7/27/2019 1936 - 3444 (1)

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D E C . 17, 1936. FL IG HT .

W H I T H EThe Cult of the ^Cano n^ : Bigger Shells and Longer Range

Installation ProblemsBy H . F . K I N GT HE t rans i to ry per iod in thearming of our new, high-per fo rmance mi l i t a ry a i r craft might wel l have disturbing effects were the extent ofi t s nebu lous unce r t a in ty morewidely rea l ised . C omm ent was ma de

in a Flight leading art icle las t weekon the gravi ty of the posi t ion of ai rc raf t a rmament in th i s coun t ry , a pos i t ion of which detai led analysis isrendered impossible by a barrage of officialregu la t ions . Bu t one th ing i s cer t a in : thedevelopment o f aer i a l gunnery (and by tha tterm is meant especial ly the product ion ofnew weapons and their associated gear) hasbeen reprehensibly s low in comparison withthe momentous advances made in the samefield abroad, and, for that mat ter ,wi th the evolut ion of the mil i taryaeroplane and i ts power plant inGrea t Br i t a in .I t does seem, however, that , foral l our lackadais ical at t i tude inrecent years , we now have some ofour f inest technical brains concen t ra ted on the improvement o faer ia l o rdna nce . The l a t es t resu l t sof their efforts are not being publicised, but judging fromsuch informat ion on theirwork as has been released,i t seems that we are in arelat ively s t rong posi t ionin the design of power-d r i v e n tu r r e ts , w i t ho u twhich devices the most

efficient free gun is so muchdead weigh t on modernhigh-speed aero plan es . InD emonstrative of the fieldof fire obtainable from awell-arranged multi-seater,this drawing shows thearcs covered by the guns ofthe French Amiot 144.

The heading pictureis of a D ewoitinefighter with HispanoSuiza moteur canon.Below is the 37 mm.aircraft gun developed by the AmericanArmam ent Corporation.

the mat t e r o f ac tua l weapons thereis , re la t ive ly , much g rea ter roomfor improvement .The ret icence of our own authori t ies to issue data on recent ly prod u c e d a r ma me n t ma t e r i a l h a s h a dthe inev i t ab le repercuss ion abroad ;in fo rmat ion on the l a t es t developments has become somewhatspars e . B ut sufficient can beg leaned to s tudy the b road d i rect ion of foreign tendencies , and thefol lowing notes are intended as abrief su rvey of wh at ' ' the othe rfellow is do ing .The increas ing ly wide adop t ionof the canon or shell-firing aerialgun , by E urop ean pow ers i s ,al l th ings considered, a perfect ly logical move, and not ,as some of our diehards

would have us bel ieve, aphase o f t emporary mi l i t a ryinsan i ty . Suppos ing thoseworthies are r ight , then wemay soon be s t r icken witht h e s a m e e pi d e m i c; t h ecanon germ is al rea dy gaining a hold across the Atla nt ic .