Author Topic: Hispanos in Spit V (Read 445 times)

Nashwan · « **on:** March 21, 2004, 10:09:55 AM »

A question for the Spit and/or armament experts; were belt fed cannons fitted to the Spit Vb, or just to the Vc? If not, why not?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

thrila · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2004, 10:46:20 AM »

You mean for 120 rounds instead of 60 right?

Looking at the tech drawings of the wings I don't believe there were, unless they modified B wing to do so. But that would require sawing through spars because there isn't enough space to accomadate all the ammo. So i can't see that they would have done it. The C wing position of the cannon is quite a bit more forward than the B wing and has suitable space for 120 rounds per cannon for 4 cannon....

It's shame my scanner isn't working otherwise i could show you.

Nashwan · « **Reply #2 on:** March 21, 2004, 11:16:53 AM »

Quote

You mean for 120 rounds instead of 60 right?

Yes.

Quote

Looking at the tech drawings of the wings I don't believe there were, unless they modified B wing to do so. But that would require sawing through spars because there isn't enough space to accomadate all the ammo. So i can't see that they would have done it.

Spitfire the history has the following pictures (these are only parts of the pics) on p 156 (second edition)

The book labels this "diagram of B wing armament with belt fed Hispanos", but I think the caption is wrong, and this is a C wing. The bay the cannon is in appears wide enough for 2 cannon, which is waht makes me think this is a C.

This is a cutaway of the Vb wing, from the same page. As you can see, the cannon bay is only wide enough for 1 cannon.

However, the magazine bay appears to be the same size as the bay in the C wing installation above.

thrila · « **Reply #3 on:** March 21, 2004, 11:33:21 AM »

Yeah the top caption is a C wing. The 2nd cannon would be sat to the right of the cannon with it's ammo box below the 1st cannon's box.

The cannon in a B wing is much further back in the wing. The rear of the cannon in a B wing is only several inches away from the rear of the wing- as in the 2nd caption.

The ammo drum is only about 1/2 to 2/3 of the size of the space it fits in. But it's at a rather awkward angle and has lots of bracing to prevent it from moving. Otherwise it could of had a higher amo capacity.

Guppy35 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2004, 12:05:24 AM »

We had this discussion not too long ago. Spit the History has it's moments where captions are not always accurate.

http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108636

No belt fed Vbs, just drum fed with 60 rounds. 120 was with the belt fed Vcs.

Dan/Slack

Nashwan · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2004, 05:30:21 PM »

thanks Dan. Now if I'd seen that thread first, I wouldn't have had to scan the pictures in myself