Engine gun

aircraft engine (cylinders removed) with Hispano-Suiza HS.404 engine gun mounted soldier inspects the engine gun alignment of a Bf 109 fighter aircraft for an engine gun. An engine gun, or engine cannon (from , "motor cannon"), is an aircraft gun mounted behind and through the cylinder block of an inline aircraft engine (most often a V engine) with a reduction drive that displaces the propeller axle to be in line with the gun so that gunfire is allowed through the propeller hub. This allows for nose-mounted weaponry on aircraft without the need for synchronization gear while also permitting higher calibers for nose-mounted weaponry, which otherwise would be hard to adapt for synchronization gear. The first time this was done was during World War I when the French modified the Hispano-Suiza 8 engine to be able to install a 37 mm autocannon. The concept was used widely before the Jet Age.

aircraft engine (cylinders removed) with Hispano-Suiza HS.404 engine gun mounted soldier inspects the engine gun alignment of a Bf 109 fighter aircraft for an engine gun. An engine gun, or engine cannon (from , "motor cannon"), is an aircraft gun mounted behind and through the cylinder block of an inline aircraft engine (most often a V engine) with a reduction drive that displaces the propeller axle to be in line with the gun so that gunfire is allowed through the propeller hub. This allows for nose-mounted weaponry on aircraft without the need for synchronization gear while also permitting higher calibers for nose-mounted weaponry, which otherwise would be hard to adapt for synchronization gear. The first time this was done was during World War I when the French modified the Hispano-Suiza 8 engine to be able to install a 37 mm autocannon. The concept was used widely before the Jet Age.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340085362 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.