Engine Survivability

[HoHun]

Hi Slaterat,

>crawled back to the aerodrome with 28 cannon shell and 43 bullet holes in the machine...

Amazing! But can we be sure that the opponents really were Zeros in this case? If they were Ki-43s, the "cannon shells" would be explosive 12.7 mm rounds with much inferior destrcutive power, of course.

(Just asking because in "Hurrcane over Sumatra", the author points out that the RAF forces were completely unaware of the existence of the Ki-43 at the time and invariably identified the type as Zero - or "Navy Nought", as they put it

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[slaterat]

Accordind to Shores and Cull, the opponants were the 22nd air flotilla , so it was definately zeros that the Hurricanes were engaging. Also at this time , March of 42, I don't think that the Ki43-IIs were deployed yet.

I"ve got a few of Terrence Kellys books, Hurricane vs Zero [Battle for Palambang] , Hurricane and Spitfire Pilots at War and Nine Lives of a Fighter Pilot. I've got Hurricane Over the Jungle on order. All very good books, well researched and quite insightful . Good companions to the Bloody Shambles series .

Slaterat

 

[HoHun]

Hi Slaterat,

>Accordind to Shores and Cull, the opponants were the 22nd air flotilla , so it was definately zeros that the Hurricanes were engaging.

OK, so it sounds like we can be sure it were in fact 20 mm cannon shell hits in this case.

The Japanese 20 mm HE shells were not the most powerful around, but 28 hits certainly is a great record ... big points for Hurricane toughness here.

Here is a comparison of the total energy of some 20 mm shells, based on the data on Tony's site:

MG 151/20:      20x82 HE(MX):        161.1 kJ
VYa-23:         23x152B HE:          155.6 kJ
MG 151/20:      20x82 HE(M):         142.5 kJ
MG-FF/M:        20x80RB HE(M):       135.6 kJ
VYa-23:         23x152B API:         111   kJ
Hispano II:     20x110 HE (Mk II):   106.2 kJ
Hispano V:      20x110 HE (Mk V):    102.9 kJ
20mm Type 99-2  20x110RB HE:          96.5 kJ
Ho-1 / Ho-2:    20x125 HE:            92.4 kJ
20mm Type 99-2  20x101RB HE:          78.9 kJ
20mm Ho-5       20x94 HE:             74   kJ
20mm Type 99-1: 20x72RB HE:           65.9 kJ
20mm ShVAK      20x99R HEI:           61.5 kJ
MG 151/20:      20x82 API:            50.6 kJ
MG 151/20:      20x82 HET:            50.4 kJ
MG-FF/M:        20x80RB API:          40.3 kJ
MG-FF/M:        20x80RB HEIT with I:  40.2 kJ
20mm ShVAK      20x99R API:           37.7 kJ
20mm Ho-5       20x94 AP:             27.4 kJ
12.7 mm M2:     12.7x99 API (M8):     21.3 kJ
12.7 mm Ho-103  12.7x81SR HE:         13.8 kJ
7.7 mm Vickers  7.7x56R I:             5.5 kJ

(I have included a 23 mm cannon, the 12.7 mm Browning, the 12.7 mm Ho-102 and the 7.7 mm Vickers for comparison purposes.)

The 20mm Type 99-1 with the 20x72RB HE offers "just" 65.9 kJ of total (kinetic+chemical) energy, compared to 106.2 kJ for the Hispano Mk II HE shell or 135.6 kJ for the MG FF mine shell.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[kool kitty89]

Accordind to Shores and Cull, the opponants were the 22nd air flotilla , so it was definately zeros that the Hurricanes were engaging. Also at this time , March of 42, I don't think that the Ki43-IIs were deployed yet.

The Ki-43-Ib was armmed with 1x 7.7mm and 1x 13mm MG, and the Ki-43-Ic was armed with 2x 13mm MG's. (the same as the Ki-43-II)