06 Springfield cartridge. Modifications to the rifle included shortening the barrel at its breech and resizing the chamber, other changes to the rifle included elimination of the troublesome rod bayonet of the earlier Springfield rifles. The M1906 maximum range was originally overstated, when the M1906 cartridge was developed, the range tests had been done to only 1,800 yards, distances beyond that were estimated, but the estimate for extreme range was wrong by almost 40 percent. The range discrepancy became evident during World War I, before the widespread employment of light mortars and artillery, long-range machine gun barrage or indirect fires were considered important in U. S. infantry tactics. When the US entered World War I, it did not have machine guns, so it acquired British. When those weapons were replaced with US machine guns firing the M1906 round. Firing tests performed around 1918 at Borden Brook Reservoir, Miami, patrone was inroduced in 1914 and used a 197. 5-grain s. S. - schweres Spitzgeschoß boat-tail bullet which had a maximum range of approximately 5,140 yd. Its maximum range was approximately 5,500 yd. Additionally, wartime surplus totaled over 2 billion rounds of ammunition. Army regulations called for training use of the oldest ammunition first, as a result, the older. 30-06 ammunition was expended for training, stocks of.30 M1 Ball ammunition were allowed to slowly grow until all of the older M1906 ammunition had been fired. By 1936, it was discovered that the range of the.30 M1 Ball ammunition with its boat-tailed spitzer bullets was beyond the safety limitations of many ranges. An emergency order was made to manufacture quantities of ammunition that matched the ballistics of the earlier M1906 cartridge as soon as possible
.30-06 Springfield
–
.30-06 Springfield cartridge with soft tip
.30-06 Springfield
–
MI Garand 30-06. Note the ammunition clip at 12 0'clock. It ejects from the rifle after all eight rounds are depleted.
.30-06 Springfield
–
A Winchester Model 70 Super Grade in.30-06 with Leupold 6x/42MM scope
.30-06 Springfield
–
From left to right
9.3×62mm,.30-06 Springfield,
7.92×57mm Mauser,
6.5×55mm and
.308 Winchester
16.
Action (firearms)
–
In firearms terminology, an action is the mechanism that handles the ammunition or the method by which that mechanism works. Breech-loading weapons have actions, actions are not present on muzzleloaders. The mechanism that fires a muzzle-loader is called the lock, actions can be categorized in several ways, including single action versus double action, break action versus bolt action, and others. The term action can also short, long, and magnum if it is in reference to the length of the rifle’s receiver. The short action rifle usually can accommodate a cartridge length of 2.8 in or smaller, the long action rifle can accommodate a cartridge of 3.34 in, and the magnum action rifle can accommodate cartridges of 3.6 in, or longer in length. Manual operation is a term describing any type of firearm action that is loaded one shot at a time by the user rather than automatically. For example, break action is a form of operation using a simple hinge mechanism that is manually unlatched by the operator. These are actions wherein the breechblock lowers or drops into the receiver to open the breech, there are two principal types of dropping block, the tilting block and the falling block. In a tilting or pivoting block action, the breechblock is hinged on a pin mounted at the rear, when the lever is operated, the block tilts down and forward, exposing the chamber. The best-known pivoting block designs are the Peabody, the Peabody–Martini, the original Peabody rifles, manufactured by the Providence Tool Company, used a manually cocked side-hammer. The 1871 Martini–Henry which replaced the trapdoor Snider–Enfield was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, charles H. Ballards self-cocking tilting-block action was produced by the Marlin Firearms Company from 1875, and earned a superlative reputation among long-range Creedmoor target shooters. Surviving Marlin Ballards are today highly prized by collectors, especially those mounted in the elaborate Swiss-style Schützen stocks of the day. A falling-block action is a firearm action in which a solid metal breechblock slides vertically in grooves cut into the breech of the weapon. Examples of firearms using the falling block action are the Sharps rifle, in a rolling block action the breechblock takes the form of a part-cylinder, with a pivot pin through its axis. The operator rotates or rolls the block to open and close the breech, it is a simple, rugged, a break action is a type of firearm where the barrel are hinged and can be broken open to expose the breech. The earliest metallic-cartridge breechloaders designed for military issue began as conversions of muzzle-loading rifle-muskets. The upper rear portion of the barrel was filed or milled away, an internal angled firing pin allowed the re-use of the rifles existing side-hammer. The Allin action made by Springfield Arsenal in the US hinged forward, france countered in 1866 with its superior Chassepot rifle, also a paper-cartridge bolt action
Action (firearms)
–
A view of the
break-action of a typical double-barreled shotgun, with the action open and the extractor visible. The opening lever and the safety catch can also be clearly seen.
Action (firearms)
–
Ruger No. 1 single-shot falling-block rifle with action open
Action (firearms)
–
German
"Drilling" Combination Gun
Action (firearms)
–
Barreled action for bolt-action rifle
17.
Water cooling
–
Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. As opposed to air cooling, water is used as the heat conductor, the main mechanism for water cooling is convective heat transfer. Cooling water is the water removing heat from a machine or system, cooling water may be recycled through a recirculating system or used in a single pass once-through cooling system. Recirculating systems may be if they rely upon cooling towers or cooling ponds to remove heat or closed if heat removal is accomplished with negligible evaporative loss of cooling water. Environmental regulations emphasize the reduced concentrations of waste products in non-contact cooling water, the advantages of using water cooling over air cooling include waters higher specific heat capacity, density, and thermal conductivity. This allows water to heat over greater distances with much less volumetric flow. The water jacket around an engine is very effective at deadening mechanical noises. Water accelerates corrosion of parts and is a favorable medium for biological growth. Dissolved minerals in water supplies are concentrated by evaporation to leave deposits called scale. Cooling water often requires addition of chemicals to minimize corrosion and insulating deposits of scale, an open water cooling system makes use of evaporative cooling, lowering the temperature of the remaining water. This method was common in internal combustion engines, until scale buildup was observed from dissolved salts. Modern open cooling systems continuously waste a fraction of recirculating water as blowdown to remove dissolved solids at low enough to prevent scale formation. Some open systems use inexpensive tap water, but this requires higher rates than deionized or distilled water. Purified water systems still require blowdown to remove accumulation of byproducts of chemical treatment to prevent corrosion, modern automotive cooling systems are slightly pressurized, often to 15 psi. This raises the boiling-point of the coolant and reduces evaporation, the use of water cooling carries the risk of damage from freezing. Automotive and many other engine cooling applications require the use of a water, antifreeze also inhibits corrosion from dissimilar metals and can increase the boiling point, allowing a wider range of water cooling temperatures. Its distinctive odor also alerts operators to cooling system leaks and problems that would go unnoticed in a cooling system. The heated coolant mixture can also be used to warm the air conditioning system inside the car by means of the heater core, other less common chemical additives are products to reduce surface tension
Water cooling
–
Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant
Water cooling
–
An antique gasoline engine with an evaporative cooler and mesh screen to improve evaporation. Water is pumped up to the top and flows down the screen to the tank.
Water cooling
–
CoolIT Rack DCLC AHx Liquid Cooling Solution
Water cooling
–
A Marley mechanical induced draft cooling tower
18.
Vickers Limited
–
Please refer to the overview article Vickers for other companies known by this name Vickers Limited was a significant British engineering conglomerate that merged into Vickers-Armstrongs in 1927. Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a foundry by the miller Edward Vickers. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson and Vickers brother William owned a steel rolling operation, edwards investments in the railway industry allowed him to gain control of the company, based at Millsands and known as Naylor Vickers and Company. It began life making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bells, in 1854 Vickers sons Thomas and Albert joined the business. In 1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in Brightside, the company went public in 1867 as Vickers, Sons & Company and gradually acquired more businesses, branching out into various sectors. In 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts, in 1872 they began casting marine propellers, Vickers produced their first armour plate in 1888 and their first artillery piece in 1890. The yard at Barrow became the Naval Construction Yard, with these acquisitions, Vickers could now produce a complete selection of products, from ships and marine fittings to armour plate and a whole suite of ordnance. In 1901 the Royal Navys first submarine, Holland 1, was launched at the Naval Construction Yard, in 1902 Vickers took a half share in the famous Clyde shipyard John Brown and Company. Further diversification occurred in 1901 with the purchase of Herbert Austins embryo car manufacturing plans, the new business was incorporated and named The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company and works were purchased at Adderley Park. In 1911 a controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Company, in 1911, the company name was changed to Vickers Limited and expanded its operations into aircraft manufacture by the formation of Vickers Ltd. Vickers brand aircraft were produced from 1911 to until 1965, when BAC ended the name, in 1919, the British Westinghouse electrical company was taken over as the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company, Metrovick. At the same time came into Metropolitans railway interests. Wolseley now Wolseley Motors was sold to William Morris in mid-November 1926 who retained it as his personal property and he had reported last year that an internal reorganization was in progress to deal with those subsidiary branches which proved a heavy drain on financial resources. This merger was to take effect 1 January 1928 and would give Vickers shareholders ownership of two-thirds of the new company, Metropolitan Carriage Wagon and Finance Company and The Metropolitan -Vickers Company were not included in the merger. Vickers manufactured and sold the Maxim machine gun forming a partnership with its inventor and they later took over the company and improved the design as the Vickers machine gun, which was the last major design Hiram Maxim himself worked on. It became the standard machine gun of the British Empire and Commonwealth, Vickers produced the machine gun in literally dozens of different cartridge sizes and sold it all over the world. They even scaled it up to larger calibres, particularly for the Royal Navy as a 0.5 inch model), Vickers & Maxim also introduced one of the first cannon to have an hydraulic recoil absorbing mechanism. In 1900 they produced a small 75 mm cannon that used two cylinders mounted alongside the barrel, Vickers was involved in the production of numerous firearms
Vickers Limited
–
Vickers'
75mm mountain gun (1900)
19.
British Army
–
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
British Army
–
Men of the
Welsh Guards Trooping the Colour 2007.
British Army
British Army
–
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was one of the first generals in the British Army, fighting campaigns in the
War of the Spanish Succession.
British Army
–
The extinction of the
Scottish clan system came with the defeat of the clansmen at the
Battle of Culloden in 1746
20.
Machine gun
–
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Note that not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per round fired, a machine gun is designed to fire for as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to heavy weapons, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of automatic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are used against personnel, aircraft and light vehicles, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice sustained fire almost continuously for hours, because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bolt, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also usually have either a barrel cooling system, slow-heating heavyweight barrel, although subdivided into light, medium, heavy or general-purpose, even the lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than standard infantry arms. Medium and heavy guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehicle, when carried on foot. Medium machine guns use full-sized rifle rounds and are designed to be used from fixed positions mounted on a tripod. 50in, the M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automatic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squad or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon, Machine guns usually have simple iron sights, though the use of optics is becoming more common. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2.50 caliber machine gun, are enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carlos Hathcock set the record for a shot at 7382 ft with a.50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight. This led to the introduction of.50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridge from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge are called assault rifles. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of the weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round from a feeding device, cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops firing with bolt carrier fully at the rear, the operation is basically the same for all autoloading firearms, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Most modern machine guns use gas-operated reloading, a recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate the action. Machine guns such as the M2 Browning and MG42, are of this type, a cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to operate the bolt
Machine gun
–
A
.50 caliber M2 machine gun:
John Browning 's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs
Machine gun
–
Top:
IMI Negev (light machine gun). Bottom:
FN MAG (general purpose machine gun).
