The thing that always amazes me about these films, is the absolute devastation 6 or 8 .50's can do to the target with just a short burst.
Not to be rude, but what 'absolute devastation'?
The distances portrayed in the film can't have been more than 150 meters, and the only real indication of the target plane being hit is the bursts of smoke and incendiary sparks.. and the occasional "sweet-spot" API hits that throw up loads of smoke and causing fires to ignite.
None of the planes in the film had suffered any kind of structural damage, and none of the planes in the film can we really confirm as 'shot down'. The result of 50cal fire in about 90% of the instances portrayed in the film ends up with the target plane trailing smoke.
Only the final 4~5 films are really confirmable as being shot down, since the target erupts in flames. (and observe at the distance which the 50cals were hammered into the target, and yet no structural failures whatsoever).
Ofcourse, internally, the target plane could have been in a total mess.. maybe the controls are dead.. engine controls not responding.. oil flowing into the cockpit.. or the pilot could be hurt/dead - but none of this is visually confirmable.
In that respect, I have always felt that 50 cals were a little undermodeled in AH. Anyone else with me on that?
The 50cals are fine. However, there are somethings which could be done to DM to improve the realism - not regarding the overall power of the gun, but regarding its effects.
For instance, the internal control cords/cables/rods could be modelled in AH - in this case, pepperring loads of .50s to the target's wings or tail-end might not rip it off, but still has high chance of significantly hampering the target plane's ability to maneuver.
Also, the effects of incendiary rounds could be modelled(or better yet, the different rounds in the ammo belt) - which in this case would make the .50s much more efficient in that the chance to set flames to the target could be higher. An incendiary round is detected to have 'penetrated' the fuel tank area and bam! fire erupts... Or, if a plane is already leaking fuel.. and incendiary rounds lands at the general area of the fuel leak and wham! the target now trails fire... etc etc.
Ofcourse, in that case, it would also mean that the internal spars/supports should be also modelled(the structural integrity of the various plane parts having a separate 'trigger'), so peppering the surface of the wing with .50s would not mean that the wings fall off when enough 'hit points' have been achieved.
If you're really unlucky, it could mean that you might hit hundreds of rounds into the target's wing, and the enemy plane could still be flying. (whereas an explosive 20mm shell would always rip the target to shreds).
So, if this kinda change is implemented for the .50s(chance of structural failure much lower, but chance of internal failure much higher), it probably would take some time to get used to, but the outcome would be very immersive.
