Author Topic: P-47 ordinance options  (Read 729 times)

Offline Mitsu

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P-47 ordinance options
« Reply #15 on: August 18, 2002, 08:48:46 AM »
That A10's skin is like AH C-47's one. :D

Offline Innominate

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« Reply #16 on: August 18, 2002, 10:54:45 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Mitsu
That A10's skin is like AH C-47's one. :D


"hey I see a goon!!!"
*dives in*
*machine guns fire, nothing happens*
"WTF!!"
*gatling gun fires*
*dweeb disintegrates*
*a-10 pilot laughs*

Offline SpinDoc1

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« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2002, 01:55:45 PM »
Hehe, that's a pretty good script for what would happen to that thing, it IS a flying tank...

Jason
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Spin Doc's Aces High VR Video channel! https://youtu.be/BKk7_OOHkgI

Offline M.C.202

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« Reply #18 on: August 20, 2002, 12:42:13 AM »
NOD2000 said:
...and if they add the b-29 superfortress they should add the external racks to carry 2 grand slams that flew over japan on 15 diffrent missions.

:D :eek: :eek:
That would make flying a bomber... ah...FUN.

Not bad for the next to best payload used.

Offline whgates3

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« Reply #19 on: August 20, 2002, 06:39:50 AM »
if 2 grand slams (20,000 kgs?) is not the biggest payload...ooohh Fat Man &/or Little Boy?...also on the topic of US fighter armaments, i just read a piece (a piece o' kr@p, i think) that indicated P-38s flown out of Port Morsby by 80th squadon of the 8th fighter group in the 5th air force were armed with 4 x 0.50 + 2 x 20mm.  i dont believe it, in fact i cannot recall ever hearing of a Lightning aand anyway other than 4 x 0.50 + 1 x 20mm...anyone know anything about this?
« Last Edit: August 20, 2002, 01:05:52 PM by whgates3 »

Offline fats

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« Reply #20 on: August 20, 2002, 05:52:40 PM »
One book I have has a P-38 pilot tell that they had 6 * .50cal. Not very techical book by any means but rather just bunch of stories of fights. Guess it could be something similar to Bf 109K-4 cowl MG 151/15.


// fats

Offline Shiva

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« Reply #21 on: August 20, 2002, 07:26:38 PM »
Quote
i just read a piece (a piece o' kr@p, i think) that indicated P-38s flown out of Port Morsby by 80th squadon of the 8th fighter group in the 5th air force were armed with 4 x 0.50 + 2 x 20mm. i dont believe it, in fact i cannot recall ever hearing of a Lightning aand anyway other than 4 x 0.50 + 1 x 20mm...anyone know anything about this?


In the spring of 1939, the Air Corps issued a request for an advanced twin-engine interceptor, to be derived from an existing type and fitted with advanced high-performance engines. Lockheed responded to the request with the "Model 222", which was much like a P-38 except that it had a pressurized cabin and was to be powered by 24-cylinder inline Pratt & Whitney X-1800-SA2-G engines, which were in development and were expected to provide over 2,000 horsepower. The Model 222 was to be armed with four 12.7-millimeter and two 20-millimeter guns, and a P-38G was modified to test this armament fit.

The XP-58 started life in the spring of 1940 as an advanced escort fighter version of the P-38, with the development at the request of the USAAF. Single-seat and two-seat versions were considered, with the two-seat version fitted with additional turret-mounted armament. The single-seat version was quickly abandoned, and the two-seat version went through a number of radical design changes, particularly with regards to engine fit. With the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, the project was more or less put on the "back burner", with most of the staff moved to higher-priority projects. The USAAF then began to flip-flop on their requirements, redefining the XP-58 as a ground attack aircraft, then a bomber, then an interceptor, with a bewildering variety of equipment fits considered. The single XP-58 prototype finally flew on 6 June 1944.  