Machine gun
–
Czechoslovak 7.62 mm
Universal Machine gun Model 1959.
Machine gun
–
A
Mitsubishi Type 73 Light Truck Shīn with a
Sumitomo M2 heavy machine gun mounted at the rear with foliage used to camouflage the vehicle from sight. This was on public display at Camp Narashino.
21.
Allies of World War I
–
The Allies of World War I were the countries that opposed the Central Powers in the First World War. The members of the original Triple Entente of 1907 were the French Republic, the British Empire, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, and Romania were affiliated members of the Entente. The 1920 Treaty of Sèvres defines the Principal Allied Powers as the British Empire, French Republic, Italy, the Allied Powers comprised, together with the Principal Allied Powers, Armenia, Belgium, Greece, Hejaz, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serb-Croat-Slovene state and Czechoslovakia. The U. S. declaration of war on Germany, on 6th April 1917 was on the grounds that Germany had violated its neutrality by attacking international shipping and it declared war on Austria-Hungary in December 1917. The U. S. entered the war as a power, rather than as a formal ally of France. Although the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria severed relations with the United States, the Dominion governments did control recruiting, and removed personnel from front-line duties as they saw fit. From early 1917, the War Cabinet was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, in April 1918, operational control of all Entente forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch of France. The Austrian Empire followed with an attack on the Serbian ally Montenegro on 8 August, on the Western Front, the two neutral States of Belgium and Luxembourg were immediately occupied by German troops as part of the German Schlieffen Plan. On 23 August Japan joined the Entente, which then counted seven members, the entrance of the British Empire brought Nepal into the war. In 1916, Montenegro capitulated and left the Entente, and two nations joined, Portugal and Romania, on 6 April 1917, the United States entered the war. Liberia, Siam and Greece also became allies and this was followed by Romanian cessation of hostilities, however the Balkan State declared war on Central Powers again on 10 November 1918. In response to the Germans invasion of neutral Belgium, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, gibraltar, Cyprus and Malta were British dependencies in Europe. The UK held several colonies, protectorates, and semi-autonomous dependencies at the time of World War I, in Eastern Africa the East Africa Protectorate, Nyasaland, both Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the Uganda Protectorate, were involved in conflict with German forces in German East Africa. In Western Africa, the colonies of Gold Coast and Nigeria were involved in actions against German forces from Togoland. In Southwestern Africa, the dominion of South Africa was involved in military actions against German forces in German South-West Africa. Canada and Newfoundland were two autonomous dominions during the war that made major contributions to the British war effort. Other British dependent territories in the Americas included, British Honduras, the Falkland Islands, British Guiana, and Jamaica. The UK held large possessions in Asia, including the Indian Empire which was an assortment of British imperial authorities in the territory now defined as India, Bangladesh, Burma, australia and New Zealand were two autonomous dominions of the UK in Oceania during the war
Allies of World War I
–
A 1914 Russian poster depicting the Triple Entente.
Allies of World War I
–
European military alliances prior to the war.
Allies of World War I
–
The Council of Four (from left to right):
David Lloyd George,
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando,
Georges Clemenceau and
Woodrow Wilson in Versailles
Allies of World War I
–
British soldiers in a trench during the
Battle of the Somme in 1916.
22.
Machine Gun Corps
–
The Machine Gun Corps was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks in combat and was turned into the Tank Corps. The MGC remained in existence after the war until it was disbanded in 1922, at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the tactical potential of machine guns was not appreciated by the British Armed Forces. Despite the evidence of fighting in Manchuria the army went to war with each infantry battalion. These organic units were supplemented in November 1914 by the formation of the Motor Machine Gun Service administered by the Royal Artillery, a machine gun school was also opened in France. To achieve this, the Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915 with Infantry, Cavalry, a depot and training centre was established at Belton Park in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and a base depôt at Camiers in France. The Infantry Branch was by far the largest and was formed by the transfer of battalion machine gun sections to the MGC and these sections were grouped into Brigade Machine Gun Companies, three per division. New companies were raised at Grantham, in 1917, a fourth company was added to each division. In February and March 1918, the four companies in each division were formed into a Machine Gun Battalion, the Guards Division formed its own machine gun support unit, the Guards Machine Gun Regiment. The Cavalry Branch consisted of Machine Gun Squadrons, one per cavalry brigade, the Motor Branch was formed by absorbing the MMGS and the armoured car squadrons of the recently disbanded Royal Naval Armoured Car Service. It formed several types of units, motor cycle batteries, light armoured motor batteries, as well as motor cycles, other vehicles used included Rolls-Royce and Ford Model T cars. The Heavy Section was formed in March 1916, becoming the Heavy Branch in November of that year, men of this branch crewed the first tanks in action at Flers, during the Battle of the Somme in September 1916. In July 1917, the Heavy Branch separated from the MGC to become the Tank Corps, the MGC saw action in all the main theatres of war, including France and Belgium, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Salonika, East Africa and Italy. In its short history, the MGC gained a record for heroism as a front line fighting force. Indeed, in the part of the war, as tactics changed to defence in depth. It had an enviable record for its casualty rate. Some 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC, with 62,049 becoming casualties, including 12,498 killed, as stated by Paul Cornish in Machine Guns and the Great War, The theory behind this technique had long been understood. The mathematical work required to provide a basis for the conduct of such fire was carried out by a group of British enthusiasts at the Hythe musketry school
Machine Gun Corps
–
An MGC gun team with their
Vickers machine gun
Machine Gun Corps
–
Grave of H Hemming, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry Branch), in Worcestershire
Machine Gun Corps
–
The
Boy David Memorial to the Machine Gun Corps in
London.
23.
Maxim gun
–
The Maxim gun was a weapon invented by American-British inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1883, it was the first recoil-operated machine gun. It has been called the weapon most associated with the British imperial conquest, the mechanism of the Maxim gun employed one of the earliest recoil-operated firing systems in history. The idea is that the energy from recoil acting on the block is used to eject each spent cartridge and insert the next one. Maxims earliest designs used a 360-degree rotating cam to reverse the movement of the block and this made it vastly more efficient and less labor-intensive than previous rapid-firing guns, such as the Mitrailleuse, Gatling, Gardner, or Nordenfelt, that relied on actual mechanical cranking. It also decreased the gas buildup in the barrel, allowing the gun to fire more bullets over a period of time without overheating the barrel. The Maxim gun design required water cooling, giving it the ability to maintain its rate of fire for far longer than air-cooled guns, the disadvantage of this was that it made the gun less flexible in attack than the lighter air-cooled weapons. Trials demonstrated that the Maxim could fire 600 rounds per minute, compared to modern machine guns, the Maxim was heavy, bulky, and awkward. A lone soldier could fire the weapon, but it was operated by a team of men. Apart from the gunner, other crew were needed to speed reload, spot targets, several men were needed to move or mount the heavy weapon. Maxim established the Maxim Gun Company with financing from Albert Vickers, a blue plaque on the Factory where Maxim invented and produced the gun is to be found in Hatton Garden at the junction with Clerkenwell Road in London. Albert Vickers became the chairman, and it later joined hands with a Swedish competitor, Nordenfelt, to become Maxim Nordenfelt Guns. The Post Office Directory of trades in London of 1895 lists its office at 32 Victoria Street SW on page 1579, finally, the company was absorbed into the mother Vickers company, leading first to the Maxim-Vickers gun and then, after Vickers redesign, the Vickers machine gun. Maxims first patents related to the development of the Maxim were registered in June, the first prototype was demonstrated to invited guests in October 1884. A prototype of the Maxim gun was given by Hiram Maxim to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition in 1886–1890, under the leadership of Henry Morton Stanley. More a publicity stunt than a military contribution, in view of the main financier of the expedition, William Mackinnon. The first unit in the world to receive the Maxim was the Singapore Volunteer Corps in 1889 and this was a civilian volunteer defence unit on the then-British island. The Maxim gun was first used by Britains colonial forces in the 1893–1894 First Matabele War in Rhodesia, during the Battle of the Shangani,700 soldiers fought off 5,000 warriors with just four Maxim guns. It played an important role in the swift European colonization of Africa in the late 19th century, the extreme lethality was employed to devastating effect against obsolete charging tactics, when native opponents could be lured into pitched battles in open terrain
Maxim gun
–
PM M1910, Russian Maxim gun,
Georgian National Museum
Maxim gun
–
Illustration of the Maxim Gun in
Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
Maxim gun
–
1895
.303 caliber tripod mounted Maxim machine gun
Maxim gun
–
A large bore Maxim on the
USS Vixen ca. 1898
24.
Muzzle booster
–
A muzzle booster or recoil booster is a device affixed to the muzzle of a firearm, intended to harness the energy of the escaping propellant to augment the force of recoil on portions of the firearm. Muzzle boosters are used to improve the reliability and/or rate of fire of a recoil operated firearm. The muzzle booster is the antithesis of the brake, which is designed to use the propellant gases to reduce the recoil of the firearm. The recoil booster was first introduced in the Vickers machine gun of 1912, the Vickers, like the Maxim gun from which it was developed, uses a short-recoil action. At firing, the recoil from the cartridge pushes the barrel and this movement provides the energy required to extract and eject the spent cartridge, and compresses the recoil spring to complete the cycle. This increased the velocity of the barrel and bolt, providing more energy for the operation of the mechanism. As the bullet exits the barrel, the expanding gases follow it into the chamber created between the cup and the shroud. As it passes through the close tolerance hole in the end of the perforated tube, the pressure inside the booster rises very rapidly as the gases continue to expand in the confined space. The cup on the muzzle of the barrel provides a large, movable surface for the gas to push against, as it exerts force equally in all directions. As the outer shroud is fixed to the frame of the gun, and only the barrel is movable. The barrel continues to the rear on its own momentum, the resulting action can be seen as a composite of the recoil action and a gas action — the barrel being acted upon as if it were the piston. Muzzle boosters in other weapons act in a similar fashion, thus, the name of recoil booster can be misleading. The original use of the booster was to provide additional energy to move the large barrel/bolt mass on recoil operated machine guns. The primary German machine gun of WWI was the Maxim-based MG08, in 1915 an air-cooled version was created for use as a fixed aircraft gun, designated the lMG08. Thus, the water structure was retained, but was heavily perforated to allow cooling air-flow to reach the barrel. The World War II-era German MG42 was another machine gun which also made use of a muzzle booster. This application has fallen out of use as modern machine gun design switched to delayed blowback. The Rheinmetall MG3, essentially an MG42 modified to use the standard 7. 62×51mm NATO round, recoil boosters have found a use in suppressors on short-recoil operated semi-automatic pistols
Muzzle booster
–
Rear of a suppressor with the Nielsen device protruding (completely assembled).
