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Title:	GUN, MACHINE -  GERMAN MACHINE GUN MODEL 1917/18 GAST AIRCRAFT 7.92MM SN# 156
Maker/Manufacturer:	GAST, CARL
Date of Manufacture:	1918
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 847
Measurements:	OL: 52 1/2" BL: 28 3/4"" 40.78 lbs. empty

Object Description:

GERMAN MACHINE GUN MODEL 1917/18 GAST AIRCRAFT 7.92MM SN# 156
Manufactured by Vorwerk & Cie, Barmen, Germany in 1918 - German dual aircraft machine gun. Not used by Germans in WWI. Tested by Allies in post-war period. Flexibly mounted. Has two barrels with dual drum magazines each magazine holding 192-rounds. Muzzle velocity 2,935 fps. Rate of fire 1,300 rpm. Weapon weighs approximately 40.78 lbs. empty.

Markings:
Receiver: 1918/156/government proofs.
Receiver cover: 156/unknown trademark, D.R.P. A.
Magazine (Left): R.G. SCHMOLE GMBH MENDEN (in rectangle on handle).

Weapon transferred to the Museum on 10 December 1934.

Notes: "The only other rifle-calibre machine-gun to be developed in Germany during the First World War was the curious twin-barrelled Gast, developed by Vorwerk. A recoil-operated gun, the Gast fired each barrel alternately, a pivoting connecting lever transforming the rearwards motion of the recoil of one mechanism into a charging motion in the other. It was fed by paired spring-driven drum magazines, each holding 180 rounds of 7.9mm ammunition, and achieved a very respectable 1,200 rounds per minute cyclical rate. At almost 20kg (44 pounds) without ammunition, it was judged too heavy for infantry use, but suitable for aircraft. Perhaps 1,500 Gast guns were manufactured in all, and it went on test in early 1918, but was never adopted officially." - Roger Ford

"The Gast machine-gun has generally been described as an oddity thrown up by the exigencies of World War One, but this view ought to be modified in the light of the development of a similar gun in the USA in the middle 1980s. Odd it may have been, but there is a good deal of sense and logic in the design. It was designed in response to a 1917 demand for an aircraft gun capable of a high rate of fire; the flexible gun then in use was incapable of much more than 700 rds/min, and this, it was felt, was not sufficient to guarantee a damaging number of bullets striking an enemy machine gun in the few seconds available in aerial combat. (The same problem has exercised air ordnance engineers ever since, it may be said.) The Gast gun was designed by Carl Gast, and his solution was to provide two barrels and breech mechanisms in a single mounting, controlled by a single trigger. The units were recoil-operated and cross-connected so that the recoil of one barrel provides the impulse to feed and load the other unit. Large spring-operated drum magazines were placed vertically on each side of the gun.
The Gast gun was secretly developed and tested in the autumn of 1917. It was a success and orders for 3,000 were placed, delivery beginning by the end of 1917. It appears that some guns were installed in aircraft for operational tests, and some were installed as anti-aircraft weapons. Development of 11mm and 13mm versions was also studied. Nevertheless, the secret was so well kept that it was not until 1921, when inspectors of the Allied Control Commission found 25 guns in Koningsberg fortress, that the Allies became aware of its existence; apparently the fact that Gast had applied for a US patent in 1920 had been overlooked. The Allies tested the weapon and were astonished at the performance and reliability. The guns were then destroyed, except for handful kept in museums, and the Gast was virtually forgotten. It remained that way until 1974 when the General Electric company in the USA obtained one, refurbished it, fired it, and then went on to develop a 25mm cannon using the same principle." - Hogg & Weeks

References:
Hogg, Ian V. & John Weeks. MILITARY SMALL ARMS OF THE 20TH CENTURY. 6th Ed. DBI Books, Inc. Northbrook, Il.