gun shot camera

[kevin1947]

opinions on this please guys

[guns ltd]

One of these came up for auction this past month. The one on the auction had more to it than this one appears. i don't know much about these, but the one auctioned went for what I would say quite a bit.

John

[HARRY THE MOLE]

I saw one of these for sale a good while ago. If I remember correctly they were actually intended as a training aid for aerial gunners in the RFC. But other people have said they were also used for photographing targets. But I doubt if they would be much good for that kind of work. I believe they used 120 roll film in the camera.

[Allegra]

I saw one of these for sale a good while ago. If I remember correctly they were actually intended as a training aid for aerial gunners in the RFC. But other people have said they were also used for photographing targets. But I doubt if they would be much good for that kind of work. I believe they used 120 roll film in the camera.

Actually, not so sure about this type. I think they were designed to look like guns so that the EA did not necessarily think they were recon and taking photos.

Training types I believe were a lot shorter.

I'd love one.

Edit: I think I may stand to be corrected. Sorry.

Cheers

[HARRY THE MOLE]

There is also a Mk111. They were designed to take a Lewis drum so that the trainee gunner could also practice changing magazines as well as 'firing' at a target. As all allied spotters carried a few Lewis guns, I don't think a camera disguised as a gun would fool E/A. It is likely that any two seater would be treated as a spotter. And for taking pictures of the ground they would be practically useless if you think of the problems of pointing the camera gun at the ground. large plate camera's were the norm for that kind of work!



If you google Hythe machine gun camera it will give you all the information you need on this training aid.

[harryamb2]

harry is right in what he said.

[Allegra]

harry is right in what he said.

Gentlemen,

While I agree that large plate cameras were the norm, they were certainly not the only type of cameras used and consequently, I tend to disagree - but for the life of me I'm unable to find the photo's I'm looking for.

However, I have included this link:

The History of Aerial Photography - Northstar Imaging

which does show that even pigeons were used in the taking photos...so not quite as preposterous as one may think.

Cheers
Tim

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Hi Tim,

I'm not sure if you are disagreeing with what you have been told about the Mk111 gun camera, but it really is only a training aid. Better equipment was available for photographing the trenches. it was never designed or intended for such work.

[Jerry B]

A picture of one in use posted on another forum by Martin W. He is very up on cameras and stated that they were for training pilots in aerial combat using film to check the accuracy of their shooting.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

There are some very interesting articles to be found on the web about this gun camera. As well as being used to train pilots in gunnery it was also used by trainee observers. It actually remained in service until 1934! The camera shutter was cocked by pulling back on the cocking handle of the gun - just as on the proper Lewis. The shutter was activated by squeezing the trigger. The cameral lens was marked similar to a gun sight, and this would show up on the print to give an indication of the accuracy of the trainee. Every time the drum magazine was changed a hole was punched in the film to show that the trainee had carried out the magazine change.

Similar systems as this to train in the art of gunnery and small-arms shooting are still in use to this day. Back in the early 70's in Germany, our regiment had an astrodome where we would take in one of our Bofors guns (minus barrel) and practice shooting at communist aircraft. The system consisted of a video tape player and a array of mirrors which projected the film onto the inside of the dome. The gunner in the number 3 seat would track the image while the instructor would sit in the number 2 seat and assess his accuracy. Another variation of this was a conversion kit which took the bore of an SLR rifle down to .22 cal. A film would be played onto a large cinema-type screen, and the rifleman would fire when he identified an enemy on the screen. The film would stop as soon as the weapon was fired and a shaft of light would show through where the bullet had struck.