Muzzle booster
–
Drawings from US patent 4,128,040, for a blank firing adapter for the short recoil operated
M2 Browning machine gun
Muzzle booster
–
Retaining ring unscrewed and Nielsen device partially removed.
Muzzle booster
–
Nielsen device completely removed and disassembled.
25.
First World War
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
First World War
–
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the
Battle of the Somme,
Mark V tanks cross the
Hindenburg Line,
HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a
mine in the
Dardanelles, a British
Vickers machine gun crew wears
gas masks during the Battle of the Somme,
Albatros D.III fighters of
Jagdstaffel 11
First World War
–
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the
Austrian annexation in 1908.
First World War
–
This picture is usually associated with the arrest of
Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
First World War
–
Serbian Army
Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
26.
British Expeditionary Force (World War I)
–
The British Expeditionary Force or BEF was the British Army sent to the Western Front during the First World War. Planning for a British Expeditionary Force began with the Haldane reforms of the British Army carried out by the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War. The term British Expeditionary Force is often used to only to the forces present in France prior to the end of the First Battle of Ypres on 22 November 1914. By the end of 1914—after the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, an alternative endpoint of the BEF was 26 December 1914, when it was divided into the First and Second Armies. B. E. F. remained the name of the British armies in France. Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who was dismissive of the BEF. The treacherous English and walk over General Frenchs contemptible little army, hence, in later years, the survivors of the regular army dubbed themselves The Old Contemptibles. No evidence of any such order being issued by the Kaiser has ever been found, in October 1914, 7th Division arrived in France, forming the basis of III Corps and the cavalry had grown to form the Cavalry Corps of three divisions. By December 1914, the BEF had expanded to such an extent that the First Army, the force was commanded by Field Marshal Sir John French until December 1915, when he was replaced by General Sir Douglas Haig. The BEFs Chief of Staff on mobilization was General Archibald Murray and he was replaced in January 1915 by General William Robertson. Lieutenant-General Launcelot Kiggell then served as Chief of Staff from December 1915 to January 1917 when he was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Herbert Lawrence, the two initial Army Corps were commanded by Douglas Haig and Horace Smith-Dorrien. As the Regular Armys strength declined, the numbers were made up, first by the Territorial Force, by the end of August 1914, he had raised six new divisions and by March 1915, the number of divisions had increased to 29. The Territorial Force was also expanded, raising second and third battalions and forming eight new divisions. The Third Army was formed in July 1915 and with the influx of troops from Kitcheners volunteers and further reorganisation, the Fourth Army and the Reserve Army, became the Fifth Army in 1916. The BEF grew from six divisions of British regular army and reserves in 1914, to encompass the British Empires war effort on the Western front in 1918 and some of its allies. Over the course of the war 5,399,563 men served with the BEF, the First Army was formed on 26 December 1914. Its first commander was Douglas Haig promoted from command of the I Corps, when Haig took over command of the BEF in 1915, the new commander was General Henry Horne. First Army remained in France until the end of the war, the Second Army was formed at the same time as the First Army on 26 December 1914
British Expeditionary Force (World War I)
–
British troops from the 4th Battalion,
Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) resting in the square at
Mons 22 August 1914, the day before the
Battle of Mons
British Expeditionary Force (World War I)
–
A British trench near the Albert-Bapaume road at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. The men are from A Company, 11th Battalion, The
Cheshire Regiment
British Expeditionary Force (World War I)
–
The front line in 1916, British gains during the battle of the Somme are shaded blue.
British Expeditionary Force (World War I)
–
The French, British, Belgian and American lines of attack, during the
Hundred Days Offensive
27.
Lewis Gun
–
The Lewis gun is a First World War-era light machine gun of US design that was perfected and mass-produced in the United Kingdom, and widely used by British and British Empire troops during the war. With its distinctive barrel cooling shroud and top-mounted pan magazine, the Lewis served to the end of the Korean War and it was also widely used as an aircraft machine gun, almost always with the cooling shroud removed, during both world wars. The Lewis gun was invented by U. S. Army colonel Isaac Newton Lewis in 1911, Lewis became frustrated with trying to persuade the U. S. Army to adopt his design, so, retired from the army. He left the United States in 1913 and went to Belgium, Lewis had been working closely with British arms manufacturer the Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited in an effort to overcome some of the production difficulties of the weapon. Lewis and his moved to England before 1914, away from possible seizure in the event of a German invasion. The Belgian army acquired only a handful of his guns and they were not on general issue in the Belgian Army, and were used only in a few forays by motor vehicles, south of Antwerp, against the flank of the invading German Army. The onset of the First World War increased demand for the Lewis gun, the design was officially approved for service on 15 October 1915 under the designation Gun, Lewis. 303-cal. No Lewis guns were produced in Belgium during the war, all manufacture was carried out by BSA in England, Savage did make Lewis guns in.303 British calibre, though. The Model 1916 and Model 1917 were exported to Canada and the United Kingdom, the Savage Model 1917 was generally produced in. 30-06 caliber. A number of guns were supplied to the UK under lend-lease during the Second World War. The Lewis gun was gas operated, a portion of the expanding propellant gas was tapped off from the barrel, driving a piston to the rear against a spring. The piston was fitted with a vertical post at its rear which rode in a helical cam track in the bolt and this allowed the three locking lugs at the rear of the bolt to engage in recesses in the guns body to lock it into place. The post also carried a fixed firing pin, which protruded through an aperture in the front of the bolt, only the Royal Navy retained the tube on their deck-mounted AA-configuration Lewis guns. The Lewis gun used a pan magazine holding 47 or 97 rounds, pan magazines hold the rounds, bullet-noses inwards toward the center, in a radial fan. Unlike the more common drum magazines, which hold the rounds parallel to the axis and are fed by spring tension, the Lewis magazine was driven by a cam on top of the bolt which operated a pawl mechanism via a lever. The operating rod had a toothed underside, which engaged with a cog which wound the spring, when the gun fired, the bolt recoiled and the cog was turned, tightening the spring until the resistance of the spring had reached the recoil force of the bolt assembly. At that moment, as the gas pressure in the fell, the spring unwound, turning the cog. As with a spring, the Lewis gun recoil spring had an adjustment device to alter the recoil resistance for variations in temperature
Lewis Gun
–
A Lewis Gun with air-cooling shroud, bipod and pan-shape drum magazine mounted on top.
Lewis Gun
–
US Marines field test the Lewis machine gun in 1917.
Lewis Gun
–
Pan magazine as used on a
7.92×57mm Lewis Gun.
Lewis Gun
–
Recruits of the
Singapore Volunteer Force training with a Lewis gun, 1941.
28.
Besa machine gun
–
The Besa machine gun was a British version of the Czechoslovak ZB-53 air-cooled, belt-fed machine gun, which in the Czechoslovak army was marked as the TK vz.37. Although it required a large opening in the tanks armour. The name came from the Birmingham Small Arms Company, who signed an agreement with Československá zbrojovka to manufacture the gun in the UK, the War Office ordered the weapon in 1938, and production began in 1939, after modifications. Although Britains armed forces used the.303 in rimmed round for rifles and machine guns, although it had been intended for the British to move from rimmed to rimless ammunition generally, with war imminent wholesale change was not possible. It was considered by BSA and the Ministry of Supply that the industrial, technical, as a consequence, the round was not changed for British production. Since the Besa used the same ammunition as Germany used in its rifles and machine guns, while American-produced armoured cars or tanks would have been fitted with.30 cal Browning machine guns, many British tanks and armoured cars would be equipped with the Besa machine gun. It fed from non-disintegrating disposable 225-round steel metal-link belts, the Mark II version entered service in June 1940. It was modified with a selector to give a rate of fire for close combat or focused targets or a low rate of fire for long-range combat or area targets. As the war progressed the design was modified to be rapidly and economically produced. Three simplified models, the Mark II*, Mark III and Mark III*, the Mark II* was a transitional model designed to use the new simplified parts, but had backwards compatibility with the Mark II. The Mark III and Mark III* versions did away with the selector and had simplified parts like the Mark II*. The Mark III/2 introduced in 1952 was a conversion of the Mark III* with a new bracket, the post-war Mark III/2 and Mark III/3 remained in service until the late 1960s. A larger, heavier – at 57 kg –15 mm version and it could be fired in semi-automatic mode as well as fully automatic. It was introduced in British service in June 1940 and was used on the Light Tank Mk VIC, over 3,200 15mm Besa were manufactured until it was declared obsolete in 1949. It fired a 75 gram bullet from a 15×104mm cartridge with a velocity of 818.3 m/s at a rate of 450 rounds per minute. A few of the original ZB-60 guns were used by the SS although mostly with the ammunition of the MG 151/15
Besa machine gun
–
Besa machine gun
Besa machine gun
–
Vickers Light Tank AA MkI with 4 Besa machine guns
Besa machine gun
–
German
7.92 x 57mm Mauser ball ammunition dating from 1941. This ammunition could be used in the Besa if necessary
29.
Radfan
–
Radfan or the Radfan Hills is a region of the Republic of Yemen. In the 1960s, the area was part of a British protectorate of Dhala and was the site of fighting during the Aden Emergency. In 1964, local Qutaibi tribespeople attacked the British on the Aden to Mecca caravan route which passed through the nearby town Dhala. The tribespeople had traditionally collected tolls from passing caravans, but the implementation of the union of the Federation of South Arabia in 1962 put a stop to this. The tribespeople resented the loss of this income, the highest peak is Jebel Huriyah at 1867m. Radfan page at The History of British Military Conflicts since 1945 Tracking the Red Wolves of Radfan, from 1964 through 1967
Radfan
–
Map of the Federation of South Arabia showing Radfan within Dhala
30.
