swampyankee
Chief Master Sergeant
- 3,987
- Jun 25, 2013
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Other than Lend Lease, the RAF seems to have kept the 20mm or 303 to the end of the War. Was the M2 ever consider for the later Hawker fighters?
We have been over this more than once. By Korea the .50 cal was the M-3 and firing at 1200rpm or close. A roughly 50% increase over the mid to late war guns and a 100 % increase over the pre-war guns. The main round had also changed from the M8API to the M-23 Incendiary'
The M-23 was a much lighter bullet with a MV of 3400fps and carried 5.8 grams of incendiary material compared to the 2.2 grams in the M2 incediary and the 1 gram in the M8 API.
It still wasn't enough but the AIr Force did NOT go into Korea with WW II armament thinking it was good enough.
Theres also the fact that many RAF pilots in 1940 could have been flying aircraft armed with Laser equipped Sharks and they still wouldnt have shot anything down.
I thought the Germans actually developed laser-equipped sharks...and they were absolute world-beaters. They could fly for 12,000 miles on a thimble-full of the distilled fat left over from cooking bratwurst. The lasers were gyro-stabilized and calculated environmental offsets to a level that was an order of magnitude better than the Norden bomb sight...plus they could burn through any armour AND used skin-friction dielectric cells to generate the necessary power, thus enabling the equipment to be installed in an aircraft.
In fact, the only thing in the German inventory that was better than the laser-equipped sharks was the Fw-187.
Yeah..I know. Coat time. AGAIN!!!
We have been over this more than once. By Korea the .50 cal was the M-3 and firing at 1200rpm or close. A roughly 50% increase over the mid to late war guns and a 100 % increase over the pre-war guns. The main round had also changed from the M8API to the M-23 Incendiary'
The M-23 was a much lighter bullet with a MV of 3400fps and carried 5.8 grams of incendiary material compared to the 2.2 grams in the M2 incediary and the 1 gram in the M8 API.
It still wasn't enough but the AIr Force did NOT go into Korea with WW II armament thinking it was good enough.
Theres also the fact that many RAF pilots in 1940 could have been flying aircraft armed with Laser equipped Sharks and they still wouldnt have shot anything down.
Interesting comment to the article posted by ex forum member Edgar Brooks, Rest in peace Edgar.I found this which may be of interst:
Sorting Out the "E" – American Armament for the Spitfire Mk. IX/XVI — Variants & Technology | Spitfire Mk. IX | Spitfire Mk. XVI
In addition to the article posted by Parsival, there were many issues with Spitfire wings firstly it was so thin it was difficult to heat the outer guns and Cannon were a bit of a problem when cold.Excellent article, thank you!
Makes me wonder though, was the Mk.5 Hispano ever fit to the Spitfire? Seems like it would have made more sense than fitting M2 machine guns in the cannon bay.
The E wing Spitfires, notably the Mk XIVe which appeared 2Q1944, and the Mk IXe which appeared in 4Q1943 had on had on M2 and one 20mm Hispano per Wing were produced, but I don't know in what quantities. Source: Fighter Aircraft Performance Of WW2- A Comparative Study by Erik PilawskiiWere Browning M2 50s ever considered as armament for British planes? The RAF seems to have settled on .303 rifle or 20 mm cannon for armament. Reading Korda's
With Wings Like Eagles, Korda credits Dowding for insisting on eight .303 minimum for the Hurricane and Spitfire. A Hurricane armed with 4 or 6 M2s would have been formidable in bringing down Heinkels.
The fittings for the Mk V 20mm were exactly the same as the Mk II 20mm so they certainly could be fitted and the Seafire was normally equipped with the Mk VExcellent article, thank you!
Makes me wonder though, was the Mk.5 Hispano ever fit to the Spitfire? Seems like it would have made more sense than fitting M2 machine guns in the cannon bay.
I have another book, the "bible of WW2 aircraft armament, called "Flying Guns, WW II" by Anthony G.Williams, and Dr. Emmanuel Gustin.besides using wikipedia, what was the difference in weight between a Mk.5 Hispano and M2 Browning?
besides using wikipedia, what was the difference in weight between a Mk.5 Hispano and M2 Browning?