Comments by "Kevin Oliver" (@kevinoliver3083) on "11mm Vickers "Balloon Buster" Machine Gun" video.

  1. The machine gun rounds were loaded with smokeless powder. They were commonly called 11mm Vickers to differentiate them from the original Gras cartridges.
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  2. The first British 'fighter' aircraft the Vickers Type 18, better known as the 'Gunbus' was armed with a Vickers Gun (naturally enough). Although it was replaced with a Lewis Gun as soon as they were available. First flown just before WW1 the 'Gunbus' was a pusher biplane with the gun, and gunner in the nose cockpit, so it had a clear field of fire.
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  3. For balloon busting missions it was RFC/RNAS/RAF practice to use a wing mounted Lewis gun for the incendaries and load the nose mounted Vickers Gun (or later guns) with ball rounds. This gave the pilot extra deniability as the guns could be fired separately.
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  4. Ground guns yes. But Colt was building Vickers aircraft guns for the Allies. All of whom used them in .303. And since the Air Service AEF used French and British, aircraft they used .303 as well.
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  5. The RFC's first incendaries were fired from Winchester 1886 rifles in .45-90.
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  6. The Air Corps was in the situation as rest of the US Army. It had grown massively when America entered war outstripping the capacity to produce US standard weapons. So just like the AEF had to use large numbers of Chauchat and Hotckiss 8mm machine guns, the Air Corps had to use British and French aircraft, with .303 machine guns. Until US industry could catch up. Which was only just happening when the Armistice was signed.
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  7. Only early Maxim Guns. The Vickers Gun was .303 from birth.
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  8. ​ @aebirkbeck2693 Eventually.
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  9. Yeah, Colt was living off other people's work even then.
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  10. They had parachutes, the pilots didn't. And each balloon was defended by a lot of Flak guns. The odds were on the balloonist side.
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  11. In archaic: .44" bullet, case length 2.3", overall round length 3".
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  12. The same incendiary bullet was used earlier in the War by the RFC in .45-90 Winchester 1886 rifles.
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  13. Not the same cartridge, but the same bullet. Early in the War the Royal Flying Corps used Winchester 1886 rifles in 45-90 to fire incendiary rounds.
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  14. The machine gun rounds were smokeless. They were often called 11mm Vickers to distinguish them from original black powder Gras rounds
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  15. Which Royal Army? And why? The British Army already had the 2-pounder (40mm) Pom-Pom and the .303 round had better ballistics than 11mm Gras, even with smokeless propellant.
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