Aden Emergency
–
The Aden Emergency, also known as the Radfan Uprising, was an insurgency against the British Crown forces in the British controlled territories of South Arabia which now form part of the Yemen. Partly inspired by Nassers pan Arab nationalism, it began on 14 October 1963 with the throwing of a grenade at a gathering of British officials at Aden Airport, a state of emergency was then declared in the British Crown colony of Aden and its hinterland, the Aden Protectorate. The emergency escalated in 1967 and hastened the end of British rule in the territory which had begun in 1839, on 30 November 1967, British forces withdrew and the independent Peoples Republic of South Yemen was proclaimed. Aden was originally of interest to Britain as a station to protect shipping on the routes to British India. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, it served as a coaling station. Following the independence of India in 1947, Aden became less important to the United Kingdom, the grenade killed a woman and injured fifty other people. On that day, a state of emergency was declared in Aden, the NLF and FLOSY began a campaign against British forces in Aden, relying largely on grenade attacks. One such attack was carried out against RAF Khormaksar during a party, killing a girl. The guerrilla attacks largely focused on killing off-duty British officers and policemen, much of the violence was carried out in the Crater, the old Arab quarter of Aden. British forces attempted to intercept weapons being smuggled into the Crater by the NLF and FLOSY on the Dhala road, despite taking a toll on British forces, the death toll among rebels was far higher, largely to inter-factional fighting among different rebel groups. In 1964 24th Infantry Brigade arrived to conduct land operations and it remained in Aden and the Aden Protectorate until November 1967. By 1965, the RAF station RAF Khormaksar was operating nine squadrons and these included transport units with helicopters and a number of Hawker Hunter fighter bomber aircraft. These were called in by the army for strikes against rebel positions in which they would use 60-pounder high explosive rockets, on 19–20 January 1967, the NLF provoked street riots in Aden. After the Aden police lost control, British High Commissioner Sir Richard Turnbull deployed British troops to crush the riots, as soon as the NLF riots were crushed, pro-FLOSY rioters took to the streets. Fighting between British forces and pro-guerrilla rioters lasted into February, the emergency was further exacerbated by the Six-Day War in June 1967. The mutineers killed 22 British soldiers and shot down a helicopter, and as a result and this is recorded in From Barren Rocks to Living Stones. Following the mutiny, all British forces were withdrawn from the Crater, while Royal Marines of 45 Commando took up sniping positions on the high ground, however, the Crater remained occupied by an estimated 400 Arab fighters. NLF and FLOSY fighters then took to the streets and engaged in gun battles, while arson, looting, British forces blocked off the two main entrances to the Crater
Aden Emergency
–
Aden in 1965
Aden Emergency
–
The location of the Aden Protectorate
Aden Emergency
–
Street riots in Aden
Aden Emergency
–
Armoured cars of the Queens Dragoon Guards in Aden 1967
31.
L7 (machine gun)
–
The FN MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries, and it has made under licence in several countries, including Argentina, Canada, Egypt, India. The weapons name is an abbreviation for Mitrailleuse dAppui Général, meaning general-purpose machine gun, the MAG Model 60-20 is an automatic, air-cooled, gas-operated machine gun, firing belt-fed 7. 62×51mm NATO from an open bolt. The MAG uses ignited powder gases vented through a port in the barrel to propel a gas piston rod connected to the locking assembly, the barrel breech is locked with a vertically tilting, downward locking lever mechanism that is connected to the bolt carrier through an articulated joint. The locking shoulder and camming surfaces that guide the locking lever are located at the base of the receiver, the MAG fires from an open bolt. Both the spring-powered extractor and ejector are contained in the bolt, after firing, spent cartridge casings are removed through an ejection port located at the base of the receiver. The machine gun has a firing mechanism, an automatic-only trigger assembly and a manual cross-bolt push-button safety. With the safety placed in the setting, the sear mechanism is disabled. The safety can only be engaged with the weapon cocked, the MAG features a pawl-type feeding mechanism that continues to move the feed link during both the rearward and forward cycles of the reciprocating bolt carrier, producing a smooth belt flow. The feeding mechanisms three pawls are actuated by a roller connected to the bolt carrier, the feed channel rail, feed link, both feed slides and the feed tray are chrome plated. The top cover body is an aluminum casting. In the infantry role, the weapon can be fitted with a sheet metal container that houses a 50-round belt and is attached to the left side of the receiver. The quick-change barrel has a flash suppressor. The barrels chamber and bore are chromium-lined and the barrel has four grooves with a 305 mm rifling twist rate. Also attached to the barrel is the front sight base, carry handle, the machine gun is fitted with a folding bipod that can be adjusted for height. For carrying or use as a forearm, the legs can be folded back and secured in slots under the receiver by hooks. When firing from the hip, the legs remain extended. The bipod can be removed from the gas cylinder by tapping-out a roll pin in the gas cylinder head until it is flush, the rear sight is hinged to a base with protective ears that is integral with the receivers upper forging
L7 (machine gun)
–
FN MAG fitted with the
C79 optical sight.
L7 (machine gun)
–
A
U.S. Marine firing the British L7A2 version of the MAG.
L7 (machine gun)
–
An FN MAG mounted on a
Eurocopter EC 725 Cougar MkII at the 2007
Paris Air Show held at
Le Bourget airport.
L7 (machine gun)
–
"L7A1" and "L7A2" redirect here. For the tank gun, see
Royal Ordnance L7.
32.
Bristol Scout
–
Like similar fast, light aircraft of the period it was used by the RNAS and the RFC as a scout, or fast reconnaissance type. Single-seat fighters continued to be called scouts in British usage into the early 1920s.3 seaplane, the design was initially given the works number SN. The wing section was one designed by Coanda which had used for the wings of the Bristol Coanda Biplanes. It was powered by an 80 hp Gnome Lambda rotary engine enclosed in a cowling that had no open frontal area and it had a rectangular balanced rudder with no fixed fin and split elevators attached to a non-lifting horizontal stabiliser. The fixed horizontal tail surfaces were outlined in steel tube with wooden ribs, the first flight was made at Larkhill on 23 February 1914 by Busteed and it was then exhibited at the March 1914 Aero Show at Olympia in London. These were rigged with a dihedral of 1 3⁄4°. Other changes included a larger rudder, a new open-fronted cowling with six external stiffening ribs distributed in symmetrically uneven angles around the cowls sides and fabric panel-covered wheels. It was evaluated by the British military on 14 May 1914 at Farnborough, when, flown by Busteed, by this time two more examples were under construction and the prototype was sold to Lord Carbery for £400 without its engine. Carbury managed to land alongside a ship and escaped but the aircraft was lost, completed shortly after the outbreak of war in August 1914, they were requisitioned by the War Office. Given Royal Flying Corps serial numbers 644 and 648, one was allocated to No.3 Squadron, number 644 was damaged beyond repair on 12 November 1914 in a crash landing. Impressed by the performance of the aircraft, the War Office ordered twelve examples on 5 November and these began with the arming of the second Scout B, RFC number 648, with two rifles, one each side, aimed outwards and forwards to clear the propeller arc. The type of bullet-deflecting wedges that Roland Garros had tried on his Morane-Saulnier Type N monoplane were also tried on one of the RFCs last Scout Cs, an RNAS Scout was the first landplane to be flown from a ship, when Flt. Lt. H. F. Towler flew No.1255 from the deck of the seaplane carrier HMS Vindex on 3 November 1915. Lt. C. T. Freeman flew a Scout from the deck of Vindex and attacked Zeppelin L17 with Ranken Darts. None of the darts did any damage to the Zeppelin, and since Freemans aircraft could not land on the Vindex and was too far from land for a safe return, six other Scouts, late Scout Cs and early Scout Ds, were also fitted with the same combination. Types using this all had the gun mounted on the port side of the fuselage.2 single-seat Pusher configuration fighter. A small number of Bristol Scouts were sent to the Middle East in 1916, others served in Macedonia and with the RNAS in the Eastern Mediterranean. The last known Bristol Scout in military service was the former RNAS Scout D No.8978 in Australia, once the Bristol Scouts were no longer required for frontline service they were reallocated to training units, although many were retained by senior officers as personal runabouts
Bristol Scout
–
Bristol Scout
Bristol Scout
–
Bristol Scout prototype at the 1914 Olympia Aero Show
Bristol Scout
–
The revised Bristol Scout A in the late spring of 1914.
Bristol Scout
–
The second Scout B produced (s/n 648) before guns were fitted.
33.
Synchronization gear
–
The idea presupposes a fixed armament directed by aiming the aircraft in which it is fitted at the target, rather than aiming the gun independently. However, the first practical gear to enter service was that fitted to the Eindecker monoplane fighters. The success of the Eindecker led to numerous gun synchronization devices, from 1918 to the mid-1930s the standard armament for a fighter aircraft remained two synchronized rifle calibre machine guns, firing forward through the propeller. During the late 1930s, however, the role of the fighter was increasingly seen as the destruction of large, all-metal bombers. There were in fact some advantages in dispensing with centrally mounted guns altogether, nevertheless, the conclusive redundancy of synchronization gears did not finally come until the introduction of jet propulsion and the absence of a propeller for guns to be synchronized with. From the beginnings of practical flight possible military uses for aircraft were considered, thus aerial combat was by no means entirely unanticipated, and the machine gun was from the first seen as the most likely weapon to be used. It is likely that an aircraft which is capable of shooting at a machine will have the advantage. The most suitable weapon is a light, air-cooled machine-gun, the idea of coupling the firing mechanism to the propellers rotation is an affectation. The objection is the same as to any gun position which is fixed along the axis of the aircraft. Under certain circumstances this is highly undesirable, a mechanism to enable an automatic weapon to fire between the blades of a whirling propeller is usually called an interrupter or synchronizer gear. Both these terms are more or less misleading, at least in so far as explaining what happens when the gear functions. The term interrupter implies that the gear pauses, or interrupts the fire of the gun at the point where one of the blades of the passes in front of its muzzle. The difficulty is that even the relatively slowly revolving propellers of First World War aircraft typically turned twice or even three times for each shot a contemporary machine gun could fire. A two-bladed propeller would therefore obstruct the gun six times every firing cycle of the gun, a four-bladed one twelve times. Another way of putting this is that a gun would have been blocked more than forty times every second. And yet, synchronization, in the sense of the word. Even if it were feasible to pick a point on an aircraft engines tachometer at which a machine guns cyclic rate would permit it to fire through the propeller – this would be very limiting. In practice it was found that it was necessary for the gun to be fired in semi-automatic mode, at each revolution of the propeller a firing impulse was transmitted to the gun, which effectively pulled the trigger, to fire a single shot
Synchronization gear
–
The synchronization gear of a
Messerschmitt Bf 109 E is adjusted (January 1941). A wooden disk attached to the propeller is used to indicate where each round passes through the propeller arc.
Synchronization gear
–
Drawing from Euler's 1910 patent for a fixed forward-firing machine gun
Synchronization gear
Synchronization gear
34.
