Bataan Jerry
Recruit
- 9
- Sep 27, 2019
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Bartsch writes about this in his book "Doomed at the start" and "Every day a nightmare". They would charge the guns on the ground. If there was a malfunction in the air they had to land to recharge. This did not apply to the "B" version which could be recharged manually (the fifties). The .30 calibre wing guns lived their own lives. There were other problems with the fifties,, too. No testing, poor cleaning after storage, no bore sighting, sighting adjustments. Ammo not allowed to be used for these purposes.
Fred
Doomed at the Start says that the vast majority of the P-40's in the PI at the start of the war were P-40E's. I believe there was only one squadron of B models, and they had the .30 cal guns in the wings.
In contrast the P-40B was the only model in HI on 7 Dec 41, as well as P-36's and P-26's. That surprised me. I assumed HI would have the best and the PI only left-overs, but in fact the situation was the opposite. In the PI the P-26's had been given to the PI Air Force, but the USAAF in HI was still flying them, and relied upon the P Shooters heavily for patrols after most of the later airplanes were lost in the 7 Dec attack.
Hi, Jerry!
To take the .30s first - The P-40 "B" and "C" versions had four .30s in the wings and two .50s under the engine cowling. The .30s could not be reloaded/charged in the air. If there was a stoppage it had to be remedied on the ground. The .50s, however, could be reloaded /charged manually by the pilot in the cockpit.
If you had read the Pearl Harbor story properly you would have learnt that pilots Taylor and Welch, in their P-40Bs, took off with only their wing guns - .30s - loaded. They landed later to have their .50 loaded up, too.
The P-40E had six .50s in the wings only. Their loading (charging) system was coupled through the same hydraulic system as the undercarriage. This connection was disrupted for the reason stated by you in your first post. With this the guns had to be charged/cocked manually by the weapons crews before take-off. Consequently, if there was a malfunction they had to land to have them recharged.
There were both "B" and "E" versions in service in the Philippines in December 1941. However, their problems were much more serious, technically, than at Pearl Harbor because many of the "E"s had just arrived, guns had not been sighted or properly cleaned from Cosmoline and the lack of .50 ammo prevented live-fire training.
Actually, the Philippine-based pilots preferred the "B" to the "E" because it was lighter, better climb, and the .30s were more reliable than the .50s because they had at least been fired. Their engines were also properly run in. Another problem with the "E"s.
Fred
I've long-ago "properly" read about Welch and Taylor; maybe sixty years ago now, so those details may get a bit distant, thank you. Bartsch goes into great detail about the start-up problems of the Luzon pursuits. I haven't yet gleaned what was the actual physical process to manually "charge" the guns; especially if the pilot could do it for the .50s from the cockpit.
And here is a link for an AVG P-40B - or was it "C"? - Flying Tigers P-40 Tomahawk manualWhy not take a look at the P-40D/E Flight Manual? It is available on the site.
Hi, we should be about the same age, then…...I, too, hope Shortround's reply clarifies the matter for you.
Nice illustration, Shortround!
Fred
Does anyone know about the automatic gun charging systems on the early P-40s? (1941) How the guns were manually charged?
Among the many problems P-40 ground crews at Clark Field had in readying the pursuit squadrons for war in the fall of 1941 was the hydralics for the automatic gun charging system was linked to the landing gear. In the summer of 1941 word came from Wright Patterson to disconnect the gun chargers or the wheels could collapse. They solved the problem at W-P by October but no one informed Clark before war started.
Thanks if you can shed some light?