Author Topic: WW2 fighter gun effectiveness (Read 1594 times)

Hooligan · « **Reply #60 on:** December 04, 2002, 08:18:19 PM »

I think by far the biggest factor in simulation gun accuracy is practice. I consider myself a pretty good shot in AH but when I started playing its predecessor 7 years ago my gunnery sucked. I can remember for the first couple of weeks it seemed I could not hit anything even at extremely short range. I started becoming a decent shot after my first thousand kills or so. Between WB and AH I've probably shot down 40,000 aircraft. Gunnery in this game is extremely hard. It just gets a lot easier after you shoot down a few thousand targets.

Hooligan

F4UDOA · « **Reply #61 on:** December 05, 2002, 09:13:06 AM »

Is there any difference in the ballistics or damage coefficient of a incindiary round compared to an AP round.

What is an incindiary round??

Is there any difference in AH??

Urchin · « **Reply #62 on:** December 05, 2002, 12:27:06 PM »

An incendiary round is a round that is supposed to start a fire when it hits. I guess it'd be like a tracer, except it bursts into 'flame' when it hits and not when it leaves the gun barrel.

F4UDOA · « **Reply #63 on:** December 05, 2002, 12:37:43 PM »

Urchin,

I know what the purpose of the round is but how does it achieve it's goal. Is it an exploding shell? Is it coated in a combustable substance? Does it have the same ballistics etc.

I know these rounds were extremely effective as they were tested by a number of Pac theater squadrons. So the next question is this.

Are incendiary rounds modeled in AH?

Tony Williams · « **Reply #64 on:** December 05, 2002, 02:41:29 PM »

There were several different types of incendiary rounds.

The original ones in WW1 ignited on firing and burned through their flight. They left a smoke trail which was useful as a tracer, and the RAF were still using these in the BoB. However, by then the most effective type was ignited by impact. The British "De Wilde" was of this type, and the Americans copied a simplified version of it for their .30 and .50 incendiary ammo. These bullets ignited quite violently giving a flash visible to the pilot, so they were useful in revealing hits. They burned for only a fraction of a second as they passed through the plane.

In cannon calibres, incendiary material tended to be mixed with HE. Sometimes the shells were mainly incendiary, with an HE burster to scatter the material, blow holes in fuel tanks etc, sometimes the proportions were 50:50, sometimes the HEIs were mainly HE.

The essential aspect of incendiaries v HE were they they burned for a significant fraction of a second instead of going bang, so they had more chance of setting light to anything inflammable.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum

VO101_Isegrim · « **Reply #65 on:** December 07, 2002, 05:29:53 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Tony Williams
There were several different types of incendiary rounds.

The original ones in WW1 ignited on firing and burned through their flight. They left a smoke trail which was useful as a tracer, and the RAF were still using these in the BoB. However, by then the most effective type was ignited by impact. The British "De Wilde" was of this type, and the Americans copied a simplified version of it for their .30 and .50 incendiary ammo. These bullets ignited quite violently giving a flash visible to the pilot, so they were useful in revealing hits. They burned for only a fraction of a second as they passed through the plane.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum

Tony, can you please tell us which version Soviet and Germn guns used, so we can have a full picture?

Tony Williams · « **Reply #66 on:** December 08, 2002, 07:43:37 AM »

I believe that almost all WW2 incendiaries were of the sort which ignited on impact, as this made much more effective use of the material. The British .303 Mk.IV was kept on mainly because it was also useful as a tracer.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum

daflea · « **Reply #67 on:** December 09, 2002, 06:31:59 AM »

Having been in the military for over 20 and in the ordnance field I must say Tony I'm very impressed with your web sight, the sheer work of gathering from all those sources (most of which I have on some dusty shelf somewhere) makes me tired, but too the point Back in the late 60s I had a chance to fire some WW II 303 (.311 dia) "De Wilde" ammo, it was easy to see why the US used it as a basis for developing incendiary for both 30 and 50 cal, even firing 25 year old ammo the light blue "winks" on impack were a clear marker for recording hits on the targets. API has always been one of my favorite when firing the 50cal. The flashes of hit in AH remind me of API hits.