Biplane
–
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, while a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a similar unbraced or cantilever monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and the quest for greater speed made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s. Biplanes offer several advantages over conventional cantilever monoplane designs, they permit lighter wing structures, low wing loading, however, interference between the airflow over each wing increases drag substantially, and biplanes generally need extensive bracing, which causes additional drag. Biplanes are distinguished from tandem wing arrangements, where the wings are placed forward and aft, instead of above, the term is also occasionally used in biology, to describe the wings of some flying animals. In a biplane aircraft, two wings are placed one above the other, either or both of the main wings can support ailerons, while flaps are more usually positioned on the lower wing. Bracing is nearly always added between the upper and lower wings, in the form of wires and/or slender interplane struts positioned symmetrically on either side of the fuselage. The primary advantage of the biplane over the traditional single plane or monoplane is to combine great stiffness with light weight. A braced monoplane wing must support itself fully, while the two wings of a help to stiffen each other. The biplane is therefore inherently stiffer than the monoplane, also, the structural forces in the spars of a biplane wing tend to be lower, so the wing can use less material to obtain the same overall strength and is therefore much lighter. A disadvantage of the biplane was the need for extra struts to space the wings apart, the low power supplied by the engines available in the first years of aviation meant that aeroplanes could only fly slowly. This required an even lower stalling speed, which in turn required a low wing loading, combining both large wing area with light weight. A biplane wing of a span and chord has twice the area of a monoplane the same size and so can fly more slowly. Alternatively, a wing of the same area as a monoplane has lower span and chord, reducing the structural forces. Biplanes suffer aerodynamic interference between the two planes and this means that a biplane does not in practice obtain twice the lift of the similarly-sized monoplane. The farther apart the wings are spaced the less the interference, given the slow speed and low power of early aircraft, the drag penalty of the wires and struts and the mutual interference of airflows were relatively minor and acceptable factors. The smaller biplane wing also allows greater maneuverability, during World War One, this further enhanced the dominance of the biplane and, despite the need for speed, military aircraft were among the last to abandon the biplane form. Specialist sports Aerobatic biplanes are still occasionally made, biplanes were originally designed with the wings positioned directly one above the other
Biplane
–
Reproduction of a
Sopwith Camel biplane.
Biplane
–
The
Antonov An-2 is the largest single-engine biplane design and has the longest production history of any aircraft, except for the
C 130.
Biplane
–
Biplane hang glider under tow. Philadelphia, USA, 1920s.
Biplane
–
Zeppelin-Lindau D.I strutless biplane
35.
Vickers F.B.5
–
The Vickers F. B.5 was a British two-seat pusher military biplane of the First World War. Vickers began experimenting with the concept of an armed warplane designed to other aircraft in 1912. The first resulting aircraft was the Destroyer which was shown at the Olympia Aero Show in February 1913 and this aircraft was of the Farman pusher layout, to avoid the problem of firing through a tractor propeller, and was armed with a single belt-fed Vickers gun. The E. F. B.1 was the first in a line of Vickers Experimental Fighting Biplanes, of which the F. B.5 was the most famous, and the first to be built in quantity. While the Destroyer was a failure, Vickers continued to pursue the development of armed pusher biplanes, and their designer Archibald Low drew up a new design, the unequal-span wings were unstaggered, with lateral control by wing warping, while the aircraft had a large semi-circular tailplane. Armament remained a single Vickers gun mounted in the nose of the nacelle, with limited movement possible, the E. F. B.2 made its first flight at Brooklands on 26 November 1913. The belt-fed machine gun proved problematic, and the weapon was changed to the lighter, handier, the F. B.5 first flew on 17 July 1914. It was powered by a single 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape nine-cylinder rotary engine driving a propeller, and was of simple, clean. In total,224 F. B. 5s were produced,119 in Britain by Vickers,99 in France, the Vickers F. B.6 was a development of the F. B.5 with an increased span on the upper wing. A further development of the F. B.5, the Vickers F. B.9, had a streamlined nacelle. Fifty were delivered to Royal Flying Corps training units, a few served in some F. E. 2b squadrons while they were waiting for their new aircraft between late 1915 and early 1916. The first F. B.5 was delivered to No.6 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps at Netheravon in November 1914. Eighteen days later, the flight crew, Second Lieutenants M. R. Chidson and D. C. W. Sanders, flying the first F. B.5 in France. 1621, were forced to land behind German lines, and the new plane fell into enemy hands, the F. B.5 began to be seen on the Western Front when the first examples reached No.2 Squadron RFC on 5 February 1915. Insall of 11 Squadron won the Victoria Cross for an action on 7 November 1915 in which he destroyed a German aircraft while flying a Gunbus, No.18 Squadron RFC, which deployed to France in November 1915, also operated the F. B.5 exclusively. Early aircraft were fitted with British-built Monosoupapes, which proved less reliable than French-built engines and this can be illustrated by noting that only the single pilot/observer team of Lionel Rees and James McKinley Hargreaves became aces while flying this type. By the end of 1915, the aircraft was outclassed by the Fokker Eindecker. Examples of the improved Vickers F. B.9 were sent to France, pending sufficient supplies of the Royal Aircraft Factory F. E. 2b, the remaining examples were mostly used as trainers
Vickers F.B.5
–
Vickers F.B 5 "Gun Bus"
Vickers F.B.5
–
The sole F.B.6 shows off its overhang.
Vickers F.B.5
–
The F.B.6
Vickers F.B.5
36.
Military aircraft
–
A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat, Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equipment using their own aircraft ordnance, Combat aircraft are normally developed and procured only by military forces. Non-combat aircraft are not designed for combat as their primary function and these mainly operate in support roles, and may be developed by either military forces or civilian organizations. In 1783, when the first practical aircraft were established, they were adopted for military duties. The main role of fighters is destroying enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat, many are fast and highly maneuverable. Escorting bombers or other aircraft is also a common task and they are capable of carrying a variety of weapons, including machine guns, cannons, rockets and guided missiles. Many modern fighters can attack enemy fighters from a great distance, examples of air superiority fighters include the F-22 Raptor. World War II fighters include the British Spitfire, the American P-51 Mustang, an example of an interceptor would be the MiG-25. An example of a fighter is the Messerschmitt Bf 110. The term fighter is also applied to aircraft that have little air-to-air combat capability – for example the A-10 ground-attack aircraft is operated by USAF Fighter squadrons. Bombers are normally larger, heavier, and less maneuverable than fighter aircraft and they are capable of carrying large payloads of bombs, torpedoes or cruise missiles. Bombers are used almost exclusively for ground attacks and not fast or agile enough to take on enemy fighters head-to-head, a few have a single engine and require one pilot to operate and others have two or more engines and require crews of two or more. A limited number of bombers, such as the B-2 Spirit, have stealth capabilities that keep them from being detected by enemy radar, an example of a conventional modern bomber would be the B-52 Stratofortress. An example of a World War II bomber would be a B-17 Flying Fortress, bombers include light bombers, medium bombers, heavy bombers, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers. The U. S. Navy and Marines have traditionally referred to their light, attack aircraft can be used to provide support for friendly ground troops. Some are able to carry conventional or nuclear weapons far behind enemy lines to strike priority ground targets, attack helicopters attack enemy armor and provide close air support for ground troops. An example historical ground-attack aircraft is the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik, several types of transport airplanes have been armed with sideways firing weapons as gunships for ground attack. These include the AC-47 and AC-130 aircraft, in modern air forces the distinction between bombers, fighter-bombers, and attack aircraft has become blurred
Military aircraft
–
United States Navy
Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft fly in formation as they wait their turn for refueling during
Operation Desert Storm in 1991
Military aircraft
–
A German
MiG-29 firing an air-to-air missile.
Military aircraft
–
A
USAAF B-29 Superfortress.
Military aircraft
–
An
A-10 Thunderbolt II firing an
AGM-65.
37.
Propeller (aircraft)
–
An aircraft propeller or airscrew converts rotary motion from an engine or other mechanical power source, to provide propulsive force. It comprises a rotating hub, to which are attached several radial airfoil-section blades such that the whole assembly rotates about a longitudinal axis. The blade pitch may be fixed, manually variable to a few set positions, the propeller attaches to the power sources driveshaft either directly or, especially on larger designs, through reduction gearing. Most early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood, more recently, composite materials are becoming increasingly used. The earliest references for vertical flight came from China, since around 400 BC, Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys. This bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to a rotor between ones hands, the spinning creates lift, and the toy flies when released. The 4th-century AD Daoist book Baopuzi by Ge Hong reportedly describes some of the ideas inherent to rotary wing aircraft, designs similar to the Chinese helicopter toy appeared in Renaissance paintings and other works. It was not until the early 1480s, when Leonardo da Vinci created a design for a machine that could be described as an aerial screw, that any recorded advancement was made towards vertical flight. His notes suggested that he built flying models, but there were no indications for any provision to stop the rotor from making the craft rotate. As scientific knowledge increased and became accepted, men continued to pursue the idea of vertical flight. Many of these models and machines would more closely resemble the ancient bamboo flying top with spinning wings. In July 1754, Russian Mikhail Lomonosov had developed a small coaxial modeled after the Chinese top but powered by a spring device. It was powered by a spring, and was suggested as a method to lift meteorological instruments, a dirigible airship was described by Jean Baptiste Marie Meusnier presented in 1783. The drawings depict a 260-foot-long streamlined envelope with internal ballonnets that could be used for regulating lift, the airship was designed to be driven by three propellers. In 1784 Jean-Pierre Blanchard fitted a hand-powered propeller to a balloon, sir George Cayley, influenced by a childhood fascination with the Chinese flying top, developed a model of feathers, similar to that of Launoy and Bienvenu, but powered by rubber bands. By the end of the century, he had progressed to using sheets of tin for rotor blades and his writings on his experiments and models would become influential on future aviation pioneers. William Bland sent designs for his Atmotic Airship to the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851 and this was an elongated balloon with a steam engine driving twin propellers suspended underneath. Alphonse Pénaud developed coaxial rotor model helicopter toys in 1870, also powered by rubber bands, in 1872 Dupuy de Lome launched a large navigable balloon, which was driven by a large propeller turned by eight men
Propeller (aircraft)
–
The feathered propellers of an
RAF Hercules C.4
Propeller (aircraft)
–
The three-bladed propeller of a light aircraft: the
Vans RV-7A
Propeller (aircraft)
–
Cut-away view of a
Hamilton Standard propeller. This type of propeller was used on many American fighters, bombers and transport aircraft of
World War II
Propeller (aircraft)
–
Feathered propeller on the outboard
TP400 turboprop of an
Airbus A400M
38.
Sopwith Camel
–
The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It had been developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the earlier Sopwith Pup, the Camel was powered by a single rotary engine and was armed with twin synchronized machine guns. Though proving difficult to handle, it provided for a level of manoeuvrability to an experienced pilot. In total, Camel pilots have been credited with the shooting down of 1,294 enemy aircraft, the Camel also saw use as a two-seat trainer aircraft. In January 1920, the last aircraft of the type were withdrawn from RAF service and it was recognised that the new fighter would need to be faster and have a heavier armament. The design effort to produce this successor, initially designated as the Sopwith F.1, was headed by Sopwiths chief designer, early in its development, the new aircraft was simply referred to as the Big Pup. A metal fairing over the gun breeches, intended to protect the guns from freezing at altitude, however, the Camel name never had any official status in regards to the aircraft. On 22 December 1916, the prototype Camel was first flown by Harry Hawker at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, in May 1917, the first production contract for an initial batch of 250 Camels was issued by the British War Office. Throughout 1917, a total of 1,325 Camels were manufactured, by the time that production of the type came to an end, approximately 5,490 Camels of all types had been built. In early 1918, production of the navalised Ships Camel 2F.1 began, while possessing some clear similarities with the Pup, it was furnished with a noticeably bulkier fuselage. In addition to the guns, a total of four Cooper bombs could be carried for ground attack purposes. The upper wing featured a central section for the purpose of providing improved upwards visibility for the pilot. Production Camels were powered by various engines, most commonly either the Clerget 9B or the Bentley BR1. In order to evade a potential manufacturing bottleneck being imposed upon the aircraft in the event of an engine shortage. Unlike the preceding Pup and Triplane, the Camel was considered to be difficult to fly, the Camel soon gained an unfortunate reputation with pilots. Many inexperienced pilots would crash on take-off when the fuel load usually carried pushed the aircrafts centre of gravity beyond the rearmost safe limits. When in level flight, the Camel was markedly tail-heavy, the aircraft could be rigged so that at higher altitudes it could be flown hands off. A stall immediately resulted in a dangerous spin, at length, with the assistance of Lieut Morgan, who managed our workshops, I took the main tank out of several Camels and replaced with a smaller one, which enabled us to fit in dual control
Sopwith Camel
–
Camel
Sopwith Camel
–
Replica Sopwith Camel showing internal structure
Sopwith Camel
–
Harry Cobby sitting in the cockpit of a Sopwith Camel
Sopwith Camel
–
Camels being prepared for a sortie.
