To be fair, that's 1 in every 6, and the US used them for armed recon and light attack work (strafing) in the MTO. I can't recall if they were called F4s or F5s or what, but essentially the same plane with a camera mounted behind the pilot's headrest and a bubbled for the lense to look out.
To be fair, that's 1 in every 6, and the US used them for armed recon and light attack work (strafing) in the MTO. I can't recall if they were called F4s or F5s or what, but essentially the same plane with a camera mounted behind the pilot's headrest and a bubbled for the lense to look out. On the one hand, I wouldn't want to see them abused as badly as I bet they would be. On the other hand, I bet folks that generally would HO and run wouldn't get too far because of the atrocious performance. It would be like a P-40 with cannons. Sure, it's got the cannons, but so does a typthie/tempest! If HTC ever gets the perked ord working, and we get the A-36/Mustang Mk.I, I'd like to see the 50cal option and then a slightly perked 20mm option. It would have its uses, including taking towns down.Out of curiousity, anybody know how much ammo they stored per gun? The C-hog has craploads of ammo, but the british planes tend to be really conservative. It's a US plane, but built for the RAF, so I wonder whether it leans to the light ammo load or the heavy ammo load.
Yes, I know.150 compared to 600+ That's still 1 out of every 6 or 7 planes having the cannon armament. I know, less than 20%, but not something to totally forget about
That is the number of RAF mg armed Allison 51s. There were 500 A36s for the USAAF and 310 P51A for the USAAF. So you are talking about 150 out of 1400 or so birds.
Krusty there were 150 built total. the USAAF ones were the ones that they kept from the RAF order.
You are probably right Kazaa and you have good reason to fear a plane you could not fly well.
Not many, if any, 20 mm cannon armed p51s existed. and why use 20 mm cannon when 6x50 cal can do the same damage at longer range.
The early Mustangs only had 4x .50 cals, not 6.ack-ack
4 in the wings plus 2 under the nose = 6. British had 4 .50s and 4 303s.wrongway
They had 2 .50cals under the nose. as well. From the earlist version I thought they always had this. Later it was removed in the P-51B because of difficulties accessing them and reduced space due to the new engine setup.It's also one of the reasons the Italians dropped them on the G.55 -- too hard to service and get to under there.