Lewis gun

British light machine gun, it was gas-operated, air-cooled, and fed from a rotating drum of 47 or 97 rounds. The gun was used by the British, Belgian, and Italian armies in great numbers, both as a ground weapon and as an aircraft gun. Though generally replaced by more modern designs in the 1930s, the Lewis was still in use during World War II.

The Lewis gun was initially designed by Samuel MacLean and was then developed and perfected by Col I N Lewis, US Army. Unable to interest the US Army in the weapon, Lewis took the gun to Belgium and set up a manufacturing company there 1913. In 1914 most of the staff fled to Britain where they were able to continue manufacture in the Birmingham Small Arms Company factory.