39.
SPAD XIII
–
The SPAD S. XIII was a French biplane fighter aircraft of World War I, developed by Société Pour LAviation et ses Dérivés from the earlier highly successful SPAD S. VII. It was one of the most capable fighters of the war, the SPAD S. VII was a single-seat fighter aircraft powered by a 150 horsepower Hispano-Suiza 8A water cooled V-8 engine and armed with a single synchronised Vickers machine gun. It demonstrated excellent performance for the time, and entered service with the French Aéronautique Militaire in August 1916, First to fly was the S. XII, armed with a 37 mm cannon firing through the propeller shaft. This saw limited use, but was followed into production by the conventionally armed S. XIII. The S. XIII was of similar layout to the S. VII, i. e. a single engined biplane of wooden construction with fabric covering. It was armed with two Vickers machine guns with 400 rounds per gun, replacing the gun of the earlier aircraft. The powerplant was a geared Hispano-Suiza engine, at first a 8Ba providing 200 hp, the sum of these improvements was a notable improvement in flight and combat performance. While giving the Spad XIII outstanding performance, the engines proved to be unreliable. This significantly and severely affected serviceability, with it being stated in November 1917, even in April 1918, an official report stated that two-thirds of the 200 hp SPADs were out of use at any one time due to engine problems. By the end of the war about one half of the aircraft in US service had been converted, the SPAD S. XIII first flew on 4 April 1917, with deliveries to the French Air Service starting in the next month. The new fighter played an important part in the French plans for its force, being expected to replace the SPAD S. VII. Deliveries were much slower than expected, however, with 764 delivered by the end of March 1918 compared with a planned 2,230, the S. XIII eventually equipped virtually every French fighter squadron,74 Escadrilles using the SPAD during the First World War. Other Allied forces were quick to adopt the new fighter as well, nearly half of the 893 purchased for the United States Army Air Service were still in service in 1920. After the war, it was exported to Japan, Poland. In the United States, some SPAD XIIIs were re-engined with 180 hp Wright-Hispano engines to improve reliability, the S. XIII was flown by famous French fighter pilots such as Georges Guynemer and Rene Fonck, and also by Italian ace Francesco Baracca. Aces of the United States Army Air Service who flew the Spad XIII include Eddie Rickenbacker, argentina Argentine Air Force - Two aircraft. Belgium Groupe de Chasse 10me Escadrille de Chasse Brazil Brazilian Air Force Czechoslovakia Czech Air Force - Postwar, finland Finnish Air Force - One aircraft. Siam Royal Siamese Air Force Kingdom of Spain Spanish Air Force Turkey Turkish Air Force United Kingdom Royal Flying CorpsNo,19 Squadron RFC - One aircraft No.23 Squadron RFC - December 1917—May 1918
SPAD XIII
–
S.XIII
SPAD XIII
SPAD XIII
–
The SPAD XIII flown by
Arizona native
Frank Luke, Jr., the first aviator awarded the
Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration in the United States, in
World War I.
SPAD XIII
–
SPAD XIII Georges Guynemer
40.
MG 08
–
The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG08, was the German Armys standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaptation of Hiram S. Maxims original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war, the MG08 served during World War II as a heavy machine gun in many German infantry divisions, although by the end of the war it had mostly been relegated to second-rate fortress units. The Maschinengewehr 08 —so-named after 1908, its year of adoption—was a development of the license made Maschinengewehr 01, the firing rate depends on the lock assembly used and averages 500 rounds per minute for the Schloss 08 and 600 rounds per minute for the Schloss 16. Using a separate attachment sight with range calculator for indirect fire, additional telescopic sights were also developed and used in quantity during the war. The MG08, like the Maxim gun, operated on the basis of short barrel recoil and its practical range was estimated at some 2,000 metres up to an extreme range of 3,600 metres. The MG08 was mounted on a mount that was ferried between locations either on carts or else carried above mens shoulders in the manner of a stretcher. Pre-war production was by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken in Berlin and by the government Spandau arsenal, when the war began in August 1914, approximately 12,000 MG 08s were available to battlefield units, production, at numerous factories, was however markedly ramped up during wartime. It also had a range of round about 2-4,000 yards.5 millimeters — was tested as a prototype in 1915 by a team of weapon designers under the direction of an Oberst Friedrich von Merkatz—the MG 08/15. The MG 08/15 had been designed to be manned by four trained infantrymen spread on the ground around the gun, to accomplish that purpose, the MG 08/15 featured a short bipod rather than a heavy four-legged sled mount, plus a wooden gunstock and a pistol grip. At 18 kg, the MG 08/15 was lighter and less cumbersome than the standard MG08 and it nevertheless remained a bulky water-cooled weapon that was quite demanding on the quality and training of its crews. Accurate fire was difficult to achieve and usually in short bursts only and it was first introduced in battle during the French Chemin des Dames offensive in April 1917, where it contributed to the very high casualty count among the French assailants. Its deployment in large numbers with all front line infantry regiments continued in 1917 and during the German offensives of the spring. The MG 08/15 became, by far, the most common German machine gun deployed in World War I since it reached a full allocation of six guns per company or 72 guns per regiment in 1918. By that time, there were four times as many MG 08/15 light machine guns than heavy MG08 machine guns in each infantry regiment. To attain this goal, about 130,000 MG 08/15 had to be manufactured during World War I, most of them by the Spandau and Erfurt government arsenals. An air-cooled and thus water-free and lighter version of the MG 08/15, the MG 08/18s barrel was heavier and it could not be quick-changed, thus overheating was inevitably a problem. The word 08/15 lives on as an idiom in colloquial German, 08/15, being used today as an adjective to denote something totally ordinary. However, this is one of possible origins of the idiom. I through the E. III production versions of the Fokker Eindecker
MG 08
–
MG 08 on a sledge mount w/muzzle booster fitted
MG 08
–
The later vintage (1916-onward) MG 08/15
MG 08
–
Two sideviews of the original water-cooled MG 08 infantry version
MG 08
–
Sideview of the earliest version of the lMG 08 aircraft machine gun, with the overly-slotted cooling barrel that made it a physically fragile weapon in front-line use.
41.
M1919 Browning machine gun
–
The M1919 Browning is a.30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as an infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft. Many M1919s were rechambered for the new 7. 62×51mm NATO round, the M1919 was an air-cooled development of the standard US machine gun of World War I, the John M. Browning-designed water-cooled M1917. The emergence of machine guns in the 1950s pushed the M1919 into secondary roles in many cases. The United States Navy also converted many to 7. 62mm NATO, many NATO countries also converted their examples to 7.62, and these remained in service well into the 1990s, as well as up to the present day in some countries. A similar conversion of the M1917 also produced the larger M2 Machine Gun, using the basic operating principles and layout. The M1919 is distinguished by its size and the use of a pierced cheese-grater-like guard around the barrel used on most versions. The M1919 originally fired the.30 cal M1906 ball cartridge, a metal M1 link was later adopted, forming a disintegrating belt. The cocking handle was pulled back with the palm of the hand facing up. This advanced the first round of the belt in front of the bolt for the extractor/ejector on the bolt to grab the first cartridge, the cocking handle was pulled and released a second time. This removed the first cartridge from the belt, advanced the next round into position to be grabbed and moved the first round down into the chamber of the ready for firing. As the bolt went into battery, the extractor grabbed the next round on the belt that was advanced and was resting in the feedway waiting to be loaded. If the trigger was held down, the gun would continue to fire in full automatic, the guns original design was as a water-cooled machine gun. When it was decided to try to lighten the gun and make it air-cooled, gunners were trained to manage the barrel heat by firing in controlled bursts of three to five rounds, with a delay between bursts to delay its heating. When the gun was ready to fire, a round would be in the chamber and the bolt and barrel group would be locked together, with the locking block at the rear of the bolt. As the assembly of bolt, barrel and barrel extension recoiled to the rear of the gun upon firing, the recoiling barrel extension struck the accelerator assembly, a half-moon shaped spring-loaded piece of metal pivoting from the receiver below the bolt and behind the barrel extension. The tips of the accelerators two curving fingers engaged the bottom of the bolt and caused it to move rapidly to the rear. The extractor-ejector was a mechanism that pivoted over the front of the bolt, the rearward movement of the bolt caused the rear end of the feed lever to pull to the right, causing the feeding pawl at the other end to move left over the belt
M1919 Browning machine gun
–
US soldiers fire a M1919A4 in
Aachen
M1919 Browning machine gun
–
Two
Marines with a M1919A4 on
Namur Island during
World War II
M1919 Browning machine gun
–
A US soldier takes aim with a tripod-mounted M1919A4 in Korea, 1953
M1919 Browning machine gun
–
American GIs with the M1919A6 light machine gun
42.
