Fairey Battle belly gun ?
 

Just found this request in the January 2008 Flypast Magazine.

The Medway Aircraft Preservation society are restoring a Battle L5343 to 98 Squadron standard based in Iceland 1940.
They have a number of leads saying that some Battles had a belly gun aimed by the bomb aimer via a system of mirrors?

Does anyone have any knowledge of this fitting? was it official?

Re: Fairey Battle belly gun ?
 

I can add, for what its worth, that at two Fairey Battle crash sites in France I have found spare "K" gun barrels which were evidently carried on board. Just a thought, but I am wondering if this has given rise to the "extra gun" theory? I do know that when these items were found we scratched heads initially and theorised that there was an extra gun until we realised they were simply spare barrels.

Re: Fairey Battle belly gun ?
 

Hi Andy,

Thats interesting, to be honest i thought a belly gun on a low flying aircraft would have been out of the question, unless it was intended to rake groud defences on the way out after an attack has been done.
Even then a Vickers K is hardly the best option but better than nothing i suppose.

Was it just a spare barrel, or did it have other gun bits attached, breach etc..?
Also what was the chances of a standard gunner carrying a spare barrel for his gun?

Re: Fairey Battle belly gun ?
 

I think a spare barrel was a norm for the "K" gun - but I stand to be corrected by those who know more about such things. I would also have thought that an "extra gun" (if it were fitted) on the Battle would have been defensive rather than offensive.

Re: Fairey Battle belly gun ?
 

It does appear to be the case that some were fitted as an ad hoc arrangement by crews during the Battle of France:

http://www.century-of-flight.net/Avi...y%20Battle.htm

Quote:

Defensive Armament:

Quote:

One forward firing 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Browning machine-gun in in the starboard wing with a 400 round magazine and combat ciné camera and one rearward firing 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers 'K' machine-gun in the rear cockpit with 485 rounds. Early aircraft had a 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Lewis machine-gun until replaced by the Vickers 'K' machine-gun. During the Battle for France, crews often hastily added a ventral gun below the fuselage just aft of the wing. This gun was aimed by the third crew member using a mirror sight.

Though I've never seen any pictures or details of the setup.

A

Re: Fairey Battle belly gun ?
 

The Air-Britain book 'The Battle File' gives details of several 'third gun' installations in the underside of the Battle but no photographs unfortunately.