Lewis gun and cooling
Just looked further on the cooling dilemma so wanted to add as we look more into this:
Apparently the LEWIS guns were indeed air cooled and actually DID have a heat shroud.
What I found says these had a finned cast aluminum 'heat sink' around the barrel covered by a tubular heat shroud.This was open at both ends to allow air to be drawn in and pass through and over the cooling fins to dissipate radiated heat.
There seems to have been a misconception that the shroud held water, since disproven according to the online source.
These Lewis guns were produced in Belgium but later also by the Savage Arms Co. in New York, previously mentioned with the Indian chief with headdress logo they used and adopted by the famed Lafayette Escadrille.
As a side note on these early machine guns, not related to these larger aviation guns, on the Thompson sub machine gun.
Years ago in the early days of my career in airline passenger service, pre-security, guns were often carried aboard flights, and until the first hijackings there seemed little concern.
I can recall one instance where a guy was transporting with him, one of these THOMPSON'S!!! but without the drum ubiquitous in the familiar 'mobster' scenes. While it seemed unusual, but notable at the time, looking back at that instance now, it seems incredibly bizarre!
To indulge this digression slightly further, one old gentleman who had been an FBI agent in the 30s, had amazing tales and told me that in the 'city' they only used service revolvers, and only used the 'tommies' in more rural situations. I wished I had more time to talk with him but as always in airports, time dominates.
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