Weapons and Equipment

Below are examples of weapons and equipment used by the Royal Air Force.

Weapons

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III

The Lee-Enfield rifle, the SMLE Mk III, introduced in 1907, and featured a simplified rear sight arrangement and a fixed, rather than a bolt-head-mounted sliding, charger guide. The design of the handguards and magazine were also improved, and the chamber was adapted to fire the new Mk VII spitzer .303 ammunition. Many early model rifles, of Magazine Lee Enfield (MLE), Magazine Lee Metford (MLM), and SMLE type, were upgraded to the Mk III standard. These are designated Mk IV Cond., with various asterisks denoting subtypes.

Lee-Enfield Rifle No 4 Mk I

The Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I was adopted in 1939, although widespread production did not start until 1941. The No. 4 action was similar to the Mk VI, but lighter, stronger, and most importantly, easier to mass-produce. Unlike the SMLE, the No 4 Lee-Enfield barrel protruded from the end of the forestock. The No. 4 rifle was considerably heavier than the No. 1 Mk. III, largely due to a heavier barrel. A new bayonet was designed to go with the rifle. The result - a spike bayonet with a heavy steel mount and latch - was essentially a steel rod with a sharp point, and nicknamed "pigsticker" by soldiers.

Sten Mk II

The Mark II Sten Gun was the most prolific of all marks, at 2 million units. It was a much rougher weapon than the Mk I. The flash eliminator and hand guard of the Mk I were eliminated. Some other changes included a removable barrel which projects 3 inches beyond the barrel sleeve and the magazine housing rotates to form cover for ejection opening. The barrel sleeve was shorter and rather than have small holes on the top, it had three sets of three holes equally spaced on the shroud. Sten Mk II's in German possession were designated MP.749(e). There were some MkIIs that were fitted with a wooden stock and there was also a silenced version.

Bren Gun Mk I & Mk II

The Bren was a modified version of a Czechoslovak-designed LMG, the ZB vz.26, which British Army officials had tested during a firearms service competition in the '30s. The later Bren featured a distinctive curved box magazine, conical flash hider/muzzle booster, and quick change barrel. In general, the Bren was considered a reliable and effective light machine gun. Its 30-round magazine was in practice usually filled with only 28 or 29 rounds to prevent jams and avoid wearing out the magazine spring, something that was common to other firearms as well.

Care needed to be taken with magazine loading to ensure that the .303 cartridge rims did not overlap the wrong way, causing a jam. The rounds had to be loaded the correct way, each round ahead of the previous round. There was also a 100-round drum magazine available for the Bren used in the anti-aircraft role.

Mark 1 - From September 1937. The original Bren based on the Czechoslovak gun.

Mark 2 - Introduced 1941. A simpler version of the Mk 1. Produced by the Monotype Group through a number of component manufacturing factories.

Equipment