 The earliest mountings for a Lewis gun on the top wing of a light scout aircraft were fixed, and either the inaccessibility of the breech was accepted, or drums were changed by the pilot standing up (in some cases having to stand on his seat) to reach the gun.A hinged arrangement, permitting the breech to be swung back and down into a position where the pilot could change drums while in his seat was preferable, and several versions of such mountings enabled the Lewis (or Hotchkiss) guns of the French Nieuport 11 fighters to tackle the German "Fokker Eindeckers" in early 1916.Typically, two hinges were fitted to a pillar type support for the breech of the gun.