Originally posted by stantond
What would be cool (but I'm not going to hold my breath)...
would be seeing the plane speed drop as you fire your guns.
For example, the Browning Machine Gun rounds weight .1 lb and have a muzzle velocity of 2850 ft/sec giving 406000 ft-lb of energy per round. This high energy also gives a flat trajectory, BTW.
Firing 2400 50 cals would expend 975 million ft-lb of energy with a 12000 lb plane at 300 tas having 1162 million ft-lb of energy. The plane speed would drop to 176 tas after firing all the ammo. Talk about affecting gunnery!
Regards,
Malta
Malta,
Intuitively I knew your calculation could not possibly be correct, so I double checked.
You're off by a factor of 33!!
Better look up how to calculate ME again, you're missing something. Try .
http://www.cruffler.com/BallisticCalculators/BallisticCalculator.shtml The calculator here calculates the same as the below.
From two sources:
#1)
50 BMG Specifications
Cartridge metric designation 12.7 x 99
Initial date of development 1918
Nominal projectile diameter .510 inch
Listed Max Effective Range 2000 yards
Muzzle energy * 12,000+ ft-lbs Projectile weight * 665 grains
Cartridge total weight * 1760 grains
Muzzle velocity * 2900 fps
Max chamber pressure 55,000 psi
Ballistic Coefficient * ~.65
Case nominal OAL 3.910 inch
Cartridge nominal OAL 5.450 inch
* Numbers cited are typical, current, US
military issue Ball. Figures vary widely
depending on the particular load.
#2)
The U.S. M33 .50 BMG military load uses a 668 grain FMJ-BT bullet at a muzzle velocity (MV) of 2910 fps with
muzzle energy (ME) of 12,550 ft. lbs. The U.S. M2 military load uses a 720 grain FMJ-BT bullet at a MV of 2810 fps and
ME of 12,600 ft. lbs