bolillo, the AH 38 is only missing the second effect of the dive flaps. That is, if deployed at high speeds it should pull the nose up by itself, the faster you go the harder it will pull nose up. 2-3 or even 4 g's depending on speed. The first effect , preventing the nose from being tucked under is already taken care of in AH (though weakly, I still dont get it how elevator trim pulls nose up so darn quick when pulling the stick to nose up does zilch.. I thought trim and stick did the same thing... move the elevator!).
That chart is from 1942? Hehe, mustve been an early 38. Cool.
"Actually, you are correct that the P-51B will fire, say, 4 bullets before the P-38L will fire 4 bullets. However, as noted above in combat you never fire only 4 bullets. In other words you are correct in theory, but the timeframe is so tiny it doesn't matter in practice (we're dealing with like 1/6 of a second here).
What is happening, is with every 4 rounds fired per X time, the P-51B takes the lead but the P-38L catches up before the P-51B fires its next 4 rounds. Look at it this way--the P-51B will fire 4 bullets before the P-38 does, but the P-38 will fire its 4 off before the P-51B starts on the next 4. Technically, the P-51B will fire 200 rounds faster than the P-38 will (as you suspect it should)--but the time difference will be something like 1/6 of a second because the P-38 is catching up to the P-51B every 4th round. The P-51B will NOT be able to fire bullet number 201 before the P-38 has fired number 200. In any case, the difference is never greater than 2 bullets and will not make any difference whatsoever in combat."
Maybe im stupid, but what you said makes no sense. 1 plane firing off all 4 bullets first but the other one fires all 4 of his before the 1st one fires the next bout of 4 bullets... both planes are firing the same gun, same ROF.. that would mean that that the 2nd plane, the 38, has faster refire rate to do that?.
That 1/6th of a second is vital for me. For the 51B is lobbing TWO bullets at target and hitting it.. in a snapshot or in a 6 shot that means he can put twice the damage in half the time my 38 can (at convergence of course). And when you hitting a moving target, any concentrated hit damage is dispersed over the enemy plane. Think 51B shooting a zeke thats flying in a tangent and crossing in front of the 51b's nose. Zeke is at 51b convergence.
For discussion sake, make believe the zeke is 200 inches long.
As zeke flies by 51b shoots all guns, firing 2 bullets at a time per gun bank. That means that the first hits on its nose it will take two .50's , next pair of rounds coming in a split second after hit it 2 inches from where the first one hit (zeke is moving fast)... and so on and on. Since 51B is shooting both gun banks with 2 bullets, the zeke will receive 100 impacts of two bullets each (two bullets hitting at same spot doing more damage), thats 200 rounds total (200/2=100, 2rnd per hit =200 bullets) that hit the zeke.
If it was the p-38 that zeke wouldve received only 1 bullet every 2 inches (same guns, same refire rate, but the 38 does not lob 2 bullets at a time). 200/2 = 100 , 1 rnd lobbed at a time =100rnds hitting the target, 1 bullet hole per 2 inches . That all = half the bullets on target and for all that matters, less than 1/4th damage because the 51b's 2 bullets hitting at same time in same spot have increased damage. Both planes firing at "convergence".
and of course, the zeke flies off leaking fuel, oil and burning a mighty fireball... and will still fight for 10 more minutes until its engine dies
"I hope I explained this in a way that makes sense. I know what I'm trying to say, but I am having difficulty putting my thoughts into words."
I know the feeling...me too
