The Lewis Gun - In The Movies

[Music] the lewis gun immediately recognizable by the pain in the eyes of the soldier who has to carry it with its massive cooling shroud and pan magazine it's one of the most iconic weapons of world war one this weapon is primarily found in british world war one movies but it has a broad use around the world and in a galaxy far far away [Music] so let's take a look at this interesting weapon and some of the movies it's been featured in [Music] the lewis gun entered service for the british army in the second year of world war one in 1915 having already been in use by the belgian army a year prior despite its british association it was an american design gun that would be adopted and mass-produced in the united kingdom with some produced in america and it would be used by virtually all allied powers during the war the inventor of the lewis gun was us army colonel isaac newton-lewis an american who established the arms automatic lewis company in belgium as the belgian army was one of the first armies to adopt the weapon it was sometimes called the belgian rattlesnake by german soldiers in world war one in 1914 lewis and his factory moved to england securing it from any possible german seizure despite both looking like a steampunk invention and 70s science fiction blaster the lewis gun had a design that was both reliable and accurate it could also fire an impressive for world war one five to six hundred rounds a minute though the barrel could not be quickly changed once overheated the lewis's unique pan magazine held either 47 or 97 rounds these magazines were very cumbersome by today's standards and took a lifetime to reload the british version of the lewis would fire the 303 round and the american the 30 odd 6. the other unique feature of the lewis gun is easily the massive aluminum cooling shroud though the shroud was effective it's interesting that none of the aircraft variants have such a shroud relying on their speed to cool the weapon shrouds would be occasionally ditched by non-aircraft units with users reporting their function little changed it has been suggested the inventor colonel lewis designed the shroud in part to make the weapon more distinct from designer samuel mclean's initial work on the gun the lewis's external and internal designs are undoubtedly odd including for example the use of a recoil spring and a semicircular housing just in front of the trigger more akin to what you'd find in a clock versus a firearm but despite this this gun was considerably reliable this was particularly important for pilots in the air needing a weapon they did not have to service while flying hey look what a pretty red plane what where the lewis was popular with several air forces and is found in a number of roller one aircraft films primarily in its aircraft variation without the cooling shroud it's also not found mounted behind a pilot's propellers as it was not suited to being synchronized to fire through them in 1918 the lewis aircraft variant was given a recoil enhancer increasing the rate of fire to an impressive 800 rounds per minute one interesting scene in the red baron shows the famous pilot even taking one as a trophy has anybody got the spanner the weapon was not only used by germans who captured it but the japanese also copied the design of the luis for use in their aircraft creating the type 92 which was used in world war ii you can briefly catch one in pearl harbor mounted on a nakajima b5n torpedo bomber which are in fact altered texan navy training aircraft in a further validation of the lewis's design the world war ii german fg-42 would use the lewis guns gas assembly and bolt design in the advanced automatic rifle used by german paratroopers the fg-42 is a rare sight on film oh best court steiner commanding the 12th parachute detachment for those using the lewis on the ground it was monstrously heavy scenes like this one from the movie sucker punch required the lewis to be suspended from wire the lewis weighed over 28 pounds though it should be noted this is still considered an advanced design when typical machine guns of the era such as the vickers mark 1 machine gun weighed double that the lewis was one of the few options for a world war one soldier wanting portable automatic fire by 1915 the lewis began replacing vickers machine guns in infantry battalions with vicar's machine guns being given to the new specialist machine gun corps the u.s marine corps and u.s navy would also adopt the lewis gun in the common american 30-6 caliber cartridge and it would see some limited use in the interwar years as well as shown here being used by the national guard during the transfer of the famous gangster john dillinger within the british military those assigned to lewis guns are specialists trained and these firearms are considered both expensive and essential within infantry battalions accounts of the weapons training include being able to strip and rebuild the weapon in its 104 parts correctly blindfolded and within 60 seconds the gun was operated by a team of seven all who carried heavy pans of ammunition in support of the gunner all seven were trained in the gun's use so if the principal gunner was killed they could all take over the position if you can get past the month the country's quite beautiful no though the us marines and navy were using the lewis the weapon was never adopted by the american army which by 1917 adopted the browning automatic rifle a significantly smaller automatic weapon compared to the lewis which itself would become a cumbersome beast by world war ii however the bar would not reach the front by the end of world war one so what do we do next that we wait overall the lewis gun was a successful design for world war one it had an effective firing range of 800 meters and a maximum firing range of 3200 meters which was useful in both trench warfare and in the air the lewis was used by both french and british aircraft notably several zeppelins flying at high altitude were shot down by lewis guns when using phosphorus bullets in world war ii the lewis was replaced by the highly popular bren gun for infantry use in the air and on some vehicles the vickers k with its high rate of fire further replaced it seen here mounted to a british desert jeep they're ours well i'm glad about that the lewis gun did get a second life in world war ii due to the rapid need to reown britain it would see scattered use but it was primarily used as an anti-aircraft gun often dual mounted alright i'm johnny thanks for watching this quick brief on the luis gun as always feel free to share any information on the subject in the comments section and i hope to see you in the next video

Channel: Johnny Johnson

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Keywords: johnny johnson, lewis gun, lewis, machine gun, lewis machine gun, ww1 gun, lewis gun ww1, lewis rifle, gun, ww1 weapons, ww2 weapons, ww1 machine gun, ww1 machine guns, maxum machine gun, german machine gun, british machine gun, american machine gun, war movies, war movie, ww2 movie, ww2 movies, ww1 movies, ww1 movie, ww1 movie scene, ww2 movie scene, battle scenes, war scene, war clip, war scenes, war clips, ww2 movie clips, ww1 movie clips, ww1 movie clip, ww1, war

Id: 1AwJelDrm_g

Length: 8min 14sec (494 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 27 2022