Four cannon Spit V?

[Blammo]

I just got my issue of Air & Space.  It has a great picture of a Spit V on the cover, but it looks like it has 4 20 mm cannons in it.  Was there such a version and, if so, how much use did it see?  Also, what was the ammo load, performance, etc like on this bird?  Was it comparable to the Spit V we have in game?

[SlapShot]

hehe ... the "worms are now making their way out of the can".

[Treize69]

Oh, Daniel? Where art thou?

[BaldEagl]

Spitfire Mk VC with 4x20mm's

See the "More Spitfires" thread in the Wishlist Forum.

[SouthLanda]

Information I have says that the last production models of the mark V spitfire were given a four cannon config.

[Guppy35]

OK lets do this one more time

The restored Spit on the cover of the magazine is representative of the planes that embarked on the USS Wasp for the trip to Malta.  Once on Malta they removed two of the cannon.  They did NOT fly combat with 4 cannons.

The only squadron I've ever found that operated 4 cannon Spitfire Vc were 2 SAAF in Italy in the ground attack role.  Those Spit Vc also had the big tropical filter which really messed up performance.  Throw in the weight of the 4 cannons and it was not a dog fighter.  We DON'T need one in AH
The only photos I've ever found of the 4 cannon 2 Squadron Spit Vcs



The Spitfire 21 was the last WW2 combat Spit.  It had a completely redesigned wing with 4 cannon.  It served with 91 Squadron from roughly March 45 on and it's operational career consisted of patrols over Holland flown from Ludham, England.  2 Spit 21s were lost to flak.  They claimed a midget sub sunk.  No air to air claims.
Spit 21 of 91 Squadron


I love Spitfires.  I'd love a Spitfire XII in the game.  But we've got too many other birds that need to come first in my opinion.  A 4 Cannon Spit would just be another HO and run bird like the rest of em.  On Malta the argument for removing the two cannon was that performance was lousy with 4 and if you can't hit em with 2 cannon, 4 won't make a difference.

The Spitfire that should be highest on the list is this one.  It has the most important mod of all for Aces High:aok

[Guppy35]

Originally posted by SouthLanda
Information I have says that the last production models of the mark V spitfire were given a four cannon config.

The Spitfire Vc had a Universal Wing, meaning it was capable of carrying 4 cannons.  The problem was there was a problem heating the outer gun bay so the Vc came off the line with 2 cannon and 4 303s.  Only those low alt Vc in Italy used the 4 cannon as heating wasn't a problem.  Same goes for any of the other Universal Wing Spits like the VII, VIII, and IX.

[Karnak]

2 Squadron, SAAF was the only squadron to use four cannons in Spit Vs in active service.  They also had Vokes filters on those Spits, so the performance would be significantly impaired.  Ammowise, I believe all cannons had 120 rounds, but I could be mistaken.

All in all I don't think it should be an option in AH as it would be grossly overused when compared to its historical usage.

[Stoney74]

Just combine all of your Hurri IIC/F4U-1C nightmares into one aircraft, and you would, perhaps, approach a fraction of the problems a 4X20mm Spit V would create.

[Anaxogoras]

Part of the reason for why the earliest SpitV's still had the 8xBrowning armament is because the gas-powered Hispanos would frequently jam.  The problem was eventually fixed, but it was always good to have a more reliable backup.

[Blammo]

BTW: I was not suggesting it be added to the game and really don't know that we need it.  Just looking for info on it when I saw it on the cover :-D

After I posted I remember reading about a Spit Vc and went back to look it up.  Of course, they did not have all the info that has been provied here.

Thanks!

[angelsandair]

Originally posted by Guppy35


OK lets do this one more time

The restored Spit on the cover of the magazine is representative of the planes that embarked on the USS Wasp for the trip to Malta.  Once on Malta they removed two of the cannon.  They did NOT fly combat with 4 cannons.

The only squadron I've ever found that operated 4 cannon Spitfire Vc were 2 SAAF in Italy in the ground attack role.  Those Spit Vc also had the big tropical filter which really messed up performance.  Throw in the weight of the 4 cannons and it was not a dog fighter.  We DON'T need one in AH
The only photos I've ever found of the 4 cannon 2 Squadron Spit Vcs



The Spitfire 21 was the last WW2 combat Spit.  It had a completely redesigned wing with 4 cannon.  It served with 91 Squadron from roughly March 45 on and it's operational career consisted of patrols over Holland flown from Ludham, England.  2 Spit 21s were lost to flak.  They claimed a midget sub sunk.  No air to air claims.
Spit 21 of 91 Squadron


I love Spitfires.  I'd love a Spitfire XII in the game.  But we've got too many other birds that need to come first in my opinion.  A 4 Cannon Spit would just be another HO and run bird like the rest of em.  On Malta the argument for removing the two cannon was that performance was lousy with 4 and if you can't hit em with 2 cannon, 4 won't make a difference.

The Spitfire that should be highest on the list is this one.  It has the most important mod of all for Aces High:aok

man Guppy35 u kno EVERYTHING!! jeez, i guess u dont usually need to post questions about fighters

[Bronk]

Originally posted by angelsandair
man Guppy35 u kno EVERYTHING!! jeez, i guess u dont usually need to post questions about fighters

Ask him how to land a 38.... well in one piece anyway.

[Kweassa]

All in all I don't think it should be an option in AH as it would be grossly overused when compared to its historical usage.

 I doubt it ever will be, Karnak, since the recent trends shown by HTC seems to more closely pay attention to historical standards - ie. ruling out "uncommon" customization types from the game.

 A clear indicator seems to be how they removed the gunpods from the Bf109-F4, and the Mk108 from the G-6 on (suspected) grounds of "uncommon armament set". As noted by some of the 109 experts, a Bf109F with gunpods required a rare, separate wing type to be fitted, and G-6s armed with Mk108s seem to be far less common than we initially thought. Thus, both armament options were removed from the game.

 Then assuming the same standards apply, I doubt the SpitV would ever be given a 4x20mm armament option.

[The Fugitive]

Originally posted by Bronk
Ask him how to land a 38.... well in one piece anyway.

he knows "how to" and a 38 in one piece, he just never really get the chance to.