Article: Aircraft Armament

AIRCRAFT ARMAMENT

AIRCRAFT ARMAMENT, the weapons carried on a plane for offensive attack or for defense against enemy aircraft and ground targets. Early warplanes tended to carry either a small-caliber weapon capable of a high number of strikes per second or a larger, slower-firing weapon capable of high penetration and destruction. As technology advanced, aircraft often began to be outfitted with both.

The early, low-powered American fighter aircraft of World War I carried a single drum-fed Lewis gun, which was difficult for the pilot to reload single-handedly. With the development of more powerful aircraft engines and synchronized guns, planes began to be outfitted with twin belt-fed ...

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