Yes and No.
You have to remember that in 1915-16 they were pretty much making it up as they went along, so there was a fair amount of creativity at Squadron level when it came to rigging up guns.
Basically if the aeroplane could get off the ground with the weight on board and the observer didn’t shoot his own propeller off it was regarded as fair game!
The FE2b originally had a single Lewis gun on a No.2 Mk1 mounting, a simple loop mounting made of steel tube. That allowed the observer (in the front seat) to fire forwards, some side movement and by standing up (:eek: ), to fire almost vertically down.
In later service, FE2b and d models both sometimes sprouted a second gun, mounted just ahead of the pilot’s cockpit, firing backwards over his head and the propellor. As you can see by the attached pictures (courtesy of http://www.earlyaviator.com), it required some gymnastics on the part of the observer!
All BE-2 types were flown from the rear cockpit, with the observer in the front. Initially of course the BEs were unarmed, but later the “Strange Mount” developed by Lt Louis Strange, allowed a gun to be fired either diagonally forwards (hopefully, but not always, missing the prop, struts, wires etc). It could additionally be pulled backwards, over the observer’s head, to fire to the rear above the pilot. (See final pic Copyright the Australian War Memorial)
Hope that’s of help. There might be few more pictures of interest for you on our website http://www.biggles-biplane.com
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