Type 92 machine gun

The Type 92 7.7mm machine gun (九二式七粍七機銃, Kyūni-shiki nana-miri-nana kijū) was developed for aerial use for the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1932. The Type 92 is a light machine gun and not to be confused with the similarly named Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun.

This article is about the aircraft-mounted machine gun. For the heavy machine gun, see Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun.
Type 92 machine gun
A Type 92 machine gun, with a 97-round drum magazine and ring-type AA sight. Note the distinctive trigger guard.
TypeMachine gun
Service history
WarsWorld War II
Specifications
Mass8.5 kg (19 lb)
Length980 mm (39 in)
Barrel length666 mm (26.2 in)
Cartridge7.7x56R Type 87 IJN
Caliber7,7mm ( .303")
ActionGas
Rate of fire600 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity743 m/s (2,440 ft/s)
Feed system47 or 97-round pan magazine
SightsIron

Description

It was the standard hand-held machine gun in multi-place IJN aircraft during the most part of the Pacific War. It proved to be seriously inadequate. Aircraft produced in the later part of the conflict often were equipped with weapons such as Type 1 and Type 2 machine guns or Type 99 cannon.

Essentially a copy of the shroudless post-World War I aircraft-mounted version of the British Lewis gun, the Type 92 was fed with a 97-round drum magazine and used on a flexible mount. It was chambered in a Japanese copy of the .303 British cartridge. The main external difference between the two models was the trigger guard, and cooling fins around the barrel and gas piston tube. Neither the post-World War I British aircraft Lewis nor the Japanese copy featured the distinctive thick barrel shroud of the original gun (although ground-based versions generally retained it). It was removed as it was found that the airflow past the aircraft was sufficient for cooling the barrel and eliminating the shroud reduced the mass.

Installations

See also

Notes
  1. Collier, Basil Japanese Aircraft of World War II Mayflower Books (1979) ISBN 0-8317-5137-1 pp.62-63
  2. Collier, Basil Japanese Aircraft of World War II Mayflower Books (1979) ISBN 0-8317-5137-1 p.101

References
  • Tagaya, Osamu. Imperial Japanese Naval Aviator 1937-45 ISBN 978-1-84176-385-9
  • McNab, Chris. Twentieth-century Small Arms ISBN 1-84013-381-3
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