Uhhh... several bits and pieces culled together from the above posts make the answer to this fairly obvious, and a while back I posted a rather lengthy discussion in regards to .50 cal bomber gunnery that explained much of this too. To address a few points...
1)RAM, though the fire had "concentrated" on the right side during your previous fight, I seriously doubt that is where ALL the damage was, and if parts were hanging on by a thread, it wouldn't take more than a couple hits to finish the job.
2)Putting aside all of the "jeeps, and cars, and trucks, oh my..." analogies of shooting a .50 from a moving platform on the ground, I agree with the concept that a plane is a smoother platform to shoot from, especially with a very steady, patient hand on the stick. Carefully hosing hundreds of rounds in your target's general direction will almost surely result in some hits, and those hits could very well finish any damage started earlier.
3)Remember convergence people.... it is a fighter pilot's best friend when used right, as it concentrates the firepower in to one devastating cluster up close.. BUT... in a way, it could also work to your advantage at a distance. Imagine this.. you have anywhere from 4 to 6 guns, all shooting to a different point of impact. This impact pattern becomes more widely spread as the distance increases. Accuracy at long distance obviously suffers, but the shotgun blast-like quality of this pattern of fire would seem to increase the likelihood of hits on the target as well, especially if the target is moving. Imagine with me, an evading target, weaving back and forth, and I am spraying, using my tracers to guide my aim as best as I can, and my prey is basically dodging around in my hosing pattern. (I just re-read one of your posts, and you acknowledged having seen tracers, so he was obviously "homing in on you" with his tracers, which is after all what they are designed for.) Hits would be likely, especially with vertical motion like you were using, since bullet drop can actually be used against a vertically moving target like you were in that incident. This is probably why Vermillion's tactic makes sense, as his slight turning course keeps his attacker from using bullet drop to lob rounds in on his head. His sideways course forces the attacker to lead him, making accuracy that much more difficult at this range. These weapons are very capable of maintaining lethal impact energy well beyond the distances in question here, so if enough ammo is sprayed, and the target is moving within this impact pattern, hits are likely. Probably not enough lethality to take down a healthy plane, but a battle torn craft is ripe for killing, even at this range.
Seems to make sense to me, but then again.. who am I?
[This message has been edited by Skorpyon (edited 03-17-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Skorpyon (edited 03-17-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Skorpyon (edited 03-17-2000).]
