Dauntless SBD-5 DGP-1 gun pods.

[lyric1]

Cool data. It says speed loss of 9 mph when carrying two pods and 4 mph increase in stall speed. The SBD is so slow that 9 mph loss is meaningless. Only question is weight - it says 450 lbs with max ammo load, but not clear if this is for one pod or total for both. In the latter case, it could still be somewhat useful in dogfighting. If the former, it would make the SBD a total dog.

450 LBS is per pod max ammo.

[bozon]

450 LBS is per pod max ammo.

Eeeewww... 900 lbs for the pods. Bad trade off for a2a and 0.5s are not very good for strafing.

[lyric1]

Eeeewww... 900 lbs for the pods. Bad trade off for a2a and 0.5s are not very good for strafing.

From what I have found so far that they were used mainly for ground attack strafing with regards to naval aircraft. Real life of course were .50 cals had meaning unlike AHII. The part that has me curious is what else did these pods get put on? The photo of the B pony is interesting that it is in the European theater.

That part of figuring out who bought them & where were they all used will be hard to find if not near impossible. The fact that they could jettison them if they chose to may explain why so few photos exist of combat aircraft with them attached.
Or just not that many were made.   

[Ack-Ack]

I know on the P-38 Droop Snoot, the intended idea with the gun pods was to allow the Droop Snoot to strafe the target after dropping bombs. 

ack-ack

[bozon]

I know on the P-38 Droop Snoot, the intended idea with the gun pods was to allow the Droop Snoot to strafe the target after dropping bombs. 

ack-ack

If it is going to go down low to strafe, why not just use a normal P-38 and dive bomb it?

[Ack-Ack]

If it is going to go down low to strafe, why not just use a normal P-38 and dive bomb it?

That's what I was thinking since the primary use of the Droop Snoot was to lead standard P-38s in bombing targets that were considered too risky for dive bombing.  I guess that's why ultimately the gun pods were probably never used on the Droop Snoot.

ack-ack

[lyric1]

Bearcat as well.

[lyric1]

Lockheed Ventura PV-2 Harpoon.





Plus I found this photo on a Greek web page.

[MK-84]

I know on the P-38 Droop Snoot, the intended idea with the gun pods was to allow the Droop Snoot to strafe the target after dropping bombs. 

ack-ack

That would have been a terrifying view for the bombardier.

[Plawranc]

An SBD...... with 6 50cals...........

The Troll Patrol approves this wish.

[Zacherof]

That would have been a terrifying view for the bombardier.

I would love to exsperience this.
Oh what fun it would be minus the getting shot at part

[lyric1]

It seems Douglas was looking to use these pods on just about all it's late war designs based off of the drawings they did.



http://aircraft.wikia.com/wiki/Douglas_XTBD2_Skypirate

[SirNuke]

how much ammo could these pods hold?

[lyric1]

how much ammo could these pods hold?

From a link I posted earlier in this thread.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/191570148/Douglas-DGP-1-Twin-50-Cal-Gun-Package

[49Boob]

Scary 12 gunned P38.

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/p38_15.html

OMG GIMME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 49th FG would love to have these in game