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Hello all,
Not sure if this is the right place to post this, and it may be a silly question, but I'll give it a "shot".
I've heard how some warbirds, as powerful and imposing as they are, can be brought down by a single rifle shot in the cooling system. I've especially heard this true for the Mustang. I would think this could be considered a catastrophic failure for the engine. But I was wondering what if it were the other way around?
Is it possible for a single shot in a critical section of the AIRFRAME to cause a structural catastrophic failure and break up the plane in flight?
I was thinking of a couple of different variables for the situation. What critical section would/could do it (wing attach points, engine mount, wing spar, etc.)? How big of a round does it have to be before it is considered such a threat and and what range? Would the size of the airplane matter? Would the structure of the aircraft itself matter be it made of metal or wood?
Thoughts? Comments?
Thanks!8)
He was blinded in one eye by glass fragments from a bullet that hit his canopy. If glass fragments had hit both eyes it would have been fatal. Theoretically possible.
There are a number of AIRFRAME places that would be vulnerable to a single-shot. Wing attach points, control cable/rod runs, wing spar (depending on the size of ammunition and spar manufacture method). Also, these aircraft carried high-pressure oxygen cylinders, a direct hit to one of these would likely have caused some degree of damage, I'm not sure how bad it would have been.Is it possible for a single shot in a critical section of the AIRFRAME to cause a structural catastrophic failure and break up the plane in flight?
Even a direct hit to the propeller would be catastrophic. It would likely cause such an imbalance that the engine could be torn out of the mounts.
I dont know about that. Ive seen pics of fighters at their home airfields with bullet/shrapnel holes in the propellors.
A single hit by a 30/37/40mm round in the main spar near the fuselage or a similar hit in the vertical fuselage spar at the intersection of horizontal stabilizer would have an excellent chance of causing catastrophic structural failure.
The one time that I've seen an aircraft tthat lost 2 inches off the tip of the prop, it broke two of the engine frame attach bolts, and the engine was pointing 30º to the side. Apparently it all happened in the few seconds that it took for the pilot to react and close the throttle.
That was in a Piper cherokee though, but a bigger prop would mean bigger imbalance forces.
I guess it would depend on whether you lost part of the prop, or just damaged it.
I Agree this point. Taking a prop off at the hub in my opinion would be the 'end' - I acn only imagine the asymmetric loads induced by an out of balance 11 foot prop at 1500 RPM on the engine and engine mounts.
My father took a 20mm (or 37mm) hit to aft fuse which set the oxygen tank on fire but didn't break the back of the Mustang and the fire went out (eventually) on the way home. His 51 was shot up so badly that he had to land at 150kts with main gear up - all hydraulics gone and many, many holes.
Sakai's a/c was hit 3 times, on that mission (August 7 1942), according to the Tainan Air Group's 'tactical action record' for that day. Those records usually tell the number of holes counted in returning damaged planes.He was blinded in one eye by glass fragments from a bullet that hit his canopy. If glass fragments had hit both eyes it would have been fatal. Theoretically possible.