Tomb posted 11-30-98 12:16 PM ET (US)        

I got lucky this week end and got sent books with documentation about world war two gunnery

two are of immediate interest, one entitled "pilot instructer gunnery" circa 1943 and "how to bag a hun" circa 1940

they are not written in the aloof technical manner most of us are used to but in a first hand aerial killer teaching others to be the same

"to kill a 109 aim at the fuel tank behind the pilot..he will be doused in petrol which will ignite with a spot of luck..."

"dont assume a 109 emitting black smoke is finished"

"dont follow down a bomber you have shot as the doomed gunners may try to take you with them" (so OTTO should fire from doomed bombers..at least LW ones)

"dont get closer than 150yds to a bomber gunner..you will not live to tell about it"

"dont fire beyond 300yds as even .5 cal is unlikely to penertrate the modern ship" (1940 in this context)

"when firing at armoured aircraft...blow the tail off... its not armoured"

It goes into great detail with facts and figures about dispersion and other items

"for maximum bullet density harmonise your guns to "(convergence in WB)

inner pair 175 yds

2nd pair 200 yds

3rd pair 225 yds

outer pair 250 yds

if 12 guns then

5th pair 275 yds

6th pair 300 yds

all guns are harmonised to the pilots sight so wing guns will be angled up

guns have much reduced penetration at 600yds that they have at 300yds a quarter of the bullet densisty and four times the gravity drop so as its a waste of time firing beyond this range so abilty to judge range is critical..it then goes on to say a sqns pilots was asked to fire at a drone at 300yds and cease at 100yds....on gun camara play back it was shown that most fired at 1200yds and ceased at 800yds thinking the were a lot closer (not a problem with the WB laser range finder icon TM)

It has the original paper training aids and tests plus the intructional method to take a student up for gunnery practice...all the theory and practical flying lessons...four methods of deflection shooting and several ways to judge range...in fact a vast amount of the training material is about how to judge range

here is one for the pundits

the student is in a direct six of the target and the sight is "on" (target) the bullet stream passes to the right at high speed and left at low speed

WHY ?

have to say i did not know about this one ..i do now

there is loads of stuff here ..when i have read some more of it i will pass on the interesting stuff...the stuff on 20mm effects on a 109 and pilot is a bit gruesome

and how to survive a burning hurri/spit make interesting reading...like i say loads of stuff for me to read and the period illustrations are a treat...a lot of this stuff is from the central gunnery school (RAF)1916 to 1945 so its copywrited and i cant scan it

one other thing of note is mentioned and that is the .303 v the .5

in 3,000,000 rounds the .303 only jammed less time than the number of fingers in one hand the .5 and larger cal belt feed mechanisms are prone to jamming (is this why the early 20mm cannon were drum fed i wonder)

I got some reading to do...later dudes

Tomb

Daff DeusExMachina posted 11-30-98 12:27 PM ET (US)            

:here is one for the pundits

:the student is in a direct six of the target and the sight is "on" (target) the :bullet stream passes to the right at high speed and left at low speed

:WHY ?

Probably because the slipstream from the prop is twisting the plane

Daff

Ozymandias DoD posted 11-30-98 12:37 PM ET (US)            

The coriolis force maybe?

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-ozds- DoD

www.savagenet.com/oz

Kergan posted 11-30-98 01:00 PM ET (US)            

Plane is not trimmed correctly, at high speed it is slipping right - And at low speed, slipping left.

Either that or the hun is warping

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Kergan, VMF-214

IDIAMN 1 JG27 AFRIKA posted 11-30-98 05:39 PM ET (US)         

OUTSTANDING!!!

See if they say anything about cyclic (maximum) rate of fire for the .50 cals and .303's. Also, if there are any passages about barrel melt downs.

Wish I had my hands on your book, sounds GREAT!!!!

C U above,

Join us....join us....come to the dark side...go to the roost....

www.geocities.com/timessquare/hangar/3461/index.html

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"Hey...nice cannons"

Idi