Machine guns also have been
extensively adopted for this duty by all the combatants, their
range of approximately 2,000 yards and rapidity of fire being
distinctly valuable when hostile aircraft descend to an altitude
which brings them within the range of the weapon.
The greatest difficulty in connection with this phase of
artillery, however, is not so much the evolution of a serviceable
and efficient type of gun, as the determination of the type of
projectile which is likely to be most effective. While shrapnel
is employed somewhat extensively it has not proved completely
satisfactory. It is difficult to set the timing fuse even after
the range has been found approximately, which in itself is no
easy matter when the aircraft is moving rapidly and irregularly,
but reliance is placed thereon in the hope that the machine may
happen to be within the cone of dispersion when the shell bursts,
and that one or more of the pieces of projectile and bullets may
chance to penetrate either the body of the airman or a vital part
of the mechanism.
It is this uncertainty which has led to a preference for a direct
missile such as the bullet discharged from a machine gun.
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