Vickers K (7.7 mm)

Description

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Vehicles equipped with this weapon

This weapon is only mounted on defensive turrets in-game.

General info

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Available ammunition

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Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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History

The origins of the Vickers K go back to before World War I. French civilian engineer André Virgile Paul Marie Berthier, already famous in France for his Berthier rifle and carbine, developed a machine gun around 1910 called the Fusil Mitrailleur Berthier Modèle 1910. He proposed the machine gun for infantry use but it was never adopted. Berthier would continue updating his design through World War I until after the war when he made his final version the Modèle 1920. While it was not accepted by the French to replace the Chautchaut rifles, the design was purchased by Vickers-Armstrong in 1925 for production at the Crayford factory as a replacement for the British Lewis gun. Like the future Bren gun, the Vickers-Berthier is gas-operated with a tilting breech block. In 1933, the design was adopted by British Indian Army. While the British Army did trial it, they instead decided to adopt the Bren.

The Vickers K is a development of the Vickers-Berthier taking the design and improving it for aircraft use with lighter moving parts, a cyclic rate adjustable between 950 and 1,200 rounds per minute, and a 300-round pan drum magazine replacing the original box magazines. The Vickers K was trialled against the Browning for service as an aircraft gun and lost due to the drum magazine creating problems for wing-mounts. However, the lack of supply of Brownings early in the war led to the Vickers K seeing use on some light bombers such as the Fairey Battle and Hampden, and it would be the main turret-mounted armament for the Royal Air Force. As the war progressed, however, the Royal Air Force got increasing numbers of Browning machine guns and started replacing their Vickers K machine guns. A significant number were transferred to Commonwealth Air Forces and would remain in use with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm on Torpedo Strike Reconnaissance aircraft such as the Fairey Swordfish. It would remain in use with the FAA until 1945 with the final squadron to use them being No 812 Squadron's Fairey Barracudas that performed piracy patrols in the waters around Hong Kong. While it stopped seeing service on aircraft, the Vickers K would continue to see service with the British Army and Royal Navy as the Vickers GO No.5.

Media

Vickers Gas-Operated Machine Gun (the Vickers 'K'): An Overview - Vickers MG Collection & Research Association

Vickers "K" - For Aircraft and the SAS/Long Range Desert Group - Forgotten Weapons

See also

• Vickers GO No.5 (7.7 mm): Naval variant of the Vickers K

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
• other literature.

Aircraft machine guns
USA
7.62 mm	Browning · M134 Minigun
12.7 mm	GAU-19 · M2 Browning · M3 Browning
Germany
7.62 mm	MG3
7.92 mm	MG 15 · MG 17 · MG 81
12.7 mm	FN M3P
13 mm	MG 131
USSR
7.62 mm	DA · GShG-7.62 · PKT · PV-1 · ShKAS
12.7 mm	A-12.7 · Berezin UB · TKB-481 · YaK-B
Britain
7.62 mm	FN 60.30 · L8A1
7.7 mm	Browning · Lewis · Vickers E · Vickers K
Japan
7.7 mm	Te-1 · Type 89 · Type 89 'special' · Type 92 · Type 97 navy
7.92 mm	Type 1 · Type 98
12.7 mm	Ho-103 · Ho-104
13 mm	Type 2
13.2 mm	Type 3
China
12.7 mm	QJK99-12.7-1
Italy
7.7 mm	Breda-SAFAT · Lewis
7.92 mm	FN Browning
12.7 mm	Breda-SAFAT · FN M3M · Scotti
France
7.5 mm	Darne 1933 · Fabrique Nationale Mle 38 · FN Browning · MAC 1934 · MAC 1934T · Mle 33 · Mle 1923
7.62 mm	PKA
7.92 mm	FN-Browning M.36 No.3 · FN-Browning M.36 No.4
Sweden
7.7 mm	FN-Browning M.36 No.3
8 mm	Ksp m/22 · Ksp m/22 Fh · Ksp m/22 Fv · Ksp m/22-37 R
12.7 mm	Akan m/39A · Akan m/40 · Akan m/45 · LKk/42
13.2 mm	Akan m/39 · Akan m/39A