Armor Piercing 75mm shells for B25H

[skorpion]

You can take out a M16 in a B-25H from 3,000+ yards out if you have a good enough sight.

ack-ack

i have the sight to do it, its the aim i dont have

im not good with keeping a big fat bird steady in a dive trying to hit a small target at 3k.

[wil3ur]

i have the sight to do it, its the aim i dont have

im not good with keeping a big fat bird steady in a dive trying to hit a small target at 3k.

Try throttling back before you nose over, the plane is a very stable platform without the engines torquing and vibrating away.  If you're doing a long range shot in level flight... same thing.  Use your rudder for minute changes to your L/R aim as opposed to trying to bank turn also...

[E25280]

I haven't encountered any Panther's, Tiger's or King Tiger's while flying the 25, though the Panther will be the easiest of the 3.

Tiger I's are no problem.  Not sure about IIs.

Hope these still work.  Bronk proving the 75mm HE round is sufficient to pop a Tiger with one shot.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ynzmjjfnweh
http://www.mediafire.com/?44gz6y3kcb3

[skorpion]

Tiger I's are no problem.  Not sure about IIs.

Hope these still work.  Bronk proving the 75mm HE round is sufficient to pop a Tiger with one shot.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ynzmjjfnweh
http://www.mediafire.com/?44gz6y3kcb3

ive turreted a Tiger 1 before with my B25. wasnt able to finish it off due to some unexpected 262's...

if your trying to kill a tiger 2, good luck. thats damn near impossible unless every one of your shots is directly under the tank where HE actually does damage.

[E25280]

  scouring the web and even looking in the library, couldn't find any reference to what specific types of rounds the g or h models carried. one reference said with a carefully placed round a destroyer could be sunk. can only assume that the powder magazine or fuel tanks would be the target using he rounds. everything else says the targets were usually stationary ground targets where high explosive would be the round of choice.

The torpedo tubes would probably be the best bet to set off a secondary explosion sufficient to sink a destroyer.

[Soulyss]

I think the B-25H would run into problems when attacking warships, it was the same issue that it had attacking ground installations but may be been more pronounced.  The problem was the low rate of fire of the 75mm gun wasn't enough to suppress the return fire.  When the strafer B-25's went in the guns upfront weren't necessarily meant to inflict a lot of damage although they certainly could depending on the target.  They're primary function was to keep the anti aircraft gunners heads down so they couldn't shoot back.   The real damage was done from the dropped ordnance, whether it was fragmentation bombs across the dispersal areas of an airfield or skipping a 500lber into the side of a ship.

The other problem with the low rate of fire was that B-25 to start it's run from higher and further out which made it a bigger target. 

[Ack-Ack]

I think the B-25H would run into problems when attacking warships, it was the same issue that it had attacking ground installations but may be been more pronounced.  The problem was the low rate of fire of the 75mm gun wasn't enough to suppress the return fire.  When the strafer B-25's went in the guns upfront weren't necessarily meant to inflict a lot of damage although they certainly could depending on the target.  They're primary function was to keep the anti aircraft gunners heads down so they couldn't shoot back.   The real damage was done from the dropped ordnance, whether it was fragmentation bombs across the dispersal areas of an airfield or skipping a 500lber into the side of a ship.

The other problem with the low rate of fire was that B-25 to start it's run from higher and further out which made it a bigger target. 

This is the pilot handbook for the B-25C/F/G/H/J, read page 168 and you'll see the tactic they employed to overcome the challenges you pointed out.

B-25 Pilot Handbook

ack-ack

[Soulyss]

Thanks for the link I'll take a look but I don't think they were ever able to completely overcome the issues.  The three most common statements I read about in regard to the shortcomings of the 75mm cannon are a lack of suitable targets and the two I already mentioned mentioned, the 75mm gun didn't suppress the defensive fire and if they wanted to fire more than one shell on each run in they had to fly too high and too straight for too long.  

I want to add that most of my readings on this subject come from the 5th Air Force where the gun was not popular, after combat trials most of the cannon were removed and replaced with 50's.  It's possible that it was more popular in other theaters where my little library here is thinner on subject matter.

*edit*

I did find some info on the B-25G's that served with the 310th BG, looks like they received them in November 1943 but they were phased out by May 1944 in favor of the new J models.


*edit again*
Back to the OP I did find a couple references to armor piercing rounds being carried in the Osprey Combat Aircraft series "B-25 Mitchell Units of The MTO". 

on Page 44

Those 75mm cannon rounds were 26 inches long and weighed some 20lbs each.  Just abouve the cannon breech was a rack that held 20 rounds.  We carried mostly high explosive warhead rounds with a few armour-piercing shells thrown in for good measure just in case we met one or more of the dreaded German destroyers prevalent in the area.

This was S/SGt Underwood of the 310th BG.

The 321st used the G models as well, the following comments are from T/Sgt Jon Jarvis who was a radioman with the 445th.
from Page 67

I was never in an attack at sea, but against Panzers it was rare that we got off two rounds.  But one round usually did the trick, with pieces of the tank flying high into the air.  When shaped -charge shells like those 75mm brutes we used hit a tank, it blew it up from the inside out.