The XP-58 was to mount four 37-millimeter fixed forward-firing cannon and two remote-control barbettes, each with two 12.7-millimeter machine guns, mounted at the rear of the crew nacelle. An alternate forward armament of two 12.7-millimeter machine guns and a 75-millimeter cannon, for breaking up bomber formations, was also considered, but in reality no armament was ever fitted. By the time the prototype flew, the USAAF had completely lost interest in the project, and the flight test program was short and indifferent. A second prototype was never completed, and the one flying example was scrapped after the war. Whether the XP-58 would have been a good idea or not, it still would have been interesting to see what would have happened if it had actually hit something with four 37-millimeter cannon!

After the war, a P-38L was experimentally fitted with armament of three 15.2-millimeter (0.60-caliber) machine guns. This sounds like a misprint, but such guns were actually developed. The 15.2-millimeter cartridge had been developed early in the war for an infantry "anti-tank rifle", a type of weapon developed by a number of nations in the 1930s when tanks were lighter, but by 1942 the idea of taking on a tank with a large-caliber rifle was somewhere between "outdated" and "suicidal". The cartridge wasn't abandoned, with the Americans designing a derivative of the German MG-151 15-millimeter machine gun around it and designating the weapon the "T17", but though 300 of these guns were built and over six million 15.2-millimeter rounds were manufactured, they never worked out all the bugs, and the T17 never saw operational service. The cartridge was "necked up" to fit 20-millimeter projectiles and became a standard US ammunition after the war. The T17-armed P-38L did not go beyond unsuccessful trials.

Another P-38L was modified after the war as a "super strafer", with eight 12.7-millimeter machine guns in the nose and a pod under each wing with two 12.7-millimeter guns, for a total of twelve. Nothing came of this fit, either.

Offline whgates3

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« Reply #22 on: August 20, 2002, 07:50:51 PM »
Ja, i've read a bit of the 0.60 cal MGs - i think were supposed to have had a high muzzle velocity than the standard 0.50 cal guns.
what i was getting at, though, was did the P-38 ever operate in combat with armament other than 4 x 0.50 + 1 x 20mm?

XP-58 looks not too dissimilar from a P-61. maybe thats why it was not developed further, although i've never heard of combat P-61s being used in daylight in any sort of decent visibility conditions

« Last Edit: August 20, 2002, 08:00:18 PM by whgates3 »

Offline Viper17

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« Reply #23 on: August 20, 2002, 08:39:54 PM »
The earlyer 38's had a 37mm Oldsmobile cannon. Oldsmobile Lol.:D

Offline Fancy

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« Reply #24 on: August 20, 2002, 09:17:39 PM »
Man, that ventral bomb in the first pic looks AWFULLY low to the ground.  Better hope the runway's nice and smooth.

Offline Red Tail 444

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« Reply #25 on: August 22, 2002, 01:38:14 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Shiva
The XP-58 was to mount four 37-millimeter fixed forward-firing cannon ... interesting to see what would have happened if it had actually hit something with four 37-millimeter cannon!


No thanks! I don't even want to think of landing that nose heavy contraption light on fuel, the trim characteristics must have been uber-horrendous with the center of gravity that far forward once the fuel is burned off.

besides, the recoil of 4 37MM must have made the PJ feel like it came to a dead stop with each round :)

Offline Shiva

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« Reply #26 on: August 22, 2002, 02:17:37 PM »
Quote
besides, the recoil of 4 37MM must have made the PJ feel like it came to a dead stop with each round


Nahh, it wouldn't have been bad. Remember, this was the same Oldsmobile 37mm cannon that was in the prototype P-38 and the P-39; after the first couple of rounds, one or more of the cannon would have jammed, reducing the recoil significantly.   :D

Offline whgates3

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« Reply #27 on: August 23, 2002, 01:22:54 AM »
there was a thread a while back about the reciol of the 2 x 40mm on the Hurricaine IId & some hot nerd did some fancy-@s$ math & shows that one would lose about 3 mph/round fired from the 40mm on a Hurricaine IId...the Chain Lightning, being, i'm sure, a helluva lot heavier than a hurri (XP-58 ~38,000 lbs~ was actually heavier than the P-61 ~35,000 lbs~ , which was the heaviest production fighter of WWII, while the Hurricane was a smallish single engine bird ~probably in the 7,000 lbs range - anyone know how much a Hurri IId weighs?), i'd bet the recoil would be not too significant unless long bursts were fired...