From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Comparison of gun dimensions and installation difficulties in various fighter aircraft wings.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 176\1\ img057 | |
| Date | 17th November 1938 | |
| Cont'd.{John DeLooze - Company Secretary} The plan width of our gun is 1.100 in. more than that of the Browning. In the case of the Spitfire this causes difficulty with installing the gun plus clip chute into the existing bay in the wing. When all the guns are in one bay as they are in the Hurricane it causes a greater difficulty in gun spacing. Apart from the virtue of cheaper and more simple manufacture, about which we are not in a position to speak the type A.A. gun has nothing to give it preference over the corresponding Browning. We suggest that it might be possible to reduce the overall height and width by small but numerous design changes, but we do not know enough to speak about this. In a wing such as that of the new Phillips and Powis Fighter, no difficulty would be experienced with the dimensions referred to, but we anticipate it will occur on most all metal high speed craft. It will be obvious that in the case of the Turret Mounting the added width is a real disadvantage. Enclosures - marked up print of QAL110. Print of QPL.111. Print of QPL.131. | ||