How do bullets fire through propellers?

Starting in WW1, aircraft with guns that fired through the propeller arc were equipped with a synchronization gear, also called an interrupter gear. This gear would allow the gun (or guns) to fire only when the bullets would pass between the propeller blades.

How did German planes shoot through propellers?

Machine guns were mounted on the top of the fuselage, directly in front of the pilot, but that position placed the gun directly behind the propeller. The gun had to be designed to fire through the propeller without hitting it, which was not an easy task.

How did the interrupter gear effect ww1?

Sync gear, also known as an interrupter or gun synchronizer, was developed during World War I to ensure that an armament attached to a single-engine aircraft could fire through the spinning arc of a propeller without damaging the propeller blades.

How did the Spitfire shoot through the propeller?

A synchronization gear (also known as a gun synchronizer or interrupter gear) was a device enabling a single-engine tractor configuration aircraft to fire its forward-firing armament through the arc of its spinning propeller without bullets striking the blades.

Who invented the synchronized machine gun?

…in the form of an interrupter gear, or gun-synchronizing device, designed by the French engineer Raymond Saulnier. This regulated a machine gun’s fire so as to enable the bullets to pass between the blades of the spinning propeller. The interrupter itself was not new: a German patent had been taken…

How were propeller blades protected from machine gun fire?

There were two ways. The earliest way was to fasten steel deflectors onto the propeller blades and let the machine-gun bullets hit the deflectors and not damage the blades. It turned out this worked, but it was very hard on the crankshaft of the engine.

How do propeller guns work on a plane?

To fire the guns, the pilot pulls a lever that lowers a cam follower onto the rotating plate. Whenever the propeller blades are horizontal and out of the way, one of the lobes strikes the follower, which in turn activates a mechanical linkage that fires the gun.

How do you fire the gun without pulling the trigger?

Basically, pulling the trigger is not sufficient to fire the gun. The trigger must be pulled AND the propeller out of the way. This is done through a mechanical linkage that is connected to the propeller. This is a great demonstration of it in action:

Where are machine guns mounted on a plane?

Machine guns were mounted on the top of the fuselage, directly in front of the pilot, but that position placed the gun directly behind the propeller. The gun had to be designed to fire through the propeller without hitting it, which was not an easy task.