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IIRC Czechs simply went with the gondola cannons.I was just surprised the Czechoslovaks and the Spaniards to rearrange the wing structure and insert the MG 151/20 mm and magazine into the wings. That they fit Hispanos left me questioning Messerschmitt's design ability... (I also had to triple check Tony's numbers, in Flying Guns WWII, that the Hispano Mk. V and MG 151/20 were basically the same weight. (OK, the Hispano fires with much more energy, but I had it in my head that the German Wonderwaffe was much lighter.)
Ho-155 was supposed to do 450-500 rd/min. MV of 715 m/s and weight of just 50 kg had a lot to do with it's lighter shell, 235g.If somebody could have come up with a 30mm gun that fired at around 500rpm with a MV of 600-650 that might have been a very good choice. With 2-3 times the rate of fire you get a much better chance of hit/s even if each hit is only 1/2 as destructive.
But if I didn't mix up the pots, MG FF didn't go through the main spar, as well as, of course, the underwing gondolas.
A slightly different option that achieves a similar effect might be to try to fit a 30mm MK 101 (or later MK 103) cannon pod (similar to that actually used on Hs129 - see below) on the centreline:
I was referring to the difference in rate of fire between the 30mm and 37mm guns in general. The MK 103 upgraded to 37mm may have a bit of trouble hitting hitting 360-420rpm.The 2-3 times the rate of fire vs, say a 37mm spin off of the MK 108 or 103 will be accomplished by installing more weapons on the aircraft, not by some ww2 extra special 30mm cannonry (bar the revolver cannon).
Thank you Tomo.Can the firing line clear the prop disc?
I was referring to the difference in rate of fire between the 30mm and 37mm guns in general. The MK 103 upgraded to 37mm may have a bit of trouble hitting hitting 360-420rpm.
Even it did hit 360rpm that is 55% of the upper end of the cycle rate of the MK 108 gun.
The really big guns have real problems with weight and recoil.
The 55-57mm guns really show this.
The 5.5cm MK 112 went about 275kg (over 4 times the weight of the MK 108) and fired at about 320-360rpm?
The 1480g projectile with 500g of HE should take down a bomber most of the time with a single hit.
But you can install four MK 108s for nearly the same weight (more brackets and mounts) and the four MK 108s can deliver 13.2kg of shells compared to 8.88kg and 3.60kg of HE compared to 3.0kg of HE per second.
Thank you Tomo.
Yes, hitting your own prop with a 30-37mm shell is a good way to ruin your day
You have pointed this out a number of time over the years, the big guns had problems being synchronized. Even with electric primers.
The problem was not actuating the primer at the correct time. The problem was getting the powder charge to ignite/burn properly so the projectile exited the barrel at the correct time.
I was referring to the difference in rate of fire between the 30mm and 37mm guns in general. The MK 103 upgraded to 37mm may have a bit of trouble hitting hitting 360-420rpm.
Even it did hit 360rpm that is 55% of the upper end of the cycle rate of the MK 108 gun.
The really big guns have real problems with weight and recoil.
Chances that our valiant Bf 109 carries either the MK 112 or 4x MK 108 in the real battle is slim to none, and Slim has already left the cityThe 55-57mm guns really show this.
The 5.5cm MK 112 went about 275kg (over 4 times the weight of the MK 108) and fired at about 320-360rpm?
The 1480g projectile with 500g of HE should take down a bomber most of the time with a single hit.
But you can install four MK 108s for nearly the same weight (more brackets and mounts) and the four MK 108s can deliver 13.2kg of shells compared to 8.88kg and 3.60kg of HE compared to 3.0kg of HE per second.
Maybe one of the big guns could be the Breda 37/54, according to the pictures / blueprints, it looks like the part with the bolt is shorter than the Flak 36
The MK 108 had a rather short effective range but the idea that a plane could "stand back" and lob shells from out of the range of the US .50 cal guns didn't work out so well.
While the US .50 was not a supergun it had a longer effective range than many 9but not all) other 20mm and smaller Aircraft guns. Trouble is that trying to lob shells in with 2 seconds or more of flight time meant you needed an aiming system more advanced than anybody had it service in WW II. People could get occasional hits at long range. But not enough for it to be a viable alternative. A lot of people tried.