Air Superiority Fighter of 60th-70th

[Widewing]

Btw. Widewing, have you seen the guncam footage from that F9F/MiG-15 engagement (or maybe another one)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpsqUHWZmeY

Yeah, it was an earlier and different engagement.

I do have various frames from Rowlands' camera. They show a wrecked MiG trailing smoke or fuel or both. The frames shows a high angle deflection shot that finished the MiG. F9Fs had a great deal more hitting power with four 20mm cannon than Sabres and their 6 fifties.  With all cannons closely grouped in the Panther's nose, getting covered by that gunfire stream was sure to do some serious damage. Had Sabre's been fitted with cannon, a lot of those damaged MiGs would not have made it home. On the other hand, the 23mm and 37mm guns of the MiG were exceptionally lethal. A low rate of fire, combined with severe recoil made it very hard to get hits on fast fighters. However, when they did get hits, the Sabres took a beating.

[GScholz]

Yeah, the Korean War was a wakeup call for the USAF with regard to firepower. As for the MiG-15's guns, the 37mm was an anti-bomber gun, but I've always wondered why the twin 23mm is considered to have a low rate of fire by so many? Each 23mm had a rof of 800-850 rpm. That's 1600-1700 23mm shells per minute. I would think the 80-rounds per gun (6 seconds worth) was a greater limitation than rof.