Magazine box, machine gun, machine gun mounting, model of aeroplane

This display at the Museum of Flight at East Fortune in East Lothian features a machine gun, a machine gun mounting, a box used to store the magazines, and a model of a two-seat Bristol F-2B 'Fighter', which had the Scarff ring mounting on the observer's cockpit. The machine gun and its mounting date from around 1930, the magazine box from around 1940, and the model aeroplane from 1970.

The gun is a .303-inch Lewis machine gun with drum magazine containing 97 rounds. The machine gun mounting, also known as a Scarff ring, was made around 1930 and is designed for a free-moving machine gun, often fitted to the rear cockpit of a two-seater aircraft. The mounting was fitted in the majority of British bomber types in the First World War. The box displays the method by which the rounds were fed by screw mechanism into the gun.

The Scarff ring was named after its designer, a warrant officer Frederick W. Scarff of the Air Department of the Admiralty in 1916. The first aeroplane to be fitted with the Scarff ring was the Sopwith 1.5 Strutter two-seat fighter/bomber. The ring was later fitted to the majority of two/multi-seat bomber types into the 1930s, when the free-mounted Lewis was superseded by power-operated gun turrets.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-190-004-355-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1982.52
• Date: 1970
  c. 1930
  Machine gun & mounting: Around 1930; Magazine box: Around 1940; Model aeroplane: 1970
  
• Material: Aluminium, steel
  Inscription: E2466; I
  Aeroplane / fighter / biplane / model
  Scarff ring / machine gun mounting
  
• Dimensions: 19.75" span x 13.00" x 5.50"
  500 mm H x 810 mm D
  
• What: Aeroplane / fighter / biplane / model
  Scarff ring / machine gun mounting
  
• Subject: 1. AERONAUTICS, Aeroplanes (Departmental Classification)
  1. AERONAUTICS, Equipment (Departmental Classification)
  
• Who: Bristol (Maker of the original aircraft)
  H.J. Boyd, 14 Brougham Place, Edinburgh (Maker)
  Major W.F.J. Harvey (User of the original aircraft)
  Royal Air Force, 22 Squadron (Markings on the model)
  Scarff (Eponym)
  
• Where: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh
  
• Event: World War I
  Model Engineer Exhibition, London
  
• Description: Model of a Bristol F.2B, a British two-seater biplane fighter of World War I, with the 1918 markings of Major W.F.J Harvey of 22 Squadron Royal Air Force, scale 1:24, 1970
  Scarff ring or machine gun mounting, made about 1930, for a free-moving machine gun, often fitted to the rear cockpit of a two-seater aircraft
  
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