Vickers Gun Disassembly

Anti-Aircraft Machine Guns of the Great War

World War One saw the first widespread use of aeroplanes, first as observation platforms and later in both air and ground attack roles. The strategic threat that observation planes posed meant that even in the early weeks of the war on the Western Front troops began opening fire on reconnaissance planes.  

On the 22nd August Lt. W. R. Read, a pilot with the British Royal Flying Corps noted that: “Two machines that went out this morning on reconnaissance came back with several bullet holes in them. In one the observer was shot in the stomach.” On that same day the Royal Flying Corps lost its first aircraft to enemy infantry fire when German infantry shot down an Avro 504. The role of observation planes soon proved pivotal as it was intelligence on German movements from the Royal Flying Corps that prevented the British Expeditionary Force from being surrounded before they retreated to Mons.

While ground fire initially came from enemy rifles, field artillery was also pressed into service. Lt. Read recalled taking fire from German artillery batteries in his diary in late August 1914, “Le Cateau was in flames. We were shelled by anti-aircraft guns so I kept at 4,500 feet.” While artillery and massed rifle fire continued to pose a threat to aircraft the use of machine guns in an anti-aircraft role quickly became the norm. In the photographs above we see examples of both light and heavy machine guns pressed into the anti-aircraft role by both sides. The British and Commonwealth forces deployed both the Lewis Light Machine Gun (which can be seen in images 1, 2 & 16) and the Vickers Machine gun (seen in image 10). Of these the Lewis Gun was lighter and much easier to aim and fire. The British also deployed a number of Vickers QF 1-pounder ‘Pom-Pom’ guns in London as a defence against German Zeppelins in 1914-1915, however, they proved to be largely ineffective and were replaced. The French deployed both the Hotchkiss Mle 1914 (seen in images 13 & 19) and the St Etienne Mle 1907 (seen in images 8, 11, 15 & 17) in the anti-aircraft role - even deployed some on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower when Paris was threatened by German aircraft (see image 15). 

The Central Powers also deployed their two primary machine guns; the Germans used the Maxim MG08 (see images 3, 4, 6, 12 & 20) while the Austrians deployed their Schwarzlose M.7 (as seen in images 14, 18 & 21). The M.7′s folding grips were especially useful in the anti-aircraft role. Germany also deployed a number of 37mm Maxim ‘pom pom’ guns which had been adopted by the navy before the turn of the century. Originally intended as a deck gun for defence against fast torpedo boats they were heavy and unwieldy. Similarly there are photographs of 37mm Hotchkiss Revolving Canons being used as anti-aircraft guns (see image 9). These were manually operated guns with five barrels designed by Benjamin Hotchkiss. 

Towards the end of the war Germany had begun developing a larger calibre machine gun capable of firing the 13.2mm TuF cartridge designed as an anti-tank and anti-aircraft round. The MG08 was scaled up to chamber the new Tank und Flieger (Tank and Aircraft) ammunition, however, production began too late in the war for these guns to see service. 

The German MG18 TuF heavy machine gun (source)

When the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France they were given French equipment including the Hotchkiss Mle 1914, they deployed this in both the infantry and anti-aircraft roles (see images 5 & 7). 

The deployment of machine guns in the new anti-aircraft role meant that their crews often had to improvise ways of elevating the guns as the standard tripods were not designed for the new role. As so often in war necessity was the mother of invention and both sides found similar solutions to the problem these ranged from being as simple as digging a pit to mount the gun on a central mound (see images 2, 10 & 19) to as complex as attaching a cart wheel to a post to allow free movement (see images 1 & 6). French tripods for the Mle 1907 could be elevated to steeper angles than their British and German counterparts and photographs often show gunners laying between the tripods fully extended legs (see images 11, 15 & 17). Although useful it was extremely difficult to effectively traverse the gun from this position. Other improvised solutions included placing a standard tripod on a tree stump (as in images 2, 12, 14, 18 & 21) or raising it with ammunition boxes (see image 8). While specialised mounts were quickly developed (see images 4, 5, 13 & 16) these were not always available and improvised positions continued to be used throughout the war.

Specialised training, anti-aircraft sights and mounts were developed as the war progressed and the efficiency of machine gun anti-aircraft batteries increased. Perhaps the most famous victim of anti-aircraft machine gun fire is Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. The fighter ace was killed by a single .303 round that caused a fatal chest wound, however, it is unknown who fired the fatal shot. Evidence suggests it may have been fired by either Sergeant Cedric Popkin, an anti-aircraft gunner with the 24th Australian Machine Gun Company who was manning a Vickers gun or Gunner W.J. Evans of the 53rd Battery, 14th Field Artillery Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery who was manning a Lewis Gun. While it remains unclear who actually fired the fatal shot, it almost certainly came from an anti-aircraft machine gun position.

Image Sources:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

The Beginning of Air Warfare, 1914, eyewitnesstohistory.com, (source)

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