Author Topic: Fairey Fulmar (Read 602 times)

Furball · « **on:** June 01, 2005, 04:56:07 PM »

I was reading about the Fairey Fulmar, and was quite astonished to read that it had 1,000 rounds per gun (yes, thats a total of 8,000 rounds of .303)

It got me wondering... anyone know how many RPG the Fairey Firefly had for its hispano?

gripen · « **Reply #1 on:** June 01, 2005, 05:03:05 PM »

160/cannon

gripen

Furball · « **Reply #2 on:** June 01, 2005, 05:12:54 PM »

ahh really? that all?

thanks, thought it would have been more than that!

Angus · « **Reply #3 on:** June 01, 2005, 07:39:43 PM »

Any performance specs (climb & speed) available for the Fulmar and Firefly????
Would love to have some.
Now wasn't that a Firefly that went down at Duxford, - what, - last year?

gripen · « **Reply #4 on:** June 01, 2005, 11:28:51 PM »

Actually it could be 160 (Hispano V) or 120 (Hispano II). IIRC the Hispano II (belt fed) had a spring loaded Chattellerault feed mechanism which was limited to 120 and the Hispano V had a Martin-Baker feed mechanism which could handle unlimited lenght of the belt. AG Williams could probably explain this better.

gripen

Karnak · « **Reply #5 on:** June 02, 2005, 10:20:14 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by gripen
Actually it could be 160 (Hispano V) or 120 (Hispano II). IIRC the Hispano II (belt fed) had a spring loaded Chattellerault feed mechanism which was limited to 120 and the Hispano V had a Martin-Baker feed mechanism which could handle unlimited lenght of the belt. AG Williams could probably explain this better.

gripen

Why weren't the Mosquito's or Typhoon's Hispano IIs limited to 120 rounds per gun?

bunch · « **Reply #6 on:** June 02, 2005, 12:04:21 PM »

I remember reading a beaufighter's navigator/radar operator write about having to manually load new ammo in flight, but i think it was a 60round drum, so must be very early hispanoII. Certainly Typhy drivers didnt do this.

gripen · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2005, 04:35:21 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Karnak
Why weren't the Mosquito's or Typhoon's Hispano IIs limited to 120 rounds per gun?

Seems that I have understood the belt-fed mechanism of the Hispano II wrong; apparently the recoil force of the gun is used to load spring during firing ie it could handle unlimited amount of ammo.

gripen

Angus · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2005, 06:07:34 PM »

Isn't that basically how a machine gun works?
Anyway, pushing some power from the combuston in order to reload usually eats a bit from the speed, - at leat if it's a shotgun

gripen · « **Reply #9 on:** June 03, 2005, 04:47:01 AM »

I was wondering where I got the idea about the limit and after a bit googling I think I found the source. It's an old usenet posting by Dave Eadsforth from 1999 and I don't know how accurate it is:

"One small amendment concerning the Tempest, it carried 150 rounds per
gun. I believe that almost all British fighters were ultimately limited
to 150 RPG because the Molins Belt Feed Mechanism, with its wind-up
spring, only lasted for 150 ish rounds.

Martin-Baker produced a 'Flat Feed' mechanism later in the war which
could feed unlimited rounds, but Sir James was pretty unlucky at getting
orders for his own kit - until ejection seats, of course."

The Molins mechanism should be about same as the french Chattelerault mechanism. I wrote also to Tony Williams but no reply so far. Anyway, my value for the limit was wrong.

gripen