Original Item: Only One Available. This is an exceptionally rare excellent condition Imperial Japanese WWII Katsura Seisakusho Machine Gun Training Camera which is dated on the data plate with 昭 和 18 年 2 月 - Showa 18 (1943) 2nd Month (February). Katsura Seisakusho copied the Hythe Mk III Gun Camera. This example is in great condition and comes with a “magazine” made from a deactivated Lewis LMG Drum, cross head mount, and spider sight. This set is mounted to a display board which appears very old to give it a great display look. There are very few examples of these still existing, and this one is in great shape.

The Mark III "Hythe" Aeronautical Camera was manufactured by the Thornton-Pickard company in circa 1915. The Thornton-Pickard company were pioneers in Aeronautical camera design and construction. The Mark III "Hythe" Aeronautical Camera was constructed of metal with a wood handle. It was an exact reproduction, of the American Lewis Gun that the British forces were using on their aircraft during the first world war. It was a used as a speedy and efficient training device where it weighed the same, it was the same size and it contained all the movements necessary to fire the Lewis gun. Pilots would go through the complete procedure of loading, cocking, aiming and firing, with each movement being recorded on a photographic film in a square film box.

From our friends at Forgotten Weapons: Training aircraft gunners has always been a task requiring some creativity, as it requires a lot more than just a paper target for an infantryman to blast away at. In the very early years of aerial combat in WWI, a wide variety of ideas were considered, and one of the better ones was building a gun-shaped camera. In this way, a trainee could engage in a very realistic and yet safe dogfight, and the photographic evidence would allow him and his instructor to assess his performance. One particularly neat early gun camera was the Hythe MkIII.

A lot of careful thought went into the Hythe, far beyond simply a camera in a gun-shaped shell. For starters, it was made in 1915 to very closely match the handling, balance, and weight of a Lewis Gun (one of the most common aerial guns at the time with British and US forces). It could be fixed to the top wing of a biplane or on a flexible ring mount just like a real gun, and was maneuvered and aimed exactly like a real Lewis. The shutter was tripped by the trigger, just like a gun, and film was advanced by using a replica of the Lewis’ charging handle. In addition, a real Lewis magazine mounted atop the device, and could be changed just like a Lewis (we’ll elaborate on that in a moment).

As far as camera hardware, the film canister and exposure area was located in the square box at the rear of the cooling jacket. It used 120mm film, and could hold 12 or 16 frames worth (sources vary on this point). A shutter and lens were located near the muzzle end of the device.

The Hythe must have been designed with input from aircraft instructors, because its operation uses the procedures most important in dogfighting of the era. Ammunition was more limited on a Lewis than with a belt-fed weapon, and the camera only held a handful of pictures. So the student’s goal would be to make a clean hit on an enemy aircraft with his first shots, not attempt to “walk it in”, which would waste a great deal of ammo. The initial trigger pull on the Hythe snapped a photo, so it was only the initial aim that was recorded for evaluation. To take a subsequent photo, the gunner would have to rack the “gun’s” charging handle, an operation that any good gunner should learn to do instinctively. In addition, the Hythe had a device inside that would punch a small hole in the edge of the film, and that device was operated by removing and replacing the Lewis magazine from the top of the “gun”. Proper practice would require changing magazines between strings of fire (another operation the gunner should become able to do blindfolded and upside down), and the Hythe would leave definite evidence of whether the trainee actually did so.

Of course, using a gun camera for marksmanship practice is only useful if the camera can actually show precisely where the gunner was aiming – and the Hythe took this into consideration as well. In front of the film was located a glass plate with a reticle, which would be superimposed on each photograph. For initial setup, the film canister could be replaced by a mirror, and the reticle plate adjusted to precisely match the sights atop the “gun”. This allowed the Hythe to actually give useful feedback to a gunner.