I don't know a lot of this. I'm just having fun guessing, and I've been right in two out of my four so-far three questions. :p

Mr.Electric asked:

Quote:

Did Rickenbacker fly a Camel?

No.

Never.



Rickenbacker exclusively flew Spad aircraft.

To be specific he spent a little time in a Spad 7.

However, he spent almost his entire combat career in a Spad 13. Fine, fine aircraft.

That said......i've shot down a few in my Pfalz D. XII.

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So we have one definite Sopwith Snipe from Black Rider.


We have one definite Sopwith Camel from FSW.


We have one probable Sopwith Camel from Mr.Electric.


The drama builds.


Shoot.....wrong emote.


The drama builds.

Looking at the date, I have eliminated two...but, that leaves many choices...so, I am going to say.....due to the dates of sopwith's, that I learned earlier, when it was still open-book .....

Sopwith Dolphin.

So......we have one Sopwith Snipe from Black Rider.


Two Sopwith Camels from FSW and Mr.Electric.


Bringing up the rearguard is one Sopwith Dolphin (a fine, fine ground--attack plane) from L8T.


I wait, at this point, to hear from Intrigued1 and any others (although i'll probably not hear from any others ).


I'll give the correct answer and pose a new question tomorrow.

Me and that dolphin will be in the back of the class, or Rearguard as GW says.....

Which person to copy an answer from???

I will stick with Black Rider and the original answer pack.

I feel a lot of pressure. Hope my ignorance is correct.

OMGosh.....am I hallucinating??

A girl??

A girl on the *Militaria* thread??

No way....... Fifty--two pages and no females.

I am having a hallucination.

Can't be. I have not done any drugs since 1980. Straight since then.....and my accepting CHRIST.

Is she a girl??



Yeah......she's a woman. No doubt. (I are smart like that)



Well then Musclecar1975.......welcome to our little area of the board. We'll clean it up a little and try to keep the language in check......if you keep posting here.

Good to have you here Musclecar1975. BTW that was the year I graduated from high school and turned 18. Good year.


Points, including the answer and a new question.

1. The question:

"On October 27, 1918 the Canadian ace, superb pilot, and superb marksman with his machine guns, did what still seems like the impossible. William "Billy" Barker found himself engaged by at least 60 German fighters. Barker did not really go looking for this one--sided battle, he more or less wandered into the midst of that large German formation. The Germans comprised three types of airplane, Fokker D. VII, Albatros D. V, and Albatros D. Va fighters. Barker actually shot down four of the Germans before he was himself shot down and crash--landed behind Allied lines. He spent the remainder of the war in a hospital recovering from wounds received in that battle.

Barker was flying a Sopwith fighter. What type was it?

Sopwith Camel

Sopwith Baby

Sopwith Salamander

Sopwith Snipe

Sopwith Pup

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter

Sopwith Triplane

Sopwith Cuckoo

Sopwith Dolphin"




2. The answers:

FSW said Sopwith Camel.

Musclecar1975, Black Rider, L8T, Intrigued1 voted for the Sopwith Snipe. They are the *Gang Of Four*. The stupid and illiterate quake in fear.

Mr.Electric said Sopwith Camel.




3. And the correct answer is.........(Insert drumroll sounds here)......Sopwith Snipe.

William Barker was flying a Snipe on that day. Only about 100 Snipes saw combat before the Armistice on November 11, 1918 ending WW I.




4. New question.

The Sopwith Camel had two machine guns whose breeches were enclosed by an extension of the fuselage fairing which looked like a *hump* and gave the plane its name. These two machine guns were placed directly in front of the cockpit. These machine guns were two:

A--Brownings

B--Vickers

C--Lewis Guns

D--Richardus Burtonus Boom--Booms

E--Maxims



Decide.

Don't cheat. *Squashnar The Powerful* will know if you cheat.

We be right another time. We is intelli...intel....we be smart.

vickers ????? hmmmmm......

After pondering the question, here's my answer.....

Quote:

The Sopwith Camel had two machine guns whose breeches were enclosed by an extension of the fuselage fairing which looked like a *hump* and gave the plane its name. These two machine guns were placed directly in front of the cockpit. These machine guns were two: A--Brownings B--Vickers C--Lewis Guns D--Richardus Burtonus Boom--Booms E--Maxims

My answer: I think the two machine guns were British-made Vickers.

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I'm going with Brownings...because it is the only name I recognize...plus, they have been making high-quality firearms since the late 1800's......So, yeah, I go with an obvious answer, John Moses Browning.

Brownings were American made and the plane was British. I don't remember Lewis guns being used in the air, though I may be forgetting. I know nothing about Maxims so i'll say Vickers.

I was going to say Brownings because, like L8T, it was the only one I recognized. But am I ready to break the Gang of 4....?


No---I will go with Vickers.

I really have no idea, the only Sopwith Camel I am familiar with is Snoopy's and I don't recall seeing guns on his.

Points:


1. The tally of answers is thus, so far:

L8T says the answer is two American made Browning machine guns mounted above the engine cowling, in the Sopwith Camel's *hump*, and firing forward through the propeller arc.

Musclecar1975, Black Rider, Mr.Electric, and Intrigued1 all say the answer is two British made Vickers machine guns mounted above the engine cowling, in the Sopwith Camel's *hump*, and firing forward through the propeller arc.




2. I await the answer by FSW and when I get it......I shall then provide the correct answer and ask a new question. (About the Sopwith Camel. I was not kidding when I said, earlier, that I could ask questions about this one piece of military hardware for......weeks)




3. Black Rider said:

Quote:

I don't remember Lewis guns being used in the air.......

Actually, the Lewis machine gun was used a great deal by the Allies in the air during WW I. The Lewis gun was fed ammunition by a top mounted, circular drum. The Lewis was used on recon, bombers, and was a favorite of Allied fighter pilots.

On recon and bomber aircraft Lewis machine guns were either used in single gun or double gun, tandem mountings. Either single gun, or double guns, both were mounted on scarff ring mountings that allowed the gunner to swing the Lewis gun(s) from side to side and cover with gunfire the rear 1/3 of his aircraft.

On fighters the mounting of the Lewis machine gun was vastly different. The Lewis gun was always used singly and mounted on top of the top wing on the WW I biplanes. By mounting the Lewis up so high it was able to fire above the propeller arc and could have a very high rate of fire because there was no machine gun firing interrupter gear/mechanism needed, which allowed the gun(s) to fire forward through the revolving propeller, thus in effect slowing their maximum rate of fire to protect the plane's propeller. The upper wing mounted Lewis gun had no such problem slowing its rate of fire.

The only thing which was a royal pain in the butt to fighter pilots employing the top wing mounted Lewis gun was when the drum on top of the gun ran out of ammunition. When that happened the pilot had to run the Lewis down a *sled* by using a cable, replace the empty drum with a full one, and then run the gun back up the *sled* onto its wing mounting, using that same cable. While the pilot was doing all this he had to fly his plane in a dogfight as well.




4. Yeah......when FSW the correct answer will come sooner than later. In fact, whether he answers or not......the correct answer will come soon.

_________________
"The 'farce' is strong with Sith Lord Obama-Wan." words of Scourge.

"Uh....You can believe me....Uh....because I never lie, and....Uh....Uh....I am always right." words of Sith Lord Obama-Wan.

Daddy likes it all, the DraíodóirDé likes it all