Gloster Gladiator
–
The Gloster Gladiator is a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm and was exported to a number of air forces during the late 1930s. It was the RAFs last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced, though often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat. The Gladiator saw action in almost all theatres during the Second World War, with a number of air forces. The RAF used it in France, Norway, Greece, the defence of Malta, the Middle East, the South African pilot Marmaduke Pat Pattle was the top Gladiator ace with 15 victories. However, the Goshawk engine proved to be unreliable and unsuited to use on fighter aircraft, a further stumbling point for many of the submitted designs was the placement of the machine gun breeches in arms reach of the pilot. At the same time, the development of fighters such as the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire cast doubt over the future viability of the requirement altogether. Gloster recognised that, instead of developing a design from scratch. Development of what would become the Gladiator began as a venture, internally designated as the SS.37. Folland soon identified various changes to increase the aircrafts suitability to conform with the demands of the specification. The Bristol Mercury M. E.30 radial engine, capable of generating 700 hp of thrust, was selected to power the SS.37, another design choice was the fitting of a cantilever main undercarriage which incorporated Dowty internally-sprung wheel struts. In Spring 1934, Gloster embarked on the construction of a single SS.37 prototype, on 12 September 1934, the SS.37 prototype conducted its maiden flight, piloted by Gloster chief test pilot Gerry Sayer. Initially powered by a 530 hp Mercury IV engine, the prototype was quickly reequipped with a more powerful 645 hp Mercury VIS engine, during flight tests, the prototype attained a top speed of 242 mph while carrying the required four.303 in machine guns. On 3 April 1935, the prototype was transferred to the Royal Air Force, receiving the designation K5200, K5200 was later used to trial modifications for production aircraft, such as the addition of a sliding hood for the pilot. In June 1935, production plans for the aircraft were proposed and this culminated in an initial order for 23 aircraft. On 1 July 1935, the aircraft received the name Gladiator. Manufacturing of the Gladiator was started at Glosters Hucclecote facility, production of the initial batch was performed simultaneously, leading to many aircraft being completed around the same time. On 16 February 1937, K6129, the first production Gladiator, was accepted by the RAF, on 4 March 1937, K6151
Gloster Gladiator
–
Gladiator Sea Gladiator
Gloster Gladiator
–
Gloster Gladiator I at
Shuttleworth Airshow, 2010
Gloster Gladiator
–
The first prototype Gladiator, with Gauntlet fuselage, G-7, later K5200. April 1935
Gloster Gladiator
–
NoAAS Gloster Gladiator 423 in 1938–1940
43.
Fairey Swordfish
–
The Fairey Swordfish was a biplane torpedo bomber designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was initially operated primarily as an attack aircraft, during its later years. The type was in service throughout the entirety of the Second World War. By the end of the war, the Swordfish held the distinction of having caused the destruction of a tonnage of Axis shipping than any other Allied aircraft. The Swordfish remained in service until V-E Day, having outlived multiple aircraft that had been intended to replace it in service. Receiving the internal designation of T. S. R, I, standing for Torpedo-Spotter-Reconnaissance I, the proposed design adopted a biplane configuration and a single 645 hp Bristol Pegasus IIM radial engine as its powerplant. The company chose to pursue development of the project as a self-financed private venture while both customers and applicable requirements for the type were sought. I was in parallel to Faireys activities upon Air Ministry Specification S, Fairey promptly informed the Air Ministry of their work on the Greek order, whose interest had eventually waned, and proposed its solution to the requirements for a spotter-reconnaissance plane. In 1934, the Air Ministry issued the more advanced Specification S. 15/33, on 21 March 1933, the prototype T. S. R. I, F1875, conducted its maiden flight from Great West Aerodrome, Heathrow, on 11 September 1933, F1875 was lost during a series of spinning tests in which it became unable to recover, the pilot survived the incident. On 17 April 1934, the prototype T. S. R II, K4190, performed its maiden flight, following successful water-handling trials, K4190 conducted a series of aircraft catapult and recovery tests aboard the battlecruiser HMS Repulse. K4190 was later restored to its wheeled undercarriage prior to an evaluation process by the Aeroplane. All three pre-production aircraft were powered by the Pegasus IIIM3 engine, but adopted a three-bladed Fairey-Reed propeller in place of the two-bladed counterpart used on the earlier prototype, on 31 December 1935, the first pre-production Swordfish, K5660, made its maiden flight. In early 1936, a production contract for 68 Swordfish aircraft was received, designated at the Swordfish I. Manufactured at Faireys factory in Hayes, West London, the first production aircraft was completed in early 1936, less than a year later, the first Blackburn-built Swordfish conducted its first flight. During 1941, Blackburns Sherburn factory assumed primary responsibility for the fuselage, along with final assembly, like many other wartime aircraft, efforts were made to disperse production and to employ the use of shadow factories to minimise the damage caused by Luftwaffe bombing raids. Major sub-assemblies for the Swordfish were produced by a total of four based in neighbouring Leeds. The Swordfish II carried ASV Mk. II radar and featured metal undersurfaces to the wings to allow the carriage of 3 rockets
Fairey Swordfish
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Swordfish
Fairey Swordfish
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A Fairey Swordfish floatplane being hoisted aboard the battleship
HMS Malaya in October 1941
Fairey Swordfish
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Swordfish torpedo bombers on the after deck of HMS Victorious (24 May 1941). On 25 May, nine Swordfish from Victorious attacked the Bismark
Fairey Swordfish
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RAF, 119 Squadron Swordfish being loaded with 250lb General Purpose bombs, Knokke le Zoute (
Knokke-Heist), Belgium (1944-1945)
44.
Vickers K machine gun
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The high rate of fire was needed for the small period of time when the gunner would be able to fire at an attacking aircraft. The weapon was adopted for land use during World War II. The Vickers K was a development of the Vickers-Berthier light machine gun, the VB, like the Bren light machine gun, used a tilting locking breechblock. However, unlike the Bren, the VB locked its breech only at the last moment of forward travel and this enabled the development of the Vickers K also known as the Vickers Gas Operated or Vickers GO. With lighter moving parts and the VB locking design, the Vickers K had a rate of fire between 950 and 1,200 rounds per minute, faster than the German MG34. The weapon was adopted for British service as the VGO and it was test-flown with a large 300-round pan magazine, and beat the.303 Browning in reliability. However, the pan would have caused problems to accommodate. When the belt-fed Browning Mark II was selected as the standard armament for RAF aircraft. It continued to be used by the Fleet Air Arm until 1945, some were made in 7. 7mm for the Belgians before the war and at least one example survives in a European museum. The Vickers class K/Vickers G. O. machine gun is a gas operated weapon and its gas cylinder is located below the barrel, and a long stroke gas piston operates a vertically tilting bolt. Feed is from top-mounted flat pan magazines with a capacity of 100 rounds. The gun is fitted with a spade grip at the rear of receiver. In ground use, it was mounted on single or twin pintle mounts on various jeeps. Originally intended for RAF airfield defence units, these guns were remanufactured from original Vickers G. O. No.1 Mk.1 aircraft guns, a number of these ‘Vickers G. O. Land Service’ machine guns found their way to a variety of British Commando, the Land variant has the spade grip replaced with a semi bullpup short stock at the rear and a pistol grip with trigger below the receiver. A short forend or a carrying handle are added below the gas cylinder. New iron sights are provided on folding bases, a camera gun version was made for training. The body was of cast metal, the grip and trigger mechanism were realistic
Vickers K machine gun
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Used on a
Fairey Battle light bomber
Vickers K machine gun
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SAS returning from a 1943 patrol in North Africa with their twin-mounted Vickers K machine guns.
45.
Vickers .50 machine gun
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The Vickers.50 machine gun, also known as the Vickers.50 was basically similar to the.303 inches Vickers machine gun but scaled up to use a larger-calibre 0. 5-inch round. It saw some use in tanks and other fighting vehicles, but was more commonly used as a close-in anti-aircraft weapon on Royal Navy and allied ships. The Vickers fired UK12. 7×81mm 50-calibre ammunition, not the better known US12. 7×99mm, Mark I was the development model. Mark II entered service in 1933 and was mounted in some British tanks, marks IV and V were improved versions and were also used mounted on trucks in the North Africa Campaign. It was superseded for use in armoured fighting vehicles during World War II by the 15 mm Besa, Mark III was a naval version used as an anti-aircraft weapon, mostly by the Royal Navy and allied navies in World War II, typically in mountings of 4 guns. It proved insufficiently powerful in the short-range anti-aircraft role against modern aircraft and was superseded during World War II by the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. The naval quad mount featured a 200-round magazine per barrel, which wrapped the ammunition belt around the magazine drum, the four-barrel mounting had its guns adjusted to provide a spread of fire, amounting to 60 feet wide and 50 feet high at 1,000 yards. Vickers claimed that it could fire all 800 rounds in 20 seconds, during the Second World War it was also mounted on power-operated turrets in smaller craft such as Motor Gun Boats and Motor Torpedo Boats. Browning M2 Pom-pom The Vickers Machine Gun Tony DiGiulian, British 0. 50/62 Mark III Anthony G Williams, THE.5 VICKERS GUNS AND AMMUNITION
Vickers .50 machine gun
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A Vickers.50 machine gun,
Polish Army Museum, Warsaw (2006)
Vickers .50 machine gun
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A four-gun, naval anti-aircraft mounting, on board the destroyer
HMS Vanity (1940)
46.
HMS London (69)
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HMS London, pennant number C69, was a member of the second group of the County-class heavy cruisers of the Royal Navy. HMS Londons career spanned over twenty years, London was laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard on 23 February 1926, and later launched on 14 September 1927 and commissioned on 31 January 1929. London served with the 1st Cruiser Squadron until March 1939, and was the flagship of Admiral Max Horton during his time in command of 1st Cruisers and her flag captain during this time was Henry Harwood. London and her sister ship Shropshire facilitated the evacuation of thousands of civilians from Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, from March 1939 she was under reconstruction at the Chatham Dockyard, and was much altered in appearance. Replacement of her machinery was considered, but later abandoned and she was given a new superstructure above the main deck and in many ways resembled a Crown Colony-class light cruiser. Her single 4-inch gun mounts were changed to twin mounts, and several 20mm AA guns, in addition, she was fitted with a 3½-inch cemented armoured belt,8 feet deep down from the main armoured deck which covered the machinery spaces. The reconstruction work was completed in March 1941. The refit was planned to be implemented to other ships of the County class, London was involved in the pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941. During this time at sea, many appeared in her upper deck and hull. She entered a shipyard on the River Tyne in October 1941 and was under repair until February 1942. London then spent from October 1941 to November 1942 in the North Atlantic on convoy duties in the company of several US Navy warships. This refit work successfully rectified her hull strength issues and was completed in May 1943, after sea trials and loading of ammunition, she was assigned to operate off the South African coast, and then to the Eastern Fleet for the rest of the war. Following the Second World War, and being the Royal Navys only modernised 8-inch gun cruiser, following the refit she sailed for the far east in 1946 and served there for the next three years on the China Station. In the spring of 1949 the frigate Amethyst became trapped by advancing Communist Chinese forces up the Yangtze River, London sailed up the river as a show of strength in an attempt to help free the frigate. The Communist forces were not intimidated and took the cruiser under fire, London returned fire with her 8-inch and 4-inch guns, firing several hundred rounds, but was hit several times. Her two forward 8-inch turrets and X turret aft were damaged and rendered inoperable, and her bridge sustained several hits, London retreated down river and returned to Hong Kong for repairs which lasted until the end of July. London remained in Chinese waters until August 1949, when she was relieved by HMS Kenya and she was retired to reserve in the River Fal until sold for scrapping in 1950. Chesneau, Roger, ed. Conways All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1922–1946, british Cruisers of World War Two
HMS London (69)
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History
HMS London (69)
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The gun crew of a.5-inch four barrelled
Vickers gun at their quarter on board HMS London. Note the long belts of ammunition hanging off the two men.
HMS London (69)
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HM King George VI meeting the officers of HMS London lined up on deck next to one of the cruiser's 8-inch gun turrets, part of the
Home Fleet at
Scapa Flow.
HMS London (69)
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A photo of HMS London in 1941.
