Synchronized machine guns spread rapidly once one side solved the propeller problem

Evidence

The first attempts to mount machine guns onto airplanes fared badly; bullets whizzed straight through the spinning propeller, splintering wood when they hit the blades. The French tried a crude fix, mounting steel wedges to the inside of each blade to deflect the bullets, but it was the Germans who finally solved the problem, when they mechanically coupled propellers with the firing mechanism of the machine gun, synchronizing bullets so they shot in between the blades of the propeller. Within a matter of weeks the French had copied, and then improved upon, this design, and for the remainder of the war both sides flew planes with forward-facing machine guns. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 541

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The synchronized propeller gun made aerial dogfighting possible within a decade of flight; Weapon evolution and deterrence form a self-accelerating spiral. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 390

Related

• The synchronized propeller gun made aerial dogfighting possible within a decade of flight (similarity 0.94)
• Weapon evolution and deterrence form a self-accelerating spiral. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Weapon evolution and deterrence form a self-accelerating spiral. #exemplifies (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 390