SE5 overwing gun

[Oorpii]

I don't seem to be able to find the keys to elevate the overwing gun and to fire it. I know that ROF has got it but I've been unable to sort it out in FC.

 

[BMA_West]

It changed somewhere but always a hard one te find ))) now it is:

Change firing possition: Left Shift + C by default

[Oorpii]

Ok, thanks that works, what key would then be firing only the overwing gun?

[BMA_West]

Separate, the obvious groupings:

-Overwing Lewis should be:

Second weapon group: LAlt+space by default

-Cowling vickers:

first weapon group: RAlt+space by default

[Oorpii]

Ok,

dank je wel

[Zooropa_Fly]

I still wish you could take the bloody thing off.

[No.23_Triggers]

1 minute ago, Zooropa_Fly said:

I still wish you could take the bloody thing off.

You and every historical S.E. pilot from the war, from what I've read! ?

[No.23_Starling]

It proved its worth tonight when Seawolf and I had a DviiF floating above us at 4K in MP thinking itself untouchable. I pitched that Lewis upwards and put a nice hole through his engine! Very enjoyable watching him limp back to hunland ?

[Cybermat47]

On 11/25/2019 at 2:49 AM, US93_Larner said:

You and every historical S.E. pilot from the war, from what I've read! ?

I thought they went out of their way to put it on the Nieuport?

[SeaW0lf]

36 minutes ago, FokkerFodder said:

It proved its worth tonight when Seawolf and I had a DviiF floating above us at 4K in MP thinking itself untouchable. I pitched that Lewis upwards and put a nice hole through his engine! Very enjoyable watching him limp back to hunland ?

 

It did, it reminded me of some accounts of High in the Empty Blue, but I wasn't that close to see the whole thing.

 

But in fact the angle we have here is off. In general they pulled it down all the way to fire (the same angle to reload it). The 45% angle would be a novelty that would require some thought. Even the ones with bungee cord, since the gun was lose on the rail. But when people start to dogfight with the Lewis tilted is when things go off rail (no pun intended). I could not find accounts about it, and Alex Revell says it is not possible.

 

And yes, in general they hated the Lewis gun on the SE5a - too late in the war to use such an antiquated contraption that had many pitfalls. It almost cracked Cecil Lewis' and Billy Bishop's face and broke some hands back then, although Bishop and Ball liked to pull it vertically to shoot two-seaters and scouts from below on the SE5. Cecil Lewis thought it was a bureaucrat decision coming from some deskman (despised it). I think Albert Ball [if I'm not mistaken, he pushed for the Lewis on the SE5a] tried a fixed Lewis firing downwards and his commander told him to stop with the nonsense and take that thing off. Crazy things and ideas happened on those early years, although it was better than nothing in the early Nieuports. Some pilots found it so bad on the SE5 that they used the Lewis gun as a spare gun. You also had to pull it down to clear jams and miss-fires. If you were too high, and they usually were, you had no strength to push it back in place and had to descend to regain your breath. McCudden said it was better to prop hang than to use the Lewis tilted, but this with the later editions of the SE5a, with more powerful engines.

 

In fact the SE5 had some engine problems as well. They did not have it easy. All of them in all fronts.

[J2_Trupobaw]

21 hours ago, SeaW0lf said:

 

 

And yes, in general they hated the Lewis gun on the SE5a - too late in the war to use such an antiquated contraption that had many pitfalls. It almost cracked Cecil Lewis' and Billy Bishop's face and broke some hands back then, although Bishop and Ball liked to pull it vertically to shoot two-seaters and scouts from below on the SE5. Cecil Lewis thought it was a bureaucrat decision coming from some deskman (despised it). I think Albert Ball [if I'm not mistaken, he pushed for the Lewis on the SE5a] tried a fixed Lewis firing downwards and his commander told him to stop with the nonsense and take that thing off. Crazy things and ideas happened on those early years, although it was better than nothing in the early Nieuports. Some pilots found it so bad on the SE5 that they used the Lewis gun as a spare gun. You also had to pull it down to clear jams and miss-fires. If you were too high, and they usually were, you had no strength to push it back in place and had to descend to regain your breath. McCudden said it was better to prop hang than to use the Lewis tilted, but this with the later editions of the SE5a, with more powerful engines.

 

S.E.5 was the first R.A.F plane with synchronised Vickers gun (Spowith already had Strutter and Pup). The early synchronisers were distrusted, prone to malfunction, and had slow rate of fire, so a tried and tested Lewis was put on top as backup gun. Synchronising two guns was much more difficult and entirely out of the question for British in fall 1916, they got there just in time to put two Vickers on Camel (Some Tripes were flown with early two-Vickers setup, too), so it was extra Lewis or one slow untried Vickers when plane was developed. Same happened to Nieuport 17, where British discarded synchronised Vickers entirely and were using Lewis instead. By 1918 the Lewis was completly archaic; I have no idea why the plane was not rearmed.

Albert Ball was a Nieuport man through and through and tried to turn his early S.E to something suiting his tastes. He removed the Vickers gun, and had a Lewis shooting downwards through the floor installed, among other modifications. Most of his improvements were sanctioned and went into S.E.5.a; floor Lewis was excluded from list of reccomended upgrades ("Don't you ever emulate this"), but Ball was allowed to keep his own gun.

And yes, if there was a field mod allowing to remove overwing Lewis, I would use it every single time. From my RoF Nieuport and Dolphin experiences, an overwing compromises roll and slow speed handling. In game with no jams  a single-gun S.E.5 would be a very potent tool.
 

[ST_Catchov]

It's a shame Ball had so much influence regarding the overwing lewis. I mean, what a drag. I'm not sure what design changes would have been required to install twin Vickers firing through the prop on the Se5a and the effect on its flying characteristics but what a machine it may have been. I wonder if it was ever tried?

[J2_Trupobaw]

Ball had no influence on gun arrangement. Twin Vickers would require synchronising two guns, which was much more difficult than synchronising one and not an option in Fall 1916.