Crazy paintball idea

[Wolfala]

OK,

So in the realm of stupidity I came up with a rather interesting twist on Air Combat USA's model. They got a fleet of Extra 300s which are great for this purpose, but figure we could find a few Yak-52s hanging around in the Experimental category to diddly with. So the idea is this. ACUSA of course uses the laser tag version of air combat. It gets kinda gay after the merge when they limit your manifold pressure if you are slaughtering the other guy - and you never really get close enough to get a real good snapshot and have good effect on the other guy. So the idea is this.

You get two of those Extra's or Yaks re-reg'd as Exp's for a few months. We get Shawk or one of our precast plastics guys who hangs around here to make a fairing of sorts to hang below the wing on one of the jack points just outside the propeller arc. We get 1 or 2 decent paint guns per pod - per wing, in sorta a ME-109 MG151/20 style arrangement. Take the guts out of an Tippmann A5 or something rock solid mechanically, get an agitator with a 1000 rd clip per gun. The agitator i'm thinking would force feed balls inverted while spinning in a circle - so it doesn't care of its orientation. Go to one of our plastics friends with a mold - mount the barrel and guts in the housing. Use a 2.4 GHz remote switch for the e-grip trigger and have the main switch in the cockpit. Get a 3000 PSI carbon fiber compressed air tank with a remote line inside each new fairing with a T going to both guns. Use a 18" smooth bore dialed down for .689 caliber hardshell balls. RPS had some good stuff that i'd shot at around 400 FPS without chopping - you really need the thick shell though to get all the way through the barrel and peak pressures. Hang the unit off your wing jack hardpoint (would weigh less then 20 lbs), and secure with a lot of zip ties

Anyhow, mount 1 each per wing outside the prop arc. Harmonize them to around 100 feet. Figure 15 shots per second per gun, a good 60 seconds fire time. Unless you are a P47 and shoot like me, ya don't really need much more. And we have ACUSA with paintball - and the loser gets to clean the planes at the end of the sortie.

[Fulmar]

I don't think 400FPS is fast enough to be able to meet the wind resistance of flying around, period.  Don't they use lasers etc for this type of dogfighting anyways?

[Golfer]

You'd have to get so close to score hits with the paint rounds that you'd never be able to do it safely assuming you could get the paint to stay intact being thrown out into a 200kt breeze in the first place.  The effective range is far too short to keep any meaningful separation between the airplanes and that risk is way too high for recreational use.

[Wolfala]

Ok so the physical problem of getting the balls down range without losing so much velocity it becomes pointless, and then having to get close enough for a hit to matter. Hmm

[Marauding Conan]

Ok so the physical problem of getting the balls down range without losing so much velocity it becomes pointless, and then having to get close enough for a hit to matter. Hmm

Don't try it. Stick with laser.

[Wolfala]

Don't try it. Stick with laser.

I've done laser twice, it sucks. Its point and click, hence why the issue was raised. Throw gravity and leading a target into the equation and it'll be a bit more interesting.

[Golfer]

Then load up with real ammunition, head over water away from boats and have at each other.

I've done the "laser" as well and it did anything but suck.

Having gun camera fooage of a friend in my sights or mine in his maneuvering to live was a rush.  If that's not good enough then there isn't really any obvious safe way of replicating aerial combat short of really doing it.

[Wolfala]

Point taken Golfer. Real ammo it is!

[Strip]

It kinda depends on what your simulating too. Lead computing gunsights have almost become point and click.

The paintballs would prolly survive the aerodynamic forces as I have seen them shoot high two hundred mph range. Most of the load is from acceleration forces and they are incredibly durable at times. I would imagine the lack of weight would render useful range to tens of yards. As it is now they bounce off you after 60-70 yards and rarely break.

[AWwrgwy]

This is what you want, kind of:

Although the P-63 never served with the USAAF in any combat role, it was, however, to serve with the USAAF in an another completely different capacity. This was, in fact, one of the most strange and bizarre roles ever fulfilled by any military aircraft, namely that of manned flying target!
The first flying target Kingcobras were created by taking five P-63A-9s off the production line, redesignating them RP-63A-11, and subjecting them to extensive modifications. First, they were stripped of all armament. Next, all internal armor was removed. The wings, tail, fuselage, and rear canopy were then reskinned with over a ton of heavy sheet metal. A special frangible bullet for firing by gunnery students was designed. The bullet was manufactured of lead and graphite compound, so chosen that the bullet would easily shatter upon impact. Pressure-sensitive plates were fitted to the skin so that hits by the frangible ammunition on the airplane could be recorded. A light in the propeller hub (situated where the cannon used to be) would flash whenever a hit was registered, causing crews to give the aircraft the nickname "Pinball". The name stuck.
It was thought that the dorsal air scoop of the "Pinball" would be its most vulnerable spot, so various styles of air scoop were tested. The first RP-63A-11, 42-69647, had a much smaller "clamshell" scoop in place of the regular intake. The second RP-63A-11, 42-69654, had a flush intake with no scoop at all. The third and fifth (42-69769 and 42-69801) also had "clamshell" intakes,whereas the fourth (42-69771) had a normal intake. Eventually, the "clamshell" type of intake was adopted as standard.
After these five modifications were completed, 95 production versions of the "Pinball" were produced under the designation RP-63A-12. It was similar to the P-63A-10.
In 1948, surviving RP-63A aircraft were redesignated QF-63A, although they were never used as pilotless drones.
Two hundred examples of the P-63C-1 were modified on the production line as armored target aircraft ("Pinballs"). Serials were 43-10933/11132. These were redesignated RP-63C-2 (Model 33C-2), and were more or less similar to their RP-63A predecessors, except that it had the V-1710-117 (E-21) engine and had several minor refinements. Like the RP-63A, the RP-63C-2 had all combat equipment removed and was fitted with a 1488-pound armor skin against which frangible bullets fired by gunnery students shattered. However, the RP-63C-2 differed from the RP-63A in reverting to the normal dorsal air intake of the standard P-63C.
Many RP-63Cs were used as target tugs rather than as targets. In 1948, surviving RP-63Cs were redesignated QF-63C, although they were never used as pilotless drones.
Serials of the P-63As converted as flying targets were as follows: 42-69647 Bell RP-63A-11 Kingcobra 42-69654 Bell RP-63A-11 Kingcobra 42-69769 Bell RP-63A-11 Kingcobra 42-69771 Bell RP-63A-11 Kingcobra 42-69801 Bell RP-63A-11 Kingcobra 42-69880/69974 Bell RP-63A-12 Kingcobra

wrongway

[Reschke]

That would have been screwed up to be a target plane driver. I wonder if those pilots could pull any ACM to get out of the line of fire.