Focke-Wulf Fw 190A/D and outer wing cannon

Shortround6 said:

Sorry for the confusion, but as I understand it the electric primed ammunition was used for guns that needed to be sychronized and percusion primed ammo was used for guns that didn't need to be synchronized, through the prop guns and pehaps defensive weapons. The luftwaffe was concerned that ground crews might load the wrong ammo into the ammo bins if an aircraft used both types and render the gun/s with the wrong ammo useless for that flight.
To keep things simple they just segerageted the ammo by type of aircraft. 109 squadrons with through the prop guns got the non-sychro ammo (percusion) while the 190 squadrons with the wing root guns got the syncro ammo (electric). at least that is the story from Mr. Williams.

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Shortround6-

Your expanded explanation and its logic make sense to me now. I seem to have been under the mistaken impression that all MG 131 and MG 151 fighter guns used electrically-primed ammunition regardless of synchronization. I do wonder, though, why the Luftwaffe didn't simply use electrically-primed ammunition for all its fighter guns. This would simplify supply logistics and eliminate the possibility of ammunition mix-ups. Thanks for clarifying.

PG

Shortround6 said:

Sorry for the confusion, but as I understand it the electric primed ammunition was used for guns that needed to be sychronized and percusion primed ammo was used for guns that didn't need to be synchronized, through the prop guns and pehaps defensive weapons. The luftwaffe was concerned that ground crews might load the wrong ammo into the ammo bins if an aircraft used both types and render the gun/s with the wrong ammo useless for that flight.
To keep things simple they just segerageted the ammo by type of aircraft. 109 squadrons with through the prop guns got the non-sychro ammo (percusion) while the 190 squadrons with the wing root guns got the syncro ammo (electric). at least that is the story from Mr. Williams.

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Yep, that's what I said.

The MG 151 was initially developed in a percussion-primed form as the first installation was intended to be the Bf 109's engine mounting. The electric-primed versions were specifically developed for the Fw 190 wing-root mountings, but it was decided to fit these versions in the outer wing positions as well, to avoid any confusion.

There was one BF 109G-6 which was fitted with a belly-mounted MG 151/20 pod instead of underwing gunpods. This was found to work very well, with far fewer performance and handling penalties than the underwing pods, but it was not accepted for service because it needed the electric-primed version of the gun to shoot through the propeller disc. This would have meant either changing all of the BF 109 guns to electric, or loading the two different ammo types into each plane. Neither option was considered acceptable.

davebender said:

..Cowl space is not taken up by a pair of machineguns and ammunition, perhaps allowing the nose to be more streamlined. Would anybody miss the machineguns?

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The FW 190's forward visability always seems a little more restricted than on Allied fighters. Was this ever seen as a problem? Also did firing through the turbulence of the propeller arc affect the accuracy at all?