Early Anti-Aircraft Weapons

74 The Small Arms Review • Vol. 9 No. 11 • August, 2006

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Early Anti-Aircraft Weaponsby James L. Ballou

Visionaries such as Billy Mitchell and Jimmy Doolittle saw the potential of theaircraft as a weapon of war. The evolution of aircraft weaponry went from bricks,to pistols, to rifles and eventually to machine guns and bombs. As a fledgling, themilitary saw the airplane as an eye in the sky for observations only. The first

machine gun fired from a plane was on June 7, 1912, when Captain Charles DeForest Chandler fired a Lewis light machine gun from a Type B Wrightpusher, flown by Lt. T. Dewitt Milling. The field and test areas were atCollege Park Maryland within sight of the Nation’s Capital.

As the character of aircraft changed from a defensive/observa-tion role to one of offensive capabilities, airborne weaponry consistingof machine guns and bombs soon led to a need to combat the threat ofair power.

This article is a photo journey from a unique historic documentprovided by Dr. James Alley, Ph.D which shows the evolution of anti-aircraft deployment during the World War I years of 1914 to 1918 that

include a Hotchkiss mounted on a wagon wheel to a largeMaxim “Pom Pom” gun mounted on a truck for mobility.

All of these photos, except were noted, were copiedfrom an Army Ordnance 1917-1919 manual, No. 1941, titled;History of Anti-aircraft Guns by W.N. Dickerson, dated Washing-ton, 1920

With the advent of the Aeroplane as an offensive weapon inWWI, countermeasures against aircraft inevitably were developed.In this photo album is a cross section of Allied and German anti-

aircraft weaponry. It has always been a futile habit of infantrymento fire at enemy planes more for morale than effectiveness. It

has been speculated that a Canadian rifleman brought downthe “Cursed” Red Baron of the German Flying Circus. Foot

soldier ingenuity being what it is, more effective means ofanti-aircraft fire were developed.

One of the first and simplest advancements in increas-ing firepower was the 1914 French Hotchkiss ma-

chine gun in 8mm Lebel mounted on a wagon wheelattached to a post. It allowed for a relatively stable

platform that permitted a high degree of eleva-tion with a 360-degree field of fire, fed from

a rigid 30-round feed strip. Later, they de-veloped a four shot strip section that was

attached in groups to form an articulatedbelt in any desired length; particularly

for anti-aircraft use. This becamethe primary combination for use

against low flying aircraft orobservation balloons.

Advancements in cartridge design led to larger calibers, mostnotably the 11mm “balloon buster” capable of carrying an incendiary ortracer charge. This vastly increased the kill ratio.

Several attempts were made to apply the BAR in an anti-air-craft mode. First, the Allies doubled the magazine capacity from 20 to 40rounds. There are pictures in the British Imperial War museum, datedApril 1918, depicting this. There is further documentation in brochuresand a letter written by British Col. R.A. Helmer to confirm this. It is

BAR in anti-aircraft arrange-ment. Note the extended 40-round magazine and specialanti-aircraft sights.

75The Small Arms Review • Vol. 9 No. 11 • August, 2006


apparent that this magazine could only beused on a mounted BAR due to the elon-gated protrusion from the bottom of theweapon.

A second attempt was made by joiningtwo BARs together with a common trig-ger. A photo exists of this “RubeGoldberg” type device, though it seems tohave been a one-time attempt. It wouldhave taken a very nimble operator to droptwo forty round magazines and replacethem.

Another weapon employed was theHotchkiss Revolving Cannon. It was origi-nally developed by an American, BenjaminBerkley Hotchkiss, for use by the Navy.Its unique feature was that each of the fivebarrels was rifled differently so that theshells projected in an elongated, rectan-gular pattern designed to impact the lengthof a large ship. The most common deploy-ment was off the back of a truck, addingmobility.

Another innovation was the develop-ment of the 37mm shell, which was an idealvehicle for an explosive charge. All onewould have to do was deliver the shell inclose proximity and the plane would betaken down.

The Pom Pom gun was thelargest Maxim machine gunmade in 1.1 inch caliber fedby a very large belt spool. Thegun was not utilized by the Allies,but by the Germans, who weregreatly impressed by the firepower.

Eventually, all sorts of machine gunsfrom both the Allied and CentralPowers were used in the anti-air-

craft role: most utilizing makeshift mounts.These included German MG08 and MG08/15s, French Hotchkiss 1914s and 1907 St.Etiennes, British Vickers and Lewis guns,Austrian 07/12 Schwarzloses, Italian 1914FIAT Revellis and US BARs and Marlins.

Ultimately, when enemy aircraft wereoverhead, the eager and undisciplined sol-

dier would fire anything to try to bringit down. This photo selection pro-

vides a unique insight intoWWI anti-aircraft ef-

forts. It also illus-trates the transi-

tion of war-

Above: An experimental twin anti-aircraft setup that clamps two BARs to-gether. Note the curved plate in the center connected to the left-hand gun todeflect cases down and away from the other rifle. Also note the trigger barthat connects the two triggers to fire both simultaneously.

Below: American Doughboys fromBattery E, 6th Field Artillery, Feb-ruary 17, 1918, using a wagon wheelas an anti-aircraft mount for theFrench Hotchkiss Model 1914 ma-chine gun. Using an improvisedwagon wheel in this arrangementwas very common and used by com-batants on both sides using a widevariety of machine guns.

fare from the end of the 19th Century tothe early 20th Century.

Early Anti-Aircraft Weapons



Above Left: Right side view of battle damaged anti-aircraft “Pom Pom” gun. Above Right: Left view of battle damagedanti-aircraft “Pom Pom” gun. Note the fusee cover is blown off and the sprung spring. Below: Marlin Tank Model inanti-aircraft mode on Cygnet type wheeled mount.


77The Small Arms Review • Vol. 9 No. 11 • August, 2006


Above Left: Lewis gun with AA sights and telescoping tripod. This tripod was discarded in favor of MG Tripod Model1918. Note that this is the same tripod as used in the BAR tests. Above Right: Modified Marlin aircraft machine gunwith Browning 1917 belt box. Below: American Doughboys with Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun mounted on a woodanti-aircraft post in “Death Valley” Boise Belleau (Belleau Woods) October 27, 1918. The simple wood post was themost common field expedient method of anti-aircraft employment.





Above: Side view of Gus True’s anti-aircraft setup withtwo Marlin aircraft machine guns showing the ammuni-tion feed device in the open position. Below: From awartime manual showing what the front sight pictureshould look like when used with the BAR, Marlin Tankgun and Lewis gun. Left: German soldiers with gas masksmanning a 1.1 inch “Pom Pom” gun. Note the large beltspool. (Photo courtesy of Burke Fountain)

Early Anti-Aircraft Weapons

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