Lewis Gun

[Tony Williams]

Yes, I believe that's correct

Tony Williams

[Peter H]

And the Japanese version of the Lewis,manufactured under license from 1921 onwards.Captured by the Australians at Bougainville.

From the AWM website.

[Wolfensteiner]

Moulded: A picture of my great uncle using one.

[Peter H]

Arkans,
That's a great photo---thanks for posting it.

[xikang]

The Lewis Gun
-~-Written and researched by Stefan Bridle -~-

The Lewis gun was initially designed by Samuel MacLean and was then developed and perfected by Colonel I. N. Lewis, of the American Army. Lewis was unable to interest the American Army in the weapon and so he took his design to Belgium where he set up a company to manufacture it in 1913. In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War most of the staff of the Belgian factory fled to Britain bringing their designs and some equipment with them. They then began production of the Lewis at the Birmingham Small Arms Company factory. The British adopted the Lewis gun as their standard light machine gun in 1915. It was the first truly successful portable machine gun of its type in the world. It is an air-cooled, gas operated design feeding from a top mounted drum magazine.

The Lewis gun was one of the first machine guns to be mounted in aircraft. The standard version was used as an observers weapon in multiple seater aircraft, often with the rifle butt stock replaced with a spade type grip to make it easier to hold when standing up in a bucking aircraft (a frightening experience at the best of times). A stripped version called the Mk. 2 was used as a main, forward aimed machine gun on aircraft such as the SE5a scout. On the SE5a it was mounted so that to re-load you have to stand up, pull the weapon down so that it is in front of you, remove one magazine and replace it with a fresh one, all the while holding the control column between your knees. It was also seen on many of the two seat British fighters of the 1920’s.

The British army experienced a "love affair" with the Lewis that was to last for several decades. It saw service with nations other than Britain during WW1 and was venerated by Australian, French, Norwegian, Russian, Canadian, and German troops. German troops on the western front even preferred it to the MG08/15, (basically a standard Maxim with a stock, pistol grip and bipod) or the MG08/18 (an air-cooled version). They liked it so much that they wrote a very fine manual on its use. The ‘White’ Russians were sent Lewis guns by Britain and used them during the 1918-1921 civil war. The ‘Red’ Russians under Lenin captured Lewis guns and both sides found their light weight and portability most useful.

The Lewis Gun was officially replaced in British service in 1936 by the Bren but after the disaster at Dunkirk all machine guns that could fire were pressed into service. The Lewis Gun was employed mostly for anti aircraft, on lorries or trains and in static emplacements, many of which were the stripped aircraft version (the Mk. 2). As the threat of invasion receded and more Bren guns were produced in Britain and Canada the Lewis gun was once again replaced. It was relegated to service with the Home Guard (remaining in service until their disbandment), the merchant navy and for anti aircraft use. Often you will see photographs taken for newspapers of smirking anti-aircraft men standing next to a Lewis with which they shot down a dive-bomber or fighter. However minor a role the Lewis gun played in WW2, it was a necessary one and it performed admirably considering its age.

Specifications for The Lewis Gun



Cartridge: .303in SAA ball, British Service

Length o/a: 1283mm (50.5in)

Weight (unloaded): 11.8kg (26lb)

Barrel Length: 666mm (26.25in)

Feed: 47 or 97 round detachable drum magazine

Muzzle Velocity: 2450ft/sec (745 m/sec)

[Tony Williams]

A couple of comments on that article.

Madsen and Hotchkiss might dispute the title of 'first truly successful light machine gun'

The need to stand up to reload the top-wing guns only applied to early mountings. The Foster Mounting was designed so that the pilot could pull the gun down to his level to reload it, and that rapidly became standard.

Tony Williams

[Peter H]

From a 1918 publication,Germans using captured Lewis gun:

[The Argus]

And many of the Savage guns ened up in the UK post Dunkirk where they were used in vairius mountings for LAA (I've seen photo's of a quad) and on DEMS.

Tony will know for sure, but IIRC although the cooling jacket didn't work as advertised, without it the barrel lacked sufficent thermal mass. This wasn't as much of a problem in the air, but for ground use they needed to increase the mass of the barrel and in the middle of a war that was just too much trouble. After the war their wasn't the money available.

shane

[hofner]

very interesting !! are the Lewis machine guns hard to find for collecting ?

[TK-1410]

Anybody knows from kind of wood was Lewis gun butt's made?

[Sitzkrieg]

And the Japanese version of the Lewis,manufactured under license from 1921 onwards.Captured by the Australians at Bougainville.

From the AWM website.

Hey, I think I used one of those while playing Medal Of Honor Pacific Assault last year. The one that you took with you tripod and all and had to set it up again to fire

[Tony Williams]

Tony will know for sure, but IIRC although the cooling jacket didn't work as advertised, without it the barrel lacked sufficent thermal mass. This wasn't as much of a problem in the air, but for ground use they needed to increase the mass of the barrel and in the middle of a war that was just too much trouble. After the war their wasn't the money available.

There were two separate features of Lewis cooling. One was the hollow sleeve, which was supposed to channel air past the barrel, driven by the muzzle blast when the gun fired. This apparently didn't really work. The other was the cooling fins: take the sleeve off and you'll find that the barrel was covered with longitudinal fins. For aircraft use, most or all of the fins were removed.

IMO the sleeve did nothing to add to the thermal mass, in fact it probably obstructed cooling, but the fins certainly would have helped with both thermal mass and surface area. Without the sleeve, they were probably vulnerable to damage, getting clogged with dirt, and in aircraft use certainly added to drag which would have made the gun more difficult to aim.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

[fredleander]

A couple of comments on that article.

Madsen and Hotchkiss might dispute the title of 'first truly successful light machine gun'

Tony Williams

I would aggree to that. The Madsen survived in the Norwegian army till 1940 and did sterling service during the fighting in Northern Norway. In the South there were a lot of complaints on it. This proved to be because it was issued to people not trained on it (mobilization was rather chaotic in the South) - still packed in storage grease. While the original organization of the Madsen during WWI was in platoon-sized units (a 32-man platoon serving 4 weapons - with their own horse carriage and cook!), in 1940 one Madsen was usually integrated in a rifle squad.

[MG1918]

Superb info and very useful - TY.
I am still seeking please BSA lewis items/accessories if anybody can help. Including postcards of lewis MG users.
VMT.
Mark

[HotelBushranger]

I've seen pictures of machine guns resembling the Lewis gun on WWI biplanes.

In WWII, SAS jeeps carried twin mounted guns that also resembled the Lewis gun, again without the cooling jacket

Lewis on planes


Lewis on cars


To be precise