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Thornton-Pickard machine gun camera Mk III H (Hythe), 1916-1918
camera, gun, camera
Accession Number

NAM.2008-12-190-1

Description

Thornton-Pickard machine gun camera Mk III H (Hythe), 1916-1918. Magazine is missing, made by converting a Lewis gun into a camera. Associated with World War One, Air Operations (1914-1918). This type of gun camera was used to train aerial gunners during the First World War. The gun is fitted with a box containing the film and a glass reticule that has a target plane imprinted on it. The trainee ’fires’ the gun camera at the ‘target’, which is imprinted on the film and appears in the developed photograph. The trainee also had to change the magazine in flight. Each time the magazine is changed a pin pierces the film, to prove it. From the collection of the former Buffs Regimental Museum.

Campaigns

World War One, Air Operations (1914-1918)

Associated collection