PART V - ARMAMENT EQUIPMENT
of the twist grip reduces the range. The manual ranging
control is spring-loaded to the full counter-clockwise
position where it must be for operation of the radar
ranging system.
89. Guns and cine-camera
(i) Three .50 calibre guns are mounted on each side of the
engine intake duct in the nose of the aircraft, and
simultaneous charging of all guns, or retraction of the
gun bolts, may be controlled in flight by means of the
guncharger switch (120) on the armament panel. A cine-
camera mounted in the nose below the intake is operated
automatically when guns or rockets are being fired, or
may be operated separately.
(ii) The trigger (74) for firing the guns and operating the
camera is on the control column, and has two definite
positions when pressed. The first position reached
operates the camera and the ammunition boosters; the
second position, fully depressed, fires the guns. The
safety switch (118) must be in the appropriate position
(see para. 88 (ii)).
(iii) The three-position gun-charger switch (120) is spring-
loaded from the RETRACT and RELEASE positions to
the centre (off) position. Momentarily holding the switch
at RETRACT causes the gun-bolts to be brought to the
rear and held in position. Release of the bolts and
subsequent charging occurs when the switch is momen-
tarily held at RELEASE or the trigger is depressed to fire
the guns. Since the charging system automatically
charges the guns whenever stoppages take place during
gun-firing, the switch is normally only used for initial
charging of the guns before firing or for moving gun-bolts
to desired positions.
(iv) Gun heaters are mounted on each gun and are controlled
by a switch (119) on the armament panel. When this
switch is operated, it also allows heated air from the cock-
pit air conditioning-system to enter the ammunition
compartments. Should the temperature in the ammuni-
tion compartments become excessive the overheat warn-
ing light (38) on the left aft console comes on and an
emergency shut-off control (40) beside it may be
operated to close a valve in the air duct to the compart-
ments. The control cannot be reset in flight and should
only be used therefore if the warning light remains on
for some time.
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