Originally posted by Howitzer
I guess the real intent of the post started from a picture that I saw on the aircraft and vehicles forum about a year or so ago where it showed some RAF plane that got hit in front of the tail section but behind wings (I guess you could say fuselage?) by a german 30mm HE round and it literally blew a 5'x6' hole in the side of the plane. You could look at one side and see out the other. If these rounds really did that much damage, how in the world could one just knock out the oil with out ripping the front right off the plane?
Frankly, I doubt that a single 30mm would do damage to that extent. More likely that was aero damage initiated by a cannon hit. I've seen bird strikes that caused extensive aero damage.
There's not a whole lot of explosive in a 30mm round. Compare it to the M406 40mm grenade (M79 launcher, M203 rifle/grenade launcher) which has considerably more explosive, but is generally only lethal within 3 meters.
Engines, especially liquid cooled engines, have a robust block and mounting frame, and a single 30mm round will not rip the engine from the airframe. R2800 radials sucked up larger caliber hits than that and continued to run, albeit missing a cylinder jug or two.
30mm can do severe airframe damage, but light gauge aluminum sheet metal can be penetrated by a hard-thrown screwdriver. Engine blocks are a heck of a lot tougher.
You gents grossly over-estimate the explosive power of these rounds.
My regards,
Widewing
