The Davis gun was the first true

recoilless gun A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...

developed and taken into service. It was developed by

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

Cleland Davis of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1910, just prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Development

Davis' design connected two guns back to back, with the backwards-facing gun loaded with

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

balls and grease of the same weight as the

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

in the other gun, acting as a counter. His idea was used experimentally by the British and Americans as an anti-

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

and anti-

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

weapon mounted on the British Handley Page O/100 and O/400

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s and the American

Curtiss Twin JN The Curtiss Twin JN (retrospectively called the Model 1B and also known as the JN-5) was an experimental aircraft built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company for the United States Army Air Service. It was a biplane, designed for observatio ...

and

Curtiss HS-2L The Curtiss HS was a single-engined patrol flying boat built for the United States Navy during World War I. Large numbers were built from 1917 to 1919, with the type being used to carry out anti-submarine patrols from bases in France from June 1 ...

and H-16

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

s. The direct development of the gun ended with the end of World War I in November 1918, but the firing principle has been copied by later designs.

Description

The gun was made in three sizes 2-pounder, 6-pounder and 12-pounder; , , and in caliber respectively, firing , , and shells. The 3-inch gun carried a pressure of 15 tons per square inch (2,109 kg per cm²) when fired. Usually a Lewis machine gun was mounted on top of the Davis gun's barrel for use in sighting and as an auxiliary and

anti-aircraft weapon Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

Aircraft used

The gun was tested on various aircraft and some aircraft were designed to carry the gun: *

Airco DH.4 The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Ai ...

* Armstrong-Whitworth FK.5 and FK.6 - "escort fighter" triplane *

Curtiss F5L The twin-engine F5L was one of the Felixstowe F series of flying boats developed by John Cyril Porte at the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe, England, during the First World War for production in America. A civilian version of the air ...

- patrol flying boat used by US Navy *

Felixstowe Porte Baby The Felixstowe Porte Baby (also known as the Porte F.B.2) was a British reconnaissance flying boat of the First World War, first flying in 1915. Design and development The Porte Baby was designed by John Cyril Porte RN at the naval air statio ...

- large flying boat * Handley-Page O/100 - twin engined bombers with 6pdr Davis gun added for ground attack and anti-submarine * Handley-Page O/400 - larger version of the O/400 * Naval Aircraft Factory N-1 - patrol floatplane designed by US Navy, four prototypes built, project canceled *

Short Type 184 The Short Admiralty Type 184, often called the Short 225 after the power rating of the engine first fitted, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folding-wing seaplane designed by Horace Short of Short Brothers. It ...

Short 310 The Short Type 320, also known as the Short Admiralty Type 320, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo-carrying "folder" seaplane of the First World War. Design and development The Short Type 320 was designed to meet an off ...

-B seaplane *Pemberton-Billing PB.29E * Pemberton-Billing PB.31E - long endurance anti-Zeppelin night fighter with 37mm Davis gun, prototypes only * Robey-Peters RRF.25 Gun-carrier - two Davis guns. Single prototype for Royal Navy completed

Surviving examples

There are examples at the Naval Aviation Museum at

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

, the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

in London, and the

Kentucky Historical Society The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) was originally established in 1836 as a private organization. It is an agency of the Kentucky state government that records and preserves important historical documents, buildings, and artifacts of Kentucky's ...

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the prin ...

References

External links

Patent 1108714

Patent 1108717
Recoilless rifles of the United States World War I aircraft guns {{Artillery-stub