Spitfire Weapons

Take a look underneath our Spitfires - you can see the Browning machine guns and ammunition belts. Early on – and during the Battle of Britain - the RAF Spitfire and Hurricane were fitted with the Browning machine-guns only - each aircraft type having eight - four in each wing. They used the 3-O-3 bullet – which was used in every Royal Air Force aircraft throughout WW2 and also the Army’s Lee Enfield rifles and Bren-guns.

 

Every time the pilot fired - the re-coil from the eight Browning machine guns caused the aircraft to decrease speed by thirty miles per hour – so the Pilot also had to watch his back if he was going to shoot!

 

It was found in very early spitfires that – whilst the machine-guns worked perfectly on the ground – at high altitude – they froze. So - the manufacturers added hot air ducts from the rear of the wing-mounted radiators - to the guns - and bulkheads around the gunbays trapped the hot air in the wing – this solved the problem. You can see red fabric patches on the front of the wings - these were glued over the gun ports - to protect the guns from ingress of cold, dirt, and moisture - until they were fired. On returning to base – if the red patches were pierced - the groundcrew knew immediately that the aircraft had been in combat - so knew to give the aircraft a detailed check for enemy bullet damage.

 

The reliability of the Browning machine-gun can be qualified when – in 2011 - six intact Brownings were recovered from a 1942 WW2 Spitfire crash site - in Northern Ireland. The guns were cleaned – and the Army made one from parts of the others. The gun was tested - and fired perfectly - testament to British manufacturing of the day. 70 years after these Spitfire guns had shot down a German Bomber off the Norfolk Coast – they were remarkably firing again. 

 

In comparison to British machine-gun only aircraft - during the Battle of Britain - the German Luftwaffe primary fighter - the Messerschmitt 1-O-9, was equipped with machine-guns – and also canons. The canon ammunition could inflict far more damage upon striking the target. This was because canon rounds had incendiary, exploding, and armour piercing heads; whereas the British Browning 3-O-3 bullets made it more difficult to inflict enough damage to the Luftwaffe fighters and bombers to take them out the fight. Pilots noted – that on average - 4,500 3-O-3 rounds were needed to shoot down an enemy aircraft!

 

The later version Mark 9 Spitfire – seen across the hangar – were fitted with 20-millimetre Hispano cannons – which gave the aircraft the much-needed striking power. You can see a removed Hispano cannon laid out at this stop. Look on the Mark 9 – later in this tour - for the longer protrusions on each wing – which are a dead giveaway to identify later variants of Spitfire. A typical armament fit was - 2 Hispano canons - and 4 Browning machine guns - per aircraft. This format started on the Mark 5 Spitfire - and our Mark 9 has this arrangement. Other models of Spitfire wings could carry 4 canons – without machine guns - and some had even more firepower – using 50 calibre machine-guns. 

 

Early on - the Spitfire cannons suffered frequent stoppages, due to position of mounting - to fit them in the wing. In January 1940, Pilot Officer George Proudman flew a cannon prototype in combat; - the starboard gun stopped after firing a single round, while the port gun fired 30 rounds before seizing. Additionally - if one cannon seized, the unequal recoil from the other - threw the aircraft off aim.  Nevertheless, 30 more cannon-armed Spitfires were ordered for operational trials - and were delivered to Number 19 Squadron in June - 1940. The Hispano’s were found to be so unreliable that the squadron requested an exchange for the older Browning-armed aircraft. By August, Supermarine had perfected a more reliable installation - with an improved feed mechanism.

 

Our Mark 9 Spitfire would typically carry 320 rounds per Browning machine-gun, and 120 rounds for the Hispano canon, thus arming the Mark 9 with 1,280 3-O-3 rounds - and 240 20-millimetre canon rounds. The Mark 2 would have double the 3-O-3 rounds – about 2,500 in all - but no cannons. If the fire-button was held down - the ammunition in the Spitfire lasted for only about about 16 seconds. Hence - once the pilot had the enemy in his gun-sight cross-hairs, he would fire only short two-second bursts. Once out of ammunition – the aircraft was a sitting duck – and so had to leave the fight and return to base for re-arm.

 

During the aerial dogfights of World War Two, fighter pilots had to master “deflection shooting”, the art of firing in front - and above the target - to meet the enemy aircraft as they travelled at speed. Practice - on clay-pigeon traps - was the favoured way for pilots to learn the art of “leading the target”.

 

As a side note - Spitfire fighter-bomber versions were designed to carry a 250 or 500-pound bomb beneath the fuselage - and a 250-pound bomb under each wing. Carrying all three was feasible, though it led to problems with tyre pressures and ground clearance.

 

From our shop – you can purchase a genuine 3-O-3 WW2 bullet - loose or in a key-ring. Don’t worry – the bullets are safe – they are all inert and cannot be fired!