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For true some had also .50, my little opinion the mg on bombers are dissuasive and or psycologic weapon
For how long?...I think that .50s would have been psychologically even better
I can imagine they didn't like being discovered when stealth was their key advantage but how close would the bombers need to be to each other (at night) in order for 'several aircraft' to see well enough to bring down a combined solution onto an intruding nightfighter? Close enough not to be able to 'corkscrew' as an evasive manoeuvre? If spaced sufficiently to allow for this technique, then they must have had stunning night vision to pick out a nightfighter skulking around someone else's ship.I have read several times that nightfighters did not like being discovered. Often an alert gunner firing 303's or .5's would deter the fighter attack. This together with evasive corkscrew action was quite effective.
But when hits were scored by the bombers gunners, the results were not as effective as the gunners may have reported. British claims when placed against Luftwaffe Quartermaster reports show many fighters with only minimal damage.
It has to be remembered that it was not just the calibre of the USAAF aircraft defensive guns, but the fact that a fighter might have faced 20 x .5 callibres with several aircraft firing on one aircraft and very few fighter attacks came as a complete surprise
A point I'd echoI question how effective that bomber command felt the defensive guns were. Mostly they may have been there to make the crew feel good.