World War II fighter armament: what was too light, what was overkill, what was the Goldilocks zone?

[Tom Graham]

I'm trying to see or at least get opinions on armament that was too light, too much, and just right for World War II fighter aircraft. I'll be splitting this into the 1939-42 and 1942-15 eras, and will be taking into account fighter vs fighter and fighter vs bomber/recon aircraft scenarios. This will of course take into account caliber of weapons, prospective roles (strafing included), and ammo capacities/firing time.

Anyone have any idea of what did/didn't work here, as well as what was over the top?

From the Wikipedia entry for the Gloster Gladiator, 4 x.303 MG's were able to kill single and multi engine, metal construction, radial engine aircraft from Italy, Japan , and the Soviet Union. It looks as though having all 4 functioning at any time was quite unusual.

 

[pbehn]

From the Wikipedia entry for the Gloster Gladiator, 4 x.303 MG's were able to kill single and multi engine, metal construction, radial engine aircraft from Italy, Japan , and the Soviet Union. It looks as though having all 4 functioning at any time was quite unusual.

I think the increase to 8 was based on the spread pattern used and a two second burst of fire.