True synchronization, though, with a machine gun's rate of fire exactly proportional to the revolutions per minute of a spinning aircraft propeller, would require an impractical level of complexity.Mixter and Edmonds 1919, p. 2. A machine gun normally fires a constant number of rounds a minute, and while this may be changed by modifying the gun, it cannot be varied at will while the gun is operating. The rate of rotation of an aircraft propeller, meanwhile, especially before the advent of the constant-speed propeller, could vary widely, depending on the throttle setting and what maneuvers were being performed. Even if it had been feasible to pick a particular point on an aircraft engine's tachometer at which a machine gun's cyclic rate would permit it to fire through the propeller arc, this would be very limiting.Kosin 1988, pp. 18–19.
True synchronization, though, with a machine gun's rate of fire exactly proportional to the revolutions per minute of a spinning aircraft propeller, would require an impractical level of complexity.Mixter and Edmonds 1919 p. 2. A machine gun normally fires a constant number of rounds a minute, and while this may be changed by modifying the gun, it cannot be varied at will while the gun is operating. The rate of rotation of an aircraft propeller, meanwhile, especially before the advent of the constant-speed propeller, could vary widely, depending on the throttle setting and what maneuvers were being performed. Even if it had been feasible to pick a particular point on an aircraft engine's tachometer at which a machine gun's cyclic rate would permit it to fire through the propeller arc, this would be very limiting.Kosin 1988, pp. 18–19.