Frederick William Lanchester, Aircraft in Warfare — Appendix (1916)
“ The resulting "breaks" in the continuity of discharge do not seriously affect the value of the arm in general usage, and in aeroplane fighting they count for nothing. The advantage, on the other hand, of a gun with no "appendages," which can be directed upward or downward or to any point of the compass at will, is one of real and decisive value. ”
Frederick William Lanchester, Aircraft in Warfare — Appendix (1916)
“ In aeronautical fighting a machine gun is never required to work continuously for any length of time, and the problem under these conditions presents no difficulty: in other fields of usefulness the reverse is the case, and calculations given later in the present appendix give some idea of the real difficulty of the problem, the solution of which has been achieved by the inventor of this weapon. ”
Frederick William Lanchester, Aircraft in Warfare — Appendix (1916)
“ The comparison with an ordinary petrol motor is closer than might be supposed, since the energy and heat account, in the rifle barrel and the motor cylinder respectively, is almost identical, in spite of the diversity of the conditions. Thus the thermal efficiency in the region of 25%, in other words, about one quarter of the heat energy of the fuel on the one hand, or explosive on the other, is converted into mechanical work. ”
