Even a ground spec Lewis will cost you about 5K now – the batch of 12 that came in earlier this year in about late February/March were going for £2250, and all sold within a week, I know two people with them, fortunately they were all fitted with the carrying handle, which makes things easier for those lugging them about.
Even if you got a ground spec Lewis and wanted to convert it to an air one, be more than just taking the jacket off, as under the jacket there are rows of cooling fins – here’s a photo of one dug up on the WW1 Battlefields with the jacket rusted away.
If the chap wanted a de-activated one and couldn’t find a stripped down air spec Lewis, could always just use a ground spec one and change the butt to the handle and keep the cooling jacket etc, as some aircraft (such as the Vickers Gunbus like at Hendon) kept the cooling jacket on.
Interesting bit of Lewis trivia – in WW2 when WW1 era stripped down Lewis’s were used in the ground role, it was found that the lack of the cooling fins and jacket had no detrimental effect on the weapon, and could work fine without it, even in the desert. Interestingly, the AA Lewis guns fitted to ships on the Arctic convoys manned by the Army kept the cooling jackets on!
Oh, and if anyone wants some WW1 and WW2 Lewis gun pouches, let me know, i’ve got some up for sale
Fairey Rotodyne model
Javelin and Vulcan wind tunnel models
Grahame-White aircraft factory propeller
Sign In
