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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0643.PDF
JUNE 13, 1918. H E H E H H E H H m ' M H i » H BD C. Front cockpit and gun mount. B M H H H m 4 mm H B H Seats are provided for a crew of four, who are carried asfollows :—One in the front cockpit; one in the pilot's seat; one at the pilot's side; one in the rear cockpit.All can, if necessary, change places whilst the machine is in the air. Between the front cockpit and that of the pilota sliding panel is provided through which the gunner can crawl. The seat at the side of the pilot folds up and slidesback into a cavity under the coaming of the nacelle, and when in this position allows access down a narrow and inclinedpassage-way to the rear cockpit. The machine can hardly have been designed to satisfy the requirements of the averagepilot in regard to view, as from the pilot's seat it is very diffi-cult to see the ground properly on account of the position of thelower main plane and the width of the fuselage. ••;,-•>... Fig. 23. Armament.\ Two Parabellum guns are mounted, one in the front cockpit, and one in the rear, and provision is made for mountinga third or for transferring one of the others on the floor of the rear cockpit, so that it can fire backwards a*nd under the tailof the machine. For this purpose a large trap door, which is visible in the photograph B, is provided in the floor of thefuseldge behind the rear cockpit. This trap door has cellu- loid windows and is normally kept closed by springs. Itis lifted up by a small hand,winch fitted with a ratchet. It is of passing interest to note that whereas in the Friedrichs-hafen a similar trap door was kept open by means of springs, in the A.E.G. springs are used to keep the door closed. In the front cockpit the gun is supported on a carriage whichruns round a partially circular rail which is strongly supported from the fuselage by a framework of steel tubes. Formingpart of this frame is an inclined steel tubular column, the base of which is fitted in a swivel bearing in the floor of the cock-pit, and on this is mounted an adjustable seat for the gunner. A toothed rack runs round the rail and engages with a spurpinion driven by a hand wheel so that the gunner, when occu- pying his seat, swivels himself round as well as the gun.This gun mounting is shown in photograph C, and a diagram- matic section of the carriage is given in Fig. 23. The verticalswivel of the fork-ended gun carrier is locked by a ball-ended lever and a similar lever is employed for locking the carriageitself to its rail. This action is accomplished by a cam device which depressesthe roller of the carriage and squeezes the rail section between the roller and an adjustable set screw which normally justclears the groove on the under side of the rail. In order to prevent the forwardgunner from shooting the tractor screws, preventa-tive shields of light steel tube are carried betweenthe upper edge of the forward cockpit and theinclined struts of the centre section. Theseimpose a limit to the travel of the gun. In therear cockpit the gun mounting is tf-shaped inplan form, and here again the principle of a carriagerunning on a rail and driven by a spur gearmeshing with a toothed rack is employed, thoughin this case the gunner's seat does not revolve with the gun. The carriage is of|a somewhat similar type to thatused in the front cockpit, but the method of locking it is different. This is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 24.The rail is provided with grooves both above and below, there being two rollers at the top and one underneath.Normally, when the gun carriage is free, the latter is clear of the rail, but when the locking mechanism is broughtinto action it is forced upwards so that the rail is gripped be- tween the rollers, thus avoiding any possibility of shakeat this point, and at the same time a positive lock is obtained on a second rail carried below the first. When the ball-ended hand lever is tightened, its effect is to squeeze the lower Fig. 64I H 3
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