Darne Modele 1918

Darne Modele 1918 History

Before the First World War (1914-1918), the French-based company Darne focused on commercial sporting guns. As the war engulfed Europe, the company was asked to produce 3,266 Lewis guns for the French army, and this commitment then gave the group an incentive to try an in-house low-cost machine gun design - the Darne Modele 1918.

However, the system came too late, Cannot be used in World War I (tested from 1917 to 1918), but was used during both World Wars and in World War II (1939 to 1945).

The company's engineers eschewed the more expensive finishes and accessories common to military weapons at the time in their new designs, arguing that the lifespan of military machine guns was bound to be rather short due to widespread abuse in the field. A basic in-line arrangement was chosen, with the barrel above the gas cylinder, and in addition to traditional gas operation, the system was loaded with belt ammunition - a "true" machine gun. Weighing about 15 pounds, the gun had a rate of fire of 1,100 rounds per minute and a muzzle velocity of 2,300 feet per second.

It is loaded with French 8x50mmR Lebel rifle ammunition.

The machine gun looked crude and practical, but it proved to be very reliable and excellent as a hand-held, trainable, aircraft-mounted weapon - mainly due to its high rate of fire. Likewise, it can be used as an anti-aircraft (AA) weapon and, if necessary, installed around strategic ground points or on warships.

Production spanned from 1915 to 1922, with approximately 11,000 units completed in various configurations to cover various battlefield roles. Most of the products originated in Spain in the 1930s under the Unceta y Compania brand label and were contracted to Darne who took over early production - only to further reduce manufacturing costs.

There were attempts to make Modele 1918 a viable class support solution during the interwar period, but the series did not have the same success with the character. This product features a wooden shoulder rest, wooden pistol grip and foregrip for added control while retaining all the useful features of the original aircraft gun.

One of the main drawbacks of this form is the high rate of fire, making it such an effective aircraft weapon.

The series found other operators after World War I - including Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Serbia, Italy and Spain. The Czechs started producing guns locally before the introduction of the homegrown vz. 26 series of light machine guns. The Royal Air Force (RAF) pitted the Dahn machine gun as the next standardized aircraft weapon against other machine guns, but at .303 BCC.

During World War II (1939-1945), the captured French Dahn machine guns were renamed MG106(f) by the Germans.

The Modele 1919 is a different aircraft version, but it is mounted as a fixed forward-firing cannon and fires synchronously through rotating propeller blades. The Modele 1922 was a proposed submachine gun shape, and the Modele 1923 was supplied to the French Army as a vehicle/tank weapon - but lost out to the MAC 1924 series.

Modele 1933 appeared as a more modern version of the original in the years leading up to World War II. These are adopted by the French Air Force and Navy in the 7.5x54mm MAS caliber.

In fact, the Mle 1933 appeared on many French aircraft in the 1930s, but the change in caliber resulted in a reduction in Air Force efficiency. MAC 1934 follows Mle 1933 in this role

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