1.59 inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II
Encyclopedia
The 1.59-inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II was a British light artillery piece designed during World War I
. Originally intended for use in trench warfare
, it was instead tested for air-to-air and air-to-ground use by aircraft. Although it fired shells and had no capability to launch rocket
s, it was widely but misleadingly known as the "Vickers-Crayford rocket gun."
designed the gun early in World War I, intending it as a piece of light artillery for use by infantry
in trench
es in attacking machine gun
positions and pillboxes
. To make it portable for infantry use, it was very small and light for a gun of its calibre. Its light construction dictated that it had to have a low muzzle velocity
, which in turn resulted in it having a short range. It was too light to withstand the detonation of standard British explosive propellants, so its ammunition used ballistite
packed in cambric
bags instead. The gun fired a 1.2-pound (0.54 kg) high-explosive shell at 800 feet (244 metres) per second; it also could fire an armour-piercing
round at 1,000 feet (305 metres) per second. The guns 40x79R cartridge was a shortened version of the naval 40x158R anti-aircraft cartridge, with the shell case reduced from 158 mm (6.22 inches) to 79 mm (3.11 inches) in length.
The gun did not reload automatically; the gunner had to extract the empty case of a fired cartridge manually and reload the gun after firing each round, which gave it a low rate of fire. It had a simple block breech
with percussion gear and was mounted on a non-recoiling frame consisting of a hydraulic buffer, trunnion block, and rear guide tube. Hand grips were mounted on the guide tube. The gun had a large muzzle brake
to reduce recoil
.
Vickers manufactured the gun at its plant in Crayford
, England
.
With the gun no longer wanted in the trenches, it was decided to adapt it for use on aircraft as an air-to-air weapon against airship
s and observation balloon
s and for use against ground targets such as train
s, ammunition dump
s, and tank
s. When mounted aboard aircraft, the gun could fire incendiary
, armor-piercing, and high-explosive cartridges. The incendiary shell in flight emitted very hot flames from two openings in its base, which made it look as if the gun had fired a rocket; this led to the guns misleading but widely used popular name of "Vickers-Crayford rocket gun."
The gun was approved for aircraft use in 1917. For operational testing, it was fitted to F.E.2b
aircraft of Nos. 100
and 102 Squadrons
, Royal Flying Corps
, in April 1917. The squadrons tested it on night operations and reported mixed results. No. 102 Squadrons Captain T. J. C. Martin, an F.E.2b pilot, reported that his observer
stopped a train after firing about 30 rounds at it, and that it took his observer 30 minutes to fire 50 aimed rounds; he submitted an enthusiastic report on the gun and its potential. No. 100 Squadron, however, reported problems with the gun; its report stated, "Sometimes the shell does not leave the barrel
for some time after the striker
has been released;"
in one incident, a gunner who thought the gun had misfired was about to open the breech to remove what he thought was a hung round when the shell went off in a shower of sparks. This led the squadron to require gunners to wait five minutes before removing a misfire. The gun also suffered from weak trigger springs and some of its shells had defective primers.
It was hoped that the gun would prove useful in attacking German airships over the United Kingdom, mounted on British fighters so as to be able to fire upward into an airship flying above the fighter. Plans to mount the gun on the Parnall Scout fighter apparently did not come to fruition. At the request of the War Office
, Vickers built a single prototype
of the Vickers F.B.25
two-seat night fighter
to employ the gun, but the F.B.25 failed its operational tests and crashed in May 1917 on the way to Martlesham Heath
. The Royal Aircraft Factory N.E.1
night fighter also mounted the gun; six N.E.1 prototypes were built and began flying in the autumn of 1917, but lacked the performance to enter operational service.
After the failure of both the F.B.25 and N.E.1 to win production orders, interest in operational employment of the 1.59-inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II appears to have waned; moreover, the introduction of an incendiary round for use in machine guns had made aerial use of the gun less desirable. The gun was withdrawn from use entirely, apparently by no later than the end of World War I.
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Originally intended for use in trench warfare
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
, it was instead tested for air-to-air and air-to-ground use by aircraft. Although it fired shells and had no capability to launch rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
s, it was widely but misleadingly known as the "Vickers-Crayford rocket gun."
Design
VickersVickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
designed the gun early in World War I, intending it as a piece of light artillery for use by infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
in trench
Trench
A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground. Trenches are generally defined by being deeper than they are wide , and by being narrow compared to their length ....
es in attacking machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
positions and pillboxes
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
. To make it portable for infantry use, it was very small and light for a gun of its calibre. Its light construction dictated that it had to have a low muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
, which in turn resulted in it having a short range. It was too light to withstand the detonation of standard British explosive propellants, so its ammunition used ballistite
Ballistite
Ballistite is a smokeless propellant made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by Alfred Nobel in the late 19th century.-The development of smokeless powders:...
packed in cambric
Cambric
Cambric, pronounced , "one of the finest and most dense species of the cloth manufacture", is a lightweight plain weave cloth, originally from Cambrai, woven in greige, then bleached and piece-dyed, often glazed or calendered. Initially made from flax, then cotton in the 19th century, it is also...
bags instead. The gun fired a 1.2-pound (0.54 kg) high-explosive shell at 800 feet (244 metres) per second; it also could fire an armour-piercing
Armor-piercing shot and shell
An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...
round at 1,000 feet (305 metres) per second. The guns 40x79R cartridge was a shortened version of the naval 40x158R anti-aircraft cartridge, with the shell case reduced from 158 mm (6.22 inches) to 79 mm (3.11 inches) in length.
