Scarff ring

The Scarff ring is a machine gun mounting system for aircraft, invented by Warrant Officer F. W. Scarff of the British Admiralty Air Department during the First World War, allowing an air gunner in an open cockpit to swivel and elevate a Lewis machine gun quickly and fire in almost any direction. Its bungee cord suspension balanced the weight of the gun, and it could carry one or two Lewis guns, a paired mounting that offered more firepower at the cost of requiring a stronger operator. Simple and rugged, with an excellent field of fire, the design became standard across British forces in the First World War and was widely copied by other air forces; the Royal Air Force continued using it after the war, with the Supermarine Walrus amphibian among the last British aircraft so equipped, before power operated turrets superseded it in the 1930s as aircraft speeds increased. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/