I have a weird fascination with motorcycles or other powersports machines being turned into rolling weapons of war. Maybe it's a mid-life crisis coming on, where I either have to choose getting really into World War history or smoking meats? Though I'm already smoking meats...
My latest find, however, is just the coolest as while it depicts a 1910s Henderson motorcycle and sidecar complete with a Lewis machine gun which are really cool by themselves, the pilots of said technical are a group of three women. And the picture goes so freakin' hard, like harder than anything you'll find offered up on Instagram from some tacti-cool bros.
Seriously, just check it out. These women would kick your ass just for looking at them funny.
According to the description of the picture on Reddit's r/Shittytechnicals, it's of a New York police reserves unit in their test of the Lewis Machine Gun. Chambered either in .303 British, .30-06 Springfield, 7.92×57mm Mauser, or 7.62×54mmR, and fed either by a 47 or 97-round drum magazine, the Lewis was a machine gun built around the First World Warby both BSA and Savage Arms.
In the picture, you have the Lewis mounted via a single stalk to the Henderson's sidecar when the occupant would fire from, with the main driver controlling the motorcycle, and a third woman behind the rider. The third rider, as evidenced by the picture, held a second loaded magazine and would likely be both the one re-arming the gun, as well as someone who'd be tasked with fixing it while firing if any issues arose.
I actually found a scan of the original photo online, which also provided a caption from the day, which reads, "Women's machine gun squad police reserves, New York City. Practicing with Lewis Machine Gun which is to be sent to the front. The killing range of this gun is 2 miles and it fires 500 shots per minute. Captain Elise Reniger, manning the gun, Miss Helen M. Striffler on the rear seat, and Mrs. Ivan Farasoff driving." The photo is dated 8/1/1918.
As for the motorcycle, it appears to be a Henderson Excelsior, as there were a few of those used in combat with the sidecar—I found another picture of a soldier riding one with a gas mask on through the mud featured alongside the above picture. But what these women were training for, I've got nothing. The Lewis is mounted in such a way that I'd guess they were training for anti-aircraft engagements. But there's nothing to state what they were training for.
What a dope photo, though.
