The First World War
WWI Pilots- Flying with one hand and shooting with the other
At the start of the war pilots had no weapons built into their aeroplanes, so they came up with some interesting solutions.
Make sure your volume is on: "...this chap had attached a Liz gun to the side of the aeroplane..."
Right in the first days of the first World War, the only armament that the pilots had was a pistol in a holster. To take a pot-shot at the opposition was a pretty dicey thing because you're flying with one hand and shooting with the other and the aeroplane was moving. It took quite some time for the chivalry of the early pilots to wear away and suddenly they began to realise that they got to stop the opposition from coming over their troops and defend their troops and the only way they could do it was by shooting at the other people. I think they really didn't like this as a concept, there had been this chivalry and great respect between the pilots. Anyway, they were originally using revolvers and then they needed something better. So this chap had attached a Liz gun to the side of the aeroplane, but of course they hadn't invented interrupter gear at that point so he was in fact firing through his own propeller. They did, some of them mounted shotguns at an angle so that they were shooting to the side of their propeller. Of course trying to aim a gun at an angle like that while flying an aeroplane and hitting anybody was pretty hopeless. So the brave ones mounted their guns firing through their propellers and they bound the propeller with bandages because they knew they were going to hit their own propeller and the fragments of timber would come back at them. So they bound them with cloth so that the bullets would go through without timber coming off. They knew perfectly well that if they shot one side of the propeller off the engine would tear out of the airframe and they'd had it and they had no parachutes, but they did it because they were unbelievably brave. Extraordinary people.
