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Old 17th Dec 2007, 22:44
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MReyn24050
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Nottingham UK
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Your not wrong. The photograph appeared in an article, entitled "The Tiger Moth Fighter", in an October 1933 issue of Flight Magazine.
This Tiger Moth had been converted for use as a single seat fighter. A machine gun,firing through the propeller, was been mounted on the fuselage, and slung beneath the aircraft bomb racks capable of holding eight 20-lb.bombs. With a load of four bombs the machine carried fuel for a range of 500 miles. The machine gun. which had been tested on the machine, was manufactured by the Czechoslovakian Arms Factory, of Prague; the muzzle velocity is 839 m./sec, the maximum rate of fire 900, plus or minus 100 rounds a sec, the bore 7.92 mm., and a Pratt and Whitney synchronising gear is fitted, which was very light and efficient, the drive being taken from the top-half of the rear cover of the engine, where provision for hand-starting gear was normally allowed for. The gun was mounted in the front cockpit and shoots over the engine cowling; it was fixed to the machine mounting by two bolts, the rear bolt incorporating a vernier adjustment for direction and elevation. The ammunition box, holding 200 rounds, and the cartridge chute, were fixed to the mounting itself, the only connections between the gun mounting, and fuselage, being four holding-down bolts. The mounting was attached to the two top longerons by four bolts, but no extra holes have been drilled in the longerons.
In the photograph can be seen the gun mounting on the ejector side of the gun. The top chute is for the spent belt, and the larger chute for the used cartridges ; the muzzle of the gun can be seen in front between the " V " strut. An Aldis telescopic sight can be seen in the rear cockpit.
The article went on to say that "A detachment of this machine has been ordered by a foreign Government and has already been packed up for dispatch."
I am not sure what happened to the idea. Perhaps someone can shed some light on the subject.
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