As mentioned in another thread, I just finished reading a 1933 biography on Albert Ball. Most accounts of his combats were based on or transcribed from his mission reports, letters (in possession of the Ball family), and his diary, so barring out-and-out misrepresentation of these documents by the author, they speak truth.

Ball pulled the Lewis down on its Foster mount and fired into the belly of not only two seaters, but used this tactic often on fighters as well --both with surprise and while in dogfights! He was not the only one to use the Lewis/Foster in this manner on Nieuports and SE5/SE5a. Someone else in another thread poo-pooed Bishop's staged photograph session (bottom), but given strong evidence of others, I'll take the photo for what it conveys.

Albert Ball in SE5
(note original 'greenhouse' canopy, reviled and removed before service)


Love this one; a great reload image--ah, if only...


And people love to hate him, but can't deny his bravery...


Why have sights if they weren't used???

For the same reason that a whale has a pelvis.

Still, I didn't know it was controversial that the Lewis was fired upward during combat. Plenty of reports mention doing so.

Some research has suggested that the Whale Pelvis may actually be important when a would-be daddy whale and mommy whale collide, as it were.

German ace Fieseler mentioned he mounted a Lewis to his D.VII, to be able to use it at an angle to either shoot at observers from below, or in tight, circling dogfights where he did not nee to bring rhe nose of his plane to aim on the enemy, but the (angled) Lewis.
Angled Lewis gunswere also used against Zeppelins, to shoot at from below, but then often in a double configuration.
The gunsight was left in place for a reason -

... - so he wouldn't collide with whales?

Are you trying to say "form does not follow function". I suppose I could reply that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, but that is just a theory...

Those are some great photo's, I have been reading some WWI aviation books myself and I also wish that we could crank the gun back on the N.11 and the S.E.Va to attack overhead targets.

I suppose if we ask nicely, 777 will give it to us.

It's a request that's been around since 2009. I don't think it's going to happen.

Hey, they might surprise us, one day. It would be a first in any WWI sim, and 777 likes that sort of thing.
He!!, we all like that sort of thing!!! It would be d@mn fine and justified bragging rights.

The two sepia toned pics are from the Wingnuts website Photo Gallery Here, the others just picked up trolling around. That reloading Lewis is a new favorite of mine, should make a nice avatar...

And here is an SE5a from DoA II:

Well, OK, now you blew it...
How did you pull those up so quickly, still have it on your HD?

Was gonna say, there was one or two ww1 sims/games with a working foster mount lewis hehe.
Anyone who claims foster mount not to have a function besides reloading the Lewis need to read a little more, in fact I`m laughing like he!! now because there even are people arguing about it :P

FS-WWI has had a tilt-able Lewis mount since 2002. However, there is no reloading animation...

A tilting Lewis would be great on the S.E.5a, Nieuport 17 or a B.E.2c if one ever got made.

No it would not. Dawn of Aces let you fire the se5's Lewis gun from the reload position. It was quite effective and made the aircraft deadly in a fight. (They also had zeppelins and you could easily kill a zeppelin with the lewis gun in reload position by dropping on their tail in their blind stop and opening up with all your lewis ammo.)

I couldnt find any pictures of it in use but you will just have to trust me that you could.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~frontacs/DOAcharts/Aircraft/SE5a.html

OK, OK, enough! The other posts said as much, I recant, but if I edit my post you'll all look pretty dumb.
Maybe I should have said "recent WWI flight sim"

Well... Flyboys Squadron was released in 2006 and RoF in 2009 so I dont think that statement would fly either. (Flyboys Squadron is a rerelease of Dawn of Aces II with a single player campaign.)

Kind of reminds me of incendiary ammunition, a feature that existed decades ago but which has dropped away with more recent WW1 sims.

Then maybe I should have said ones with airplanes that don't look cardboard cutouts...

Nitpick much?

The Lewis gun is a mixed bag. Th flexibility of firing it on a Foster mount could be an advantage. The disadvantage was the need to reload after 90 rounds. I have heard plenty of accounts from SE5a pilots where they would fire the first drum from the Lewis and then forget about it for the rest of the combat, using only the Vickers from there on. It would be great to see both advantages and disadvantages modeled. Not an easy task - the animations alone would be time consuming, never mind modeling the need to fly reasonable straight and level during the reload process.

Albert Ball's letters/reports do mention the 'fun times' reloading his Lewis.

My turn to nitpick, the double Lewis drum has 97 rounds, the single 47 rounds. The double drum was developed sometime in 1916 but correct me if wrong, I don't have a date. So earlier aircraft like DH2 and N11 should be using single drum, I think...

Yes, by all means, bring on the pros and cons! Have it as a realism choice in the settings. Let people buy it as a realism choice, though not sure if that would work out in MP...

I say just model it realistically. If you dont want to do a timer just put in a reload countdown that resets if you are not flying level.

Also... add the foster mount reload firing.

Love your reply,Brilliant.