Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to Vickers Medium Machine Gun refer to the water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the rest helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition, and spare parts.[10] It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft. The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in Weapons & War Machines, describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of the A Vickers Machine Gun mounted on a Tripod. Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns continuously for This particular model resides at the York Castle twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without a Museum. failure. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one."[11] Type Medium machine gun Place of origin United Kingdom Service history Contents In service 1912–1968 History Used by Widely used, See Use in aircraft Users Variants Wars World War I[1] Foreign service Irish Civil War[2] Service after World War II [3] Colt–Vickers M1915 Chaco War Spanish Civil War[4] Specifications World War II[5] Use First Indochina War[6] Users Indo-Pakistan War of Gallery of images 1947 See also 1948 Arab–Israeli Weapons of comparable role, performance and era War References Malayan Further reading Emergency[5] External links Korean War[5] Algerian War[7] Congo Crisis[8] History Aden Emergency[9] South African Border The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of War the late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in 1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it, Production history inverting the mechanism as well as reducing its weight by lightening Designed 1912 and simplifying the action and using high strength alloys for certain Manufacturer Vickers components. A muzzle booster was also added. Specifications Mass 33–51 lb (15–23 kg) all-up Length 3 ft 8 in (1.12 m) Barrel length 28 in (720 mm) Crew three man crew A Vickers machine gun crew in action Cartridge .303 British at the Battle of the Menin Road .30-06 Springfield Ridge, September 1917 11mm Vickers others The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standard Action recoil with gas boost machine gun under the nameGun, Machine, Mark I, Vickers, .303-inch Rate of fire 450 to 500 round/min on 26 November 1912.[12] There were still great shortages when the Muzzle velocity 2,440 ft/s (744 m/s) First World War began, and the British Expeditionary Force was still (.303 Mk. VII ball) equipped with Maxims when sent to France in 1914.[13] Vickers was, 2,525 ft/s (770 m/s) in fact, threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to the (.303 Mk. VIIIz ball) exorbitant price it was demanding for each gun. As a result, the price was slashed. As the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became Effective firing range 2,187 yd (2,000 m) the British Army's primary machine gun, and served on all fronts Maximum firing range 4,500 yd (4,115 m) during the conflict. When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a light indirect fire (.303 Mk. machine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns were VIIIz ball) redefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, and Feed system 250-round canvas grouped in the hands of the new Machine Gun Corps (when heavier belt 0.5 in/12.7 mm calibre machine guns appeared, the tripod-mounted, rifle-calibre machine guns like the Vickers became medium machine guns). After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was disbanded and the Vickers returned to infantry units. Before the Second World War, there were plans to replace the Vickers gun; one of the contenders was the 7.92×57mm Mauser Besa machine gun (a Czech design), which eventually became the British Army's standard tank-mounted machine gun. However, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Its last operational use was in theRadfan during the Aden Emergency. Its successor in UK service is theL7 GPMG. Use in aircraft In 1913, a Vickers machine gun was mounted on the experimental Vickers E.F.B.1 biplane, which was probably the world's first purpose-built combat aeroplane. However, by the time the production version, the Vickers F.B.5, had entered service the following year, the armament had been changed to a Lewis gun.[14] During World War I, the Vickers gun became a standard weapon on British and French military aircraft, especially after 1916. Although heavier than the Lewis, its The cockpit of a Bristol Scout biplane in 1916, showing a Vickers machine closed bolt firing cycle made it much easier to synchronize to allow it to fire through gun synchronised to fire through the aircraft propellers. The belt feed was enclosed right up to the gun's feed-way to propeller by an early Vickers- inhibit effects from wind. Steel disintegrating-link ammunition belts were perfected Challenger interrupter gear. in the UK by William de Courcy Prideaux in mid-war and became standard for aircraft guns thereafter.[15] By 1917 it had been determined that standard rifle calibre cartridges were less satisfactory for shooting down observation balloons than larger calibres carrying incendiary or tracer bullets, the Vickers machine gun was chambered in the 11mm Vickers round, known as the Vickers aircraft machine gun and sometimes the "Balloon Buster", was adopted by the allies as a standard anti-balloon armament and used by both the British and French in this role until the end of the war.[16][17] The famous Sopwith Camel and the SPAD XIII types used twin synchronized Vickers, as did most British and French fighters between 1918 and the mid-1930s. In the air, the weighty water cooling system was rendered redundant by the chilly temperatures at high altitude and the constant stream of air passing over the gun as the plane flew; but because the weapon relied on barrel recoil, the (empty) water-holding barrel jacket or casing needed to be retained. Several sets of louvred slots were cut into the barrel jacket to aid air cooling, a better solution than what had initially been attempted with the 1915-vintagelMG 08 German aircraft ordnance. As the machine gun armament of fighter aircraft moved from the fuselage to the wings in the years before the Second World War, the Vickers was generally replaced by the faster-firing and more reliable[18] Browning Model 1919 using metal-linked cartridges. The Gloster Gladiator was the last RAF fighter to be armed with the Vickers, although they were later replaced by Brownings.[19] The Fairey Swordfish continued to be fitted with the weapon until production ended in August 1944.[20] Several British bombers and attack aircraft of the Second World War mounted the Vickers K machine gun or VGO, a completely different design, resembling the Lewis gun in external appearance. Vickers machine guns, designated as models E (pilot's) and F (observer's) were also used among others in Poland, where 777 of them were converted to 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge in 1933-1937.[21] Variants The larger calibre (half-inch) version of the Vickers was used on armoured fighting vehicles and naval vessels. The Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. II was used in tanks, the earlier Mark I having been the development model. This entered service in 1933 and was obsolete in 1944. Firing either single shot or automatic it had a pistol type trigger grip rather than the spades of the 0.303 in (7.7 mm) cartridge. The Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. III was used as an anti-aircraft gun on British ships.[22] This variation was typically four guns mounted on a 360° rotating A .5-inch Mk. III, four-gun anti-aircraft and (+80° to −10°) elevating housing. The belts were rolled into a spiral and placed mount and its crew on the cruiser in hoppers beside each gun. The heavy plain bullet weighed 1.3 oz (37 g) and was HMS London in 1941 good for 1,500 yd (1,400 m) range. Maximum rate of fire for the Mark III was about 700 rpm from a 200-round belt carried in a drum. They were fitted from the 1920s onwards, but in practical terms, proved of little use. During the Second World War, the naval 0.5 in (12.7 mm) version was also mounted on power-operated turrets in smaller watercraft, such as Motor Gun Boats and Motor Torpedo Boats. The Mark IV and V guns were improvements on the Mark II. Intended for British light tanks, some were used during the war on mounts on trucks by the Long Range Desert Group in the North Africa Campaign.[22] The Vickers machine gun was produced, between the wars, as the vz.09 machine gun. Foreign service The Vickers was widely sold commercially and saw service with many nations and their own particular ammunition. It was also modified for each country and served as a base for many other weapons. For example: 6.5×52mm Mannlicher–Carcano[23] 6.5×50mmSR Arisaka 6.5×53mmR[24] 7×57mm Mauser .280 British[5] 7.5×55mm Swiss 7.62×51mm NATO[25] .30-06 Springfield[26] 7.62×54mmR[27] 7.65×53mm Argentine 8mm Lebel Service after World War II The Union of South Africa retained a large inventory of surplus Vickers machine guns after World War II.