ww2 early tanks did not have periscopes for driver so ww2online where simulating Real Life
a .45 cannot penetrate a cocpit canopy afaik.
Yeah, cuz that last .05 in caliber made all the difference.... Mostly, what you mean to say is MANY .45 rounds would have limited penetration against well made canopies, which would be true.
A .45 ACP (standard round, WW2) will penetrate a solid steel combat helmet at 90 to 110 feet easily. (Not much beyond that, though) A .45 ACP fired at the side of an A/C canopy would get the desired results.
Armorglass in WW2 was incredibly heavy and sparsely used until mid to late war, when engine design caught up to expected fighter weights. Late series 109's were the early users of heavy armorglass, due to cockpit frame design.(G's got 90mm windscreen armor) 190's employed 50mm armorglass frontally ONLY, which was expected to deflect up to .50 caliber rounds, the rest of the canopy wouldn't withstand 7.62 mm rounds. (The 190 A-8/R8 was an exception, with a canopy that had 50mm frontally, and 30 mm all the way around, due to it's design to attack bomber formations) Both the Spitfire and Hurricane entered manufacturing without any canopy armoring whatsoever...they actually BOLTED on a plate of early armorglass to the windscreen exterior on the Spit, and cost it 10 kmh with that little 10mm plate.
In short, a .45 ACP will penetrate most A/C canopy.