47.
Motor Gun Boat
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Motor Gun Boat was a Royal Navy term for a small military vessel of the Second World War. Such boats were similar to Motor Torpedo Boats, but equipped with a mix of guns instead of torpedoes. Their small size and high speed made them targets for E-boats or torpedo bombers. The large number of guns meant the crew was relatively large, mGBs were extremely heavily armed for vessels of their size.303 Vickers machine guns on the bridge wings. They were also equipped with smoke-making equipment, basic radar and depth charges, in the early years of the war, they saw action defending shipping against enemy torpedo boats such as the German E-boats on the southern and eastern coasts of the UK. MGBs were also involved in the protection of shipping after D-Day, in the Mediterranean, they were used offensively to sink Italian and German shipping. They were formed into flotillas which often operated alongside Motor Torpedo Boats, after this campaign, they moved northwards and assisted with the invasion of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Elba. From island bases they patrolled along the western coast of Italy attacking small coastal ships, as Italy was progressively liberated, certain flotillas, such as the 56th, were sent around to the Adriatic to assist partisans in the islands off Yugoslavia. They did not take the prefix HMS as they were only boats, the crews generally referred to them by their numbers. In 1947, MGB2009 was fitted with a Metrovick gas turbine, later re-numbered MGB2009, this boat was subsequently fitted with a Metrovick gas turbine engine in 1947. Fairmile C motor gun boats were 110 ft long boats, the succeeding Fairmile D design could be fitted out either as MGB or MTB. The only fully restored and operational example of a Royal Navy Coastal Forces MGB which saw service in WW2 is MGB-81. She was built by British Power Boat Co Ltd, hythe, launched in 1942, and served at the Normandy landings
Motor Gun Boat
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MGB 314 during
World War II
Motor Gun Boat
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MGB 66 at speed with the crew at action stations, off the coast of Scotland
Motor Gun Boat
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The
gas turbine from MGB 2009 (formerly MGB 509)
Motor Gun Boat
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MGB-81 in
Beaulieu River
48.
Motor Torpedo Boat
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Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy. The motor in the designation, referring to the use of petrol engines, was to distinguish them from the majority of other naval craft that used steam turbines or reciprocating steam engines. The capitalised term is used for the Royal Navy boats. During the Second World War, the US Navy boats were called by their hull classification symbol of PT. German motor torpedo boats of the Second World War were called S-boote by the Kriegsmarine, Italian MTBs of this period were known as Motoscafo Armato Silurante. French MTBs were known as vedettes lance torpilles, soviet MTBs were known as торпедные катеры. After the end of the War in 1945, a number of the Royal Navys MTBs were stripped and the empty hulls sold for use as houseboats. MTBs were designed for speed, operating at night, low speed ambush and manoeuvrability on the water. With no significant armour, the boats relied upon surprise and their agility at high speed to avoid being hit by gunfire from bigger ships, the British and Italian navies started developing such vessels in the early 20th century, shortly before the beginning of the First World War. Italian MAS boats were small, at 20-30 tons displacement. MAS15 was the motor torpedo boat in history to sink a battleship. British torpedo boats of the First World War were small at only around 15 tons and were known as Coastal Motor Boats, in the Second World War, British MTBs were operated by Coastal Forces. A similar size boat with a different role in the Second World War was the BPB63 ft High Speed Launch used by the RAF, the last MTBs in the Royal Navy were the two Brave-class fast patrol boats of 1958 which were capable of 50 knots. Many boats were built with a MTB designation but varied substantially, a 55 footer capable of 40 knots was shown in 1930. The Vosper private boat was designed by Commander Peter Du Cane CBE and she was completed and launched in 1937. She was bought by the Admiralty and taken into service with the Royal Navy as MTB102. Length,68 ft Beam,19 ft 9 in Draft,3 ft 9 in, armament, Two 21 in torpedo tubes MTB102 was the fastest wartime British naval vessel in service. She was at Dunkirk for the evacuation and carried Winston Churchill and they were based on the British Power Boat rescue craft and were originally designed for the Royal Air Force but reduced to 60 ft in length
Motor Torpedo Boat
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MTBs returning from an anti-E-boat patrol, June 1944
Motor Torpedo Boat
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Israeli MTB formation, circa 1967
Motor Torpedo Boat
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MTBs in the Mediterranean, February 1945
49.
Light tanks of the United Kingdom
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The Light Tank Mark I to Mark V were a series of related designs of light tank produced by Vickers for the British Army during the interwar period. Between the First and Second World Wars, the British produced a series of light tanks. They saw use in training, and in limited engagements with British Empire units such as the South African Army during the East African Campaign of 1941, all were around 5 long tons in weight and capable of 30 mph on roads and around 20 mph cross-country. Suspension was Horstmann coil spring on bogies, the engine was a Meadows 6-cylinder petrol. Up until the Mk V, they were crewed by a driver/commander and gunner, the Mk V had a driver, a gunner and the commander helping on the gun. The various marks were produced in small numbers. The following designations in the sequence Light Tank Mk VII Tetrarch and Light Tank Mk VIII Harry Hopkins were produced by Vickers, the Carden-Loyd tankette became the infantry vehicle, at the same time Carden developed privately a number of light two-man tank designs. Cardens Mark VII design was accepted as a prototype for the Armys light tank, by that point Carden-Loyd was part of Vickers-Armstrong. Only a few of the first light tanks were built and although never issued per se gave useful information for subsequent development, the Mark VII was a small machine gun-armed vehicle with a 59 hp Meadows engine which gave it maximum speed of 35 mph. Suspension was two two-wheel leaf sprung bogies either side with a girder to give the suspension strength. Considered a reconnaissance vehicle and a machine gun position, the Mark VI was the final stage of development of the Carden Loyd series of tankettes. The Carden Loyd tankette was the prototype for the Universal Carrier, the Mark I differed in a few points from Cardens Mark VII tankette. The external suspension girder was dropped by strengthening the suspension at the hull supports, the bevelled turret was replaced by a cylindrical design but still carrying a single 0.303 Vickers machine gun. Giving it 14 mm basis of increased weight and dropped top speed to 30 mph. The Meadows engine drove the tracks though a gearbox to the front drive wheels. Steering was a combination of declutching the drive to one track, the track was tensioned by a rear idler—which being set at the same height as the drive sprocket was new in British tank designs—and returned over three rollers. The Mark IA had a superstructure and a larger turret to give room for operating the machine gun. Horstmann suspension with coil springs replaced the leaf springs of the Mark I
Light tanks of the United Kingdom
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Vickers light tanks cross the desert, 1940
Light tanks of the United Kingdom
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A Carden-Loyd tankette towing a howitzer.
Light tanks of the United Kingdom
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Light Tank Mk II.
Light tanks of the United Kingdom
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Light Tank Mk IIA at
Bovington Tank Museum
50.
Long Range Desert Group
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The Long Range Desert Group was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Originally called the Long Range Patrol, the unit was founded in Egypt in June 1940 by Major Ralph A. Bagnold, Bagnold was assisted by Captain Patrick Clayton and Captain William Shaw. The LRDG never numbered more than 350 men, all of whom were volunteers, because the LRDG were experts in desert navigation they were sometimes assigned to guide other units, including the Special Air Service and secret agents across the desert. During the Desert Campaign between December 1940 and April 1943, the vehicles of the LRDG operated constantly behind the Axis lines, missing a total of only 15 days during the entire period. Possibly their most notable action was during Operation Caravan, an attack on the town of Barce and its associated airfield. After the end of the war in Europe, the leaders of the LRDG made a request to the War Office for the unit to be transferred to the Far East to conduct operations against the Japanese Empire, the request was declined and the LRDG was disbanded in August 1945. Before the war, Major Ralph Bagnold learned how to maintain and operate vehicles, how to navigate, Wavell assisted in equipping the force. The unit, initially known as the No.1 Long Range Patrol Unit, was founded on 3 July 1940, Bagnold wanted men who were energetic, innovative, self-reliant, physically and mentally tough, and able to live and fight in seclusion in the Libyan desert. Bagnold felt that New Zealand farmers would possess these attributes and was given permission to approach the 2nd New Zealand Division for volunteers, over half the division volunteered. Two officers and 85 other ranks including 18 administrative and technical personnel were selected, coming mostly from the Divisional Cavalry Regiment. Once the men had been recruited, they started training in survival techniques and desert driving and navigation. The LRP could initially only three units, known as patrols, but a doubling of strength allowed the addition of a new Heavy Section. In November 1940, the name of the LRP was changed to the Long Range Desert Group, the British volunteers, who came mostly from the Brigade of Guards and Yeomanry regiments, were incorporated into their own patrols. The original patrol unit consisted of two officers and 28 other ranks, equipped with a Canadian Military Pattern Ford 15 Imperial hundredweight truck and 10 Chevrolet 30 cwt trucks. In March 1941 new types of trucks were issued and the units were split into half-patrols of one officer. Each patrol incorporated a medical orderly, a navigator, a radio operator, the Long Range Patrol comprised a 15-man headquarters with Bagnold in command. There were three sub-units, R Patrol commanded by Captain Donald Gavin Steele, T Patrol commanded by Captain Patrick Clayton, T and W Patrols were combat units while R Patrol was intended to be a support unit. In November 1940, the LRP was reorganised and re-designated the Long Range Desert Group and it was expanded to six Patrols, T, W and R Patrols were joined by G, S and Y Patrols
Long Range Desert Group
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LRDG badge depicting a
scorpion within a wheel
Long Range Desert Group
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'Y' and 'R' Patrol Chevrolets meet in the desert, mid-1942. Note the amount of equipment carried on the nearest 'R' Patrol trucks
Long Range Desert Group
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'R' Patrol Chevrolet WB radio truck; the
rod antenna can be seen on the right. The man at the rear is manning a
Boys anti-tank rifle
Long Range Desert Group
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A 'T1' Patrol Chevrolet 1533X2 30 cwt: the small drum behind the front mudguard is the
radiator condenser and the truck's sand channels are mounted on brackets on the rear bodywork. The weapons are the
Lewis gun (left) and a
.303 Browning Mk II (right)
.jpg)
Albania
Australia
Belgium Used in aircraft
Bolivia Used during the Chaco War
Canada
Ceylon
China
Czechoslovakia (used four locally produced Mk 30s (modified Vickers guns) on the Avia B-534).[citation needed]
Egypt
France French air service (SPAD VII and XIII) during WWI.
Finland
India
Indonesia used during the Indonesian National Revolution.
Ireland
Italy chambered in 6.5×52mm Carcano for infantry and .303 British for aircraft.[15]
Luxembourg
Malaya
Mexico
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Dominion of Newfoundland
Pakistan
Paraguay used during the Chaco War
Philippines
Portugal produced locally in 1929.
Romania
Sierra Leone[16]
South Africa[10]
Southern Rhodesia
Thailand
Tonga[17]
United Kingdom
United States issued to the first U.S divisions sent to France in World War I due to the lack of American machine guns.
