Davis gun

Davis gun mounted to Anti-Submarine airplane

The Davis gun was the first true recoilless gun developed and taken into service. It was developed by Commander Cleland Davis[1] of the US Navy, in 1910, just prior to World War I.

Description

Different types of Davis-type ammunition[2]

Davis' design connected two guns back to back, with the backwards-facing gun loaded with lead balls and grease of the same weight as the shell in the other gun, acting as a counter. His idea was used experimentally by the British and Americans as an anti-Zeppelin and anti-submarine weapon[3] mounted on the British Handley Page O/100 bomber and the American Curtiss HS-2L and H-16 (flying boats)[1] respectively. The direct development of the gun ended with World War I, but the firing principle has been copied by later designs.

Statistics

A Davis gun mounted on F5L seaplane

The gun was made in three sizes of 1.57 inch (3.9878 cm), 2.45 inch (6.223 cm), and 3 inch (7.62 cm), firing 2 pounds (0.91 kg), 6 pounds (2.7 kg) and 12 pounds (5.4 kg) shells respectively.[1] The 3 inch (7.62 cm) carried a pressure 15 tons per square inch when fired.[4] Usually a Lewis machine gun was mounted on top of the Davis gun's barrel which was then used for sighting and as an auxiliary and anti-aircraft weapon.

Surviving examples

There are examples still at the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, Florida, the Imperial War Museum in London.,[1] and the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, Kentucky.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Post The Davis recoilless gun". www.theaerodrome.com. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  2. ↑ United States. Navy Dept. Bureau of Ordnance (1923). Ammunition : instructions for the naval service, 1923. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. p. 162.
  3. ↑ "DAVIS AMMUNITION". www.big-ordnance.com. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  4. ↑ "United States of America Experimental and Miscellaneous 3" (7.62 cm) Guns". www.navweaps.com. Retrieved 19 November 2012.


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