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Light in regards to weight of the guns/ammo?armament that was too light
Well, to pick up some of the extremes, the British/US small Browning'1s went 9.8-10,4kg while the early Hispanos went about 50kg (without feed system) and the US 37mm went 96 kg.For instance, even multiple rifle caliber MGs would be "light" for dealing with most bombers after 1940 (if not earlier), but using a 37mm cannon to shoot down fighters at almost any point in the war could be considered "overkill".
We are getting into the 2000hp engines, which changes thingsWere most USN naval fighters post 1942 ( 6 .50s with 400 rpg) overkill? That was 30 seconds worth of firing time.
I don't know why we are discussing the P/F-82 in a thread about WW II aircraft.One aircraft that I think is an outlier is the P/F-82,
But back on subject, we know that the USAAF didn't seriously invest in 20mm cannons for most fighters because of issues with the US made versions of the HS-404, especially in wing mounts (which was also an issue at times with the .50 Browning, especially in P-51s until the D model). I've read that the USN for both ground attack and interceptor/counter-air work wanted cannons, but never really got them until very late in the war or post war. Of course, things may've been different if we built our versions of the HS-404 to British specs, as the Brits largely stopped having trouble with them when the Mk II version came out.
I think the increase in ammo per gun on the P-51D was dependent on improved feed mechanism, which also prevented jamming.One aircraft that I think is an outlier is the P/F-82, which had two engines of between 1800-2200+ hp (depending on power setting), and it carried 6 .50s with 400 rpg. You cut it in half, you get an aircraft that was similar in weight to the P-51H (powered by the same engine, just one of them). That carried 6 .50s with 390/260/260 rpg going from inboard to outboard.
Which was the better fit for say a single seat, single engine fighter? It should be noted that the P-51D when carrying 6 .50s had 400/270/270, and the P-51B had 4 .50s with 350/280 rpg.
And for the most powerful Spitfires, those carried 4 20mm cannons, but with 175/150 rpg.
23mm Madsen was a missed opportunity for the US.
I've heard of this used on P-38s, but know little about it. Might you give a "for Dummies" rundown on the benefits/drawbacks of it?
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Madsen USAAC test before the War.
The Madsen 23mm had much more explosive filler than most other 20mm rounds, it was an early type of what the Germans called a Minengeschoß, a Mine Shell for the FF cannon to make them more effective. It had 17 grams of filling, vs 5 grams for standard HE
The Madsen 23mm had 17grams filling and a MV of 730m/s, and was belt fed from the start, so the fun with drums is avoided from the start, though drums were an available option.
Was Recoil operated, 117-121 pounds in weight, 79" OAL and 400 rpm
I think it was in one of Ian Hogg's books on machine guns not remarkble that it was a very solid and reliable MG, but that it worked at all. Not bad for an operating system patented in 1899The increase in shell weight goes up with the cube of the diameter so a 23mm shell should be about 50% heavier than a 20mm shell of the same shape. The 23mm maybe a bit short as it was intended to to be able to swap barrels on the same mechanism to change calibers so the overall length of the of the two cartridges had to be similar. The 23mm case was shortened about 14mm so that there was a bit more room for the projectile.
The Madison was used on a couple of US aircraft sold to foreign countries in small numbers.
The Madison had a few problems compared to the Hispano.
One was that the Madison was pretty much a scaled up Madison MG which used a swinging breechblock (hinged on one end) instead of a reciprocating bolt. It was not easy to machine. The advertisements posted by Marathag claim 400rpm which is about 2/3rds that of the Hispano and the velocity was about 1/2 way between the small Oerlikon and the Hispano.
Edit.
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Madison Mechanism. Getting it feed from a belt is a real trick.