The gun did not reload automatically; the gunner had to extract the empty case of a fired cartridge manually and reload the gun after firing each round, which gave it a low rate of fire. It had a simple block breech
Rifled breech loader
A rifled breech loader is an artillery piece which, unlike the smooth-bore cannon and rifled muzzle loader which preceded it, has rifling in the barrel and is loaded from the breech at the rear of the gun....
with percussion gear and was mounted on a non-recoiling frame consisting of a hydraulic buffer, trunnion block, and rear guide tube. Hand grips were mounted on the guide tube. The gun had a large muzzle brake
Muzzle brake
Muzzle brakes and recoil compensators are devices that are fitted to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon to redirect propellant gases with the effect of countering both recoil of the gun and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire...
to reduce recoil
Recoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
.
Vickers manufactured the gun at its plant in Crayford
Crayford
Crayford is a town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bexley that was an important bridging point in Roman times across the River Cray, a tributary of the River Darent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.-History:...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Operational history
The concept of using the 1.59-inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II in the trenches was superseded by that of the trench mortar, which was simpler, cheaper, easily portable, and more effective.With the gun no longer wanted in the trenches, it was decided to adapt it for use on aircraft as an air-to-air weapon against airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
s and observation balloon
Observation balloon
Observation balloons are balloons that are employed as aerial platforms for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Their use began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War I, and they continue in limited use today....
s and for use against ground targets such as train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s, ammunition dump
Ammunition dump
An ammunition dump, ammunition compound, ammunition depot, bomb dump, ammunition supply point or ammo dump, is a military storage facility for live ammunition and explosives....
s, and tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s. When mounted aboard aircraft, the gun could fire incendiary
Incendiary ammunition
-World War I:One of the first uses of incendiary ammunition occurred in World War I. At the time, phosphorus—the primary ingredient in the incendiary charge—ignited upon firing, leaving a trail of blue smoke. They were also known as 'smoke tracer' for this reason. The effective range of...
, armor-piercing, and high-explosive cartridges. The incendiary shell in flight emitted very hot flames from two openings in its base, which made it look as if the gun had fired a rocket; this led to the guns misleading but widely used popular name of "Vickers-Crayford rocket gun."
The gun was approved for aircraft use in 1917. For operational testing, it was fitted to F.E.2b
Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2
The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2 was a two-seat pusher biplane that was operated as a day and night bomber and as a fighter aircraft by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War...
aircraft of Nos. 100
No. 100 Squadron RAF
No. 100 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is based at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, UK, and operates the Hawker-Siddeley Hawk.-World War I:No. 100 was established on 23 February 1917 at Hingham in Norfolk as the Royal Flying Corps' first squadron formed specifically as a night bombing unit and...
and 102 Squadrons
No. 102 Squadron RAF
No. 102 Squadron was a Royal Air Force night bomber squadron in World War I and a heavy bomber squadron in World War II. After the war it flew briefly as a transport squadron before being reformed a light bomber unit with the Second Tactical Air Force within RAF Germany. Its last existence was as a...
, Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
, in April 1917. The squadrons tested it on night operations and reported mixed results. No. 102 Squadrons Captain T. J. C. Martin, an F.E.2b pilot, reported that his observer
Air observer
An air observer is a British term for a military aircrew member whose duties are predominantly reconnaissance. The term originates in the First World War in the Royal Flying Corps, and was maintained by its successor, the Royal Air Force...
stopped a train after firing about 30 rounds at it, and that it took his observer 30 minutes to fire 50 aimed rounds; he submitted an enthusiastic report on the gun and its potential. No. 100 Squadron, however, reported problems with the gun; its report stated, "Sometimes the shell does not leave the barrel
Gun barrel
A gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity....
for some time after the striker
Firing pin
A firing pin or striker is part of the firing mechanism used in a firearm or explosive device e.g. an M14 landmine or bomb fuze. Firing pins may take many forms, though the types used in landmines, bombs, grenade fuzes or other single-use devices generally have a sharpened point...
has been released;"
in one incident, a gunner who thought the gun had misfired was about to open the breech to remove what he thought was a hung round when the shell went off in a shower of sparks. This led the squadron to require gunners to wait five minutes before removing a misfire. The gun also suffered from weak trigger springs and some of its shells had defective primers.
It was hoped that the gun would prove useful in attacking German airships over the United Kingdom, mounted on British fighters so as to be able to fire upward into an airship flying above the fighter. Plans to mount the gun on the Parnall Scout fighter apparently did not come to fruition. At the request of the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
, Vickers built a single prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
of the Vickers F.B.25
Vickers F.B.25
|-See also:- References :* Bruce, J. M. War Planes of the First World War:Volume Three Fighters. London:Macdonald, 1969. ISBN 0 356 01490 8....
two-seat night fighter
Night fighter
A night fighter is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility...
to employ the gun, but the F.B.25 failed its operational tests and crashed in May 1917 on the way to Martlesham Heath
Martlesham Heath
Martlesham Heath village is situated 6 miles east of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield...
. The Royal Aircraft Factory N.E.1
Royal Aircraft Factory N.E.1
|-See also:-Notes: The Vickers-Crayford, although called the "rocket gun," was a lightweight single shot 40-mm gun that fired shells. It was officially known as the 1.59-inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II.-References:...
night fighter also mounted the gun; six N.E.1 prototypes were built and began flying in the autumn of 1917, but lacked the performance to enter operational service.
After the failure of both the F.B.25 and N.E.1 to win production orders, interest in operational employment of the 1.59-inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II appears to have waned; moreover, the introduction of an incendiary round for use in machine guns had made aerial use of the gun less desirable. The gun was withdrawn from use entirely, apparently by no later than the end of World War I.