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They used pods so the aircraft could be "quickly" modified in the field, to prepare for different targets.But there was a 20mm gun bay there already, use it with the second gun an a slim blister burried as much as possible into the wing, I assume they were looking for a quick fix.
One of the most diabolical of the underwing pods has to be the WB-81. Which was 3x MG 81Z machine guns packed together, and splayed out and down at specific angles to hose the ground with 10000 rounds per minute, per pod. Only carried by Ju 87's though, I believe.
Basically a human being lawn mower.
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Problem with that theory is they would require re-zeroing each time they were taken off and refitted, that's a lot of stuffing around.They used pods so the aircraft could be "quickly" modified in the field, to prepare for different targets.
Intercepting heavy bombers today? slap the gun pods on.
Tangling with fighters? Take the pods off, and run with internal armament only.
Well, in theory anyway
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Problem with that theory is they would require re-zeroing each time they were taken off and refitted, that's a lot of stuffing around.
Barrels overheating wouldn't be much of an issue. The MG81Z was a "twinned" 7.92mm MG81, which was mostly used for defensive positions on aircraft like the Ju88.I'd never really paid any attention to that, but with your rpm figure I had to look. That seems pretty badass, but I'd imagine short bursts would have to be the rule of the day? Barrel-heating would have to set in pretty quickly, and I bet it eats the ammo carried like Dom DeLuise ate popcorn.
Barrels overheating wouldn't be much of an issue. The MG81Z was a "twinned" 7.92mm MG81, which was mostly used for defensive positions on aircraft like the Ju88.
So the pod was fitted with three MG81Zs, which in essence, was six MG81s.
They most likely did short bursts like most Ground attack aircraft.Right, it's a twin-mount, each barrel spitting ~1400-1600 rpm, but unlike the ground-based MG-34 or -42 you obvs couldn't change barrels in flight, so no sustained bursts, no?
The 20mm pods would have to be calibrated to hit a bomber.At 10k rounds per minute, this is like recalibrating a firehose. It's more a point and shoot weapon, I'd think.
They most likely did short bursts like most Ground attack aircraft.
If I recall right, there was only 1,500 rounds available per pod (one 250 round ammo box per weapon), so even an extended burst wouldn't last long (RoF for the MG81 was roughly 1,500 rpm).
I believe the Ju88 and Do217 carried up to six WB-81 pods, and some cases the pods were arranged so some fired forward and the rest fired backward, ensuring better coverage of their soft targets.
I don't really find it ugly. I just find it a awkward looking, generic and boring. *Shrugs*. Now the B-25 A-20, A-26 on the other hand look threatening to me. (The P-39 does to but in an entirely different wayPutting four 20s and six 303s is pretty enough in my book. How the airframe looked, well, it wasn't pretty, but the business end is in stuff like Bismarck Sea battle, and Med as well as North Sea patrols. I think that speaks for itself.
As I wrote upthread, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I find that gun loadout combined with some rockets on racks to be pretty good-looking, blunt nose be damned.
One of the most diabolical of the underwing pods has to be the WB-81. Which was 3x MG 81Z machine guns packed together, and splayed out and down at specific angles to hose the ground with 10000 rounds per minute, per pod. Only carried by Ju 87's though, I believe.
Basically a human being lawn mower.
I don't really find it ugly. I just find it a awkward looking, generic and boring. *Shrugs*. Now the B-25 A-20, A-26 on the other hand look threatening to me. (The P-39 does to but in an entirely different way)
That's a good point.Problem with that theory is they would require re-zeroing each time they were taken off and refitted, that's a lot of stuffing around.
The 20mm pods would have to be calibrated to hit a bomber.