BIG-GUN AEROPLANE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20110, 31 March 1928, Page 14 (Supplement)

BIG-GUN AEROPLANE

A NEW FIGHTING IvIACHINE A general description is now available for publication of a new type of lighter aeroplane, a three-seater, armed with guns of (for an aeroplane) big calibre.

The machine is the Westland “Westbury,” fitted with two Bristol “Jupiter” 450 h.p. engines- It is a biplane, of metal and wood construction, and mounts one gun in the no-e of the fuselage and another in the rear cock-pit, just behind the wings. The pilot occupies the scat just behind the forward gunner.

It is well known that big-gun aeroplanes are being developed in many countries, and the “Westbury” is nut the only British machine of this class. The big-gun aeroplane is not entirely an innovation, for it was used in the war, and considerable attention has been given by designers to aircraft suitable for heavier armament thm machine guns. During the war the Davis gun was tried, but in little more than experiments. This weapon was carried on HandleyPage and other big bombers, and it was specially designed for aircraft, recoil being overcome by a discharge (simultaneously with the projectile) from a tube extending from tho reir of the gun. This overcame tho recoil, but was a severe handicap, imposing an additional restriction on the field of fire. Details of the new gun arc not given, but it is not on the Davis principle.