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Re: .50 armament on US fighters 1939-41
Hi. I'm curious as to where you got the idea that many 0.5 inch machine guns were drum-fed. (Please, no insult is intended, this is just a question.)
I thought about the Vickers 0.5inch mgs on naval mountings and they appear to be drum canisters; but in reality were belt-fed rounds wrapped in a circular container for storage.
The French used 300-round drum magazines for their Darne and then MAC1934 machine-guns; but these were rifle calibre 7.5mm. The British/Commonwealth used drum canisters/magazines for their 0.303 inch Lewis and Vickers K aircraft guns on flexible mounts. The LRDG and SAS used both Vickers K and 0.5inch guns on their trucks (possibly with drum and circular-belt magazines) - as well as a lot of other captured weapons.
The closest thing I had heard of to a US drum magazine was the "horseshoe" extended magazine used for the 37mm cannon in the later P-39s and P-63s.
Regards,
...geoff
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