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The FW was not well suited for that type of gunnery run and the pilot may not have been trained for it so the runs were low or no deflection runs from directly astern and nothing vital was hit.
For example in the episode "Thunderbolt" of the Dogfights series, Johnson's story begins when his flight of P-47s is ambushed by Fw-190s, he is caught up by enemy fire and immediately thrown into a spin, he managed to recover only to encounter the lone Fw-190 flown by Egon Mayer if I'm not mistaken that pours all its ammo into the wounded Thunderbolt but manages to survive and makes it back to England.
Good old History Channel.I read someplace where Mayer wasn't even in the area. (substantial proofs given) Makes for a good story being shot up by a Lw ace and surviving.
20mm and 30mm mine shells aren't supposed to penetrate far. They rip big holes in the aircraft skin. There is no effective defense against such explosive cannon shells as you cannot armor the aircraft wings and fuselage.20mm cannon fire was not able to penetrate effectively at longer ranges
20mm and 30mm mine shells aren't supposed to penetrate far. They rip big holes in the aircraft skin. There is no effective defense against such explosive cannon shells as you cannot armor the aircraft wings and fuselage.
About the Egon Mayer -myth, (which Johnson did not start), see this thread:
Robert Johnson vs Egon Mayer-Urban myth? - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
In fact the Dogfights episode said nothing about the fighter using 20mm.
The main emphasis of the Dogfight episode was the lone Fw-190 where it did not say anything about 20 mm shells, which is apparently correct. It did mention an explosive shell in the initial onslaught, which is also apparently correct, so I don't really understand what the criticism all about in this thread.aside from what dogfights says or doesn't say, Johnson says his plane absorbed a burst of 20mm fire when he was first bounced.
A cannon shell had entered the cockpit and damaged the throttle quadrant.