MG 151/20 query

[C_R_Caldwell]

This is a bit anal, I know, but is anyone aware of which MG 151/20 round is modelled in AH (I'm not referring to AP, HE, HEI etc). There were 2 main MG 151/20 rounds used during WW2, a 'heavy' round & a light 'round'.The heavier shell weighed 115g & the lighter one weighed 92g.

The reason I ask which round is modelled in AH is because there is a significant difference in muzzle velocity between the 2 different types.The 115g projectile I believe had a muzzle velocity of only 710 m/s whilst the 92g round had a much more impressive muzzle veloc. of 800 m/s.Obviously there was a trade-off between the speed of the round & the amount of explosive carried by the shell.

Does anyone know whether one or the other round was usually used by Luftwaffe fighters, and if so which, as well as which round is modelled in AH.As far as I can tell, AH models the heavier, slow shell, but if the lighter, faster type was in regular use during WW2, it'd be nice to have the option to use it in AH.

[funked]

There's also a tradeoff in the aerodynamic performance of the projectile.  For a given speed and effective frontal area, the lighter round will slow down faster and therefore drop more at a given distance downrange.

[Hooligan]

All German beltings that I have seen specified used a mixture of both heavy and light rounds.  The lighter rounds had worse ballistics and the heavier rounds would typically catch up with them in 300 to 500 yards, so that within practical ranges there really wasn't that much difference between the two.  See [url]http://home.earthlink.net/~jayboyer/ballistics.htm[~url] for a detailed comparison of some 151 trajectories.

Hooligan

[Tony Williams]

 

Originally posted by C_R_Caldwell:
There were 2 main MG 151/20 rounds used during WW2, a 'heavy' round & a light 'round'.The heavier shell weighed 115g & the lighter one weighed 92g.

The 115g projectile I believe had a muzzle velocity of only 710 m/s whilst the 92g round had a much more impressive muzzle veloc. of 800 m/s.Obviously there was a trade-off between the speed of the round & the amount of explosive carried by the shell.

No, there wasn't; the 92g shell was a Minengeschoss thin-walled high-capacity type, so it actually had more HE than the 115g shell.

The M-Geschoss was the standard Lustwaffe "plane killer" but it was mixed with other types in a belt because it couldn't take a tracer.  It also had no AP performance.

Tony Williams
Author: Rapid Fire - The Development of Automatic Cannon, Heavy Machine Guns and their Ammunition for Armies, Navies and Air Forces.
Details on my military gun and ammunition website: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~autogun/

[C_R_Caldwell]

Tony, u r 100% right that I had the explosive content of the 2 different shells incorrect, but it is secondary 2 my main question - in fact it doesn't answer my question at all.I asked if someone knew how AH modelled MG 151/20 rounds.Making distinctions between which projectile had more explosive is interesting, but it doesn't answer my primary question in the slightest.

[Vermillion]

All the guns (cannons) in AH fire a "composite" shell. MG151/20, Hispano, Type 99, ShVak, and all the others too.

Basically Pyro looked at the common shells, their characteristics, maybe some common belt loadings and developed the characteristics.

This is to simulate firing a mixed belt of ammunition.

Any more detailed knowledge would have to come from Pyro himself.

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure