The Junkers J.I. had two downward-facing machine guns that were used for strafing.
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Pharmacist's Mate Third Class Durant was posthumously awarded the Silver Star medal for his devotion to duty in caring for the wounded and courage in facing machine gun and sniper fire in an attempt to rescue a wounded man.
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Becker's tally included three shot down by crewman Karl-Ludwig Johanssen with his MG-131 rearward-facing machine gun. Martin Becker flew 110 wartime missions. As an observer he flew 27 operations and as a night fighter pilot he flew on 83 interceptions. He was officially credited with 58 aerial victories.
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The engine nacelle was extended to carry a rear-facing machine gun, while other guns were mounted in the centre fuselage and nose. All were 7.7 mm (.303 in) Breda-SAFAT machine guns. Bombs up to 640 kg/1,410 lb (4 × 160 kg/350 lb) were carried under the wings.
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Despite facing machine gun fire, the men captured Le Hamel and Arromanches after a hard fight. By the end of D-Day , the 1st Battalion had suffered 182 casualties, 64 of them being killed in action.Scott Daniell, p. 219 The Battalion started a three-week fight for the village of Hottot, against the German Panzer-Lehr-Division, in June 1944.
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The Gotha included an important innovation in the form of a "gun tunnel", whereby the underside of the rear fuselage was arched, early versions allowing placement of a rearward-facing machine gun, protecting against attack from below, removing the blind spot. Later versions expanded the tunnel to remove the lower gun, providing a slot in the upper fuselage that allowed the rear gunner to remain stationary.
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Designed and built by the Yugoslav state factory, the Type 213 was first flown in 1949, a cantilever low-wing monoplane powered by a Ranger SVG-770-CB1 engine. The prototype had a conventional landing gear which retracted forward, the second prototype and production aircraft had a wider track main gear that retracted inwards. It had an enclosed cockpit for the instructor and student in tandem under a long glazed canopy. For training the Vihor had two forward-facing machine guns and could carry up to 100 kg of bombs.
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Imperial War Museum, Manchester, UK The A7V was armed with six 7.92 mm MG08 machine guns and a 5.7 cm Maxim-Nordenfelt cannon mounted at the front. Some of these cannons were of British manufacture and had been captured in Belgium early in the war; others were captured in Russia in 1918 and appear to have included some Russian-made copies. Some A7Vs originally were built with two forward-facing machine guns instead of a 57 mm gun. Most were converted to carry a 57 mm before entering service.
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Turning his attention to the ships on the open water, he picked out one of the anchored cruisers, which he identified as Southampton, as his target and tipped into an 80º dive. As the aircraft dove, the top part of the cockpit canopy broke, taking the rear-facing machine gun with it. Despite this, Pohle continued his attack, releasing his bombs at . According to Pohle, turned towards the north bank of the estuary, where he planned to orbit and observe the second wave's attack. Meantime, Storp's group arrived, commencing their attack at 14:38.
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At first the Germans had been apprehensive of the British gunfire but found that their return fire held back their opponents. The attack on the German left flank obtained surprise but the fortuitous arrival of a third company of German reinforcements by train from Kamina enabled the attack to be repulsed. The order to retire was given overnight and was unwelcome, because the defenders believed that they could delay the Allies for much longer, given the strength of the position and casualties of only thirteen men. The British troops found the experience of facing machine-gun fire demoralising and the British machine-guns had been much less effective.
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Of two prototypes started, only one was completed, flying on 17 October 1940, the first flight was delayed due to problems with the Niagara V engines which had a vibration problem. The prototype had stability problems and poor stall handling not helped by the under-powered engines. Airspeed were asked to respond to a proposal to re-engine the aircraft with two Armstrong Whitworth Cheetah XI radial engines and add rear-facing machine guns. Only a preliminary proposal had been made and the second aircraft was not complete when on 17 February 1941 the Navy cancelled the fleet shadower program along with the AS.39, the company were requested to scrap both aircraft.
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Operational instructions issued by BAFF included a warning that The RAF had tried to improve the performance of its aircraft; streamlining the Blenheim had added to its speed. To remedy the vulnerability of Battles to attacks from below, a rear-facing machine-gun was fitted to the bomb-aimer's position but "...it needed a contortionist to fire it....", Fairey designed a well in the floor of the bomb aiming position for the gunner to lie prone facing the rear but the change would need three months for development and testing. With in storage, the modifications could be done at Fairey and the aircraft swapped with those in France without interfering with AASF operations but the idea was shelved. To speed production of new aircraft, a review was held to strip existing machines of superfluous equipment and the committee suggested that for tactical bombing, the Battle autopilot [], night flying gear [], bomb sight [] and the navigator–bomb-aimer [] could be dispensed with, saving , which would allow the fitting of more forward-firing guns with no nett increase in weight.
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