The air-cooled Hotchkiss machine gun was the first to function effectively by tapping propellant gas from the bore as the gun fired.Although the Hotchkiss would be overshadowed by the water-cooled Maxim and Vickers Guns, it proved successful enough to develop the Modèle Portative: a man-portable version which, it was hoped, could move with infantrymen as they advanced. Later mounted on tanks and aircraft, it became the first automatic weapon to obtain a ‘kill’ in aerial combat. This is an illustrated overview of the Odkolek-Hotchkiss system, from World War I to Japan and the Pacific island landings. Here, a succession of derivatives found favour in theatres of operations in which water-cooling could be more of a liability than an asset, such as the ‘Woodpecker’ – the Type 92 Hotchkiss, with its characteristically slow rate of fire – which cut swathes through the US ranks. Supported by contemporary photographs and full-colour illustrations, this title explores the exciting and eventful history of the first successful gas-operated machine gun.
