.50 cal questions.....(tank v. planes)(how to kill tanks)

[Fishu]

 

Originally posted by BigJim:
Not to be arguementitive but there are documented cases of tanks being "knocked out" by .50 cal fire in WWII (now I suppose I will have to go find them again)

BigJim

If tank is on a solid ground, you might get .50 calibers bounced through bottom.. but soft ground, I doubt it..  I've heard they did such things, but I don't think that works off-road or soft road.
Also lighter tanks are possible to kill pretty easy.
Early panzers, tank destroyers (which often had open top or light armour.. unless it was those mammoth ones like Nashorn)
But mostly I think that stories about .50 caliber killing tanks, are more of propaganda made from light tank kills, because I hardly believe that late Pz-IV and later tanks would get killed by .50 caliber. (of course theres always lucky times, but we really can't include those as "this is how you kill tank on regular basis with...")

[Fishu]

 

Originally posted by SC-GreyBeard:
and the pilot reports he only used 15-30 rds)

haven't noticed it much in current version, but in the last one  a bomb hit in front of the tank would take my engine out almost every time, but a near miss to the rear wouldn't..  go figure..

Correction, 30-60 rounds..

I have noticed that bullets in the front of tank can cause more often damage than hits in the rear...
Usually hit in the rear counts as wounded driver, but hit in the front area counts as dead tank. (if luckily survives through it, you might have lost a turret.. of attack from ahead)

[Ripsnort]

Have  you tried vertical  approaches? 4mm thick on top I believe.

[BotaBing]

Eskimo...thx i guess i was over-estimating how many pings it actually was.

I rarely fly, and I almost always get killed before i get to shoot much. But the other night, I unloaded 2 full 1700/1700 flights on this tank hehe. It flashed so many times I couldnt count.

[funked]

"Does anyone else think that tanks are too vulnerable to these types of attacks?"

Yes

[Suave1]

I've killed tanks in the TA with m16's . It takes ALOT of armor to stop a 50cal BMG . There are armored track vehicles in use in the US military today that are vulnerable to 7.62mm . Not very reassuring to know that an AK47 can ruin your day when you are riding in a track .

[BigJim]

OK Fishu this is from my DIRECT experience, I fire .45 cal lead bullets at 1 and 1/2 inch lead plate all the time in my "cowboy action shooting" sport.  These rounds are hand loaded to not be faster than 600 fps (to prevent too much splatter) after a few sessions the lead plate is so badly perforated that it must be replaced.  Now I must assume that a .50 cal shell fired at something like 1200 fps with and AP tip will easily pentrate 4mm of top armour??? We fire at the target at 40 feet and an attacking plane would be farther away to be sure but I believe .50 cal ammo WILL penatrate from the top (the weakest part of the WWII tank)

BigJim

[Cobra]

*Note to self.....Always be nice to BigJim!*

[Fishu]

just whine, bypass

[This message has been edited by Fishu (edited 08-01-2000).]

[Suave1]

Actually Bigjim 50cal BMG has a muzzle velocity of 2800 fps . BTW a jarhead in the gulf war killed two iraqi apcs with a 50cal sniper rifle from over a kilometer away. A third apc surrendered .

[Karnak]

I remember trying to kill Tiger IIs in AOE with my Spitfire MkXIV.  Finally dove straight down on the thing and put some 20mm rounds through its deck, killing it.  Unfortunately, as Fishu predicted above, the Tiger's hulk was quickly joined by a twisted pile of Griffon equipped aluminum that hit the ground at 400mph.

Sisu
-Karnak

[Fishu]

just whine, bypass

[This message has been edited by Fishu (edited 08-01-2000).]

[Fishu]

 

Originally posted by Suave1:
Actually Bigjim 50cal BMG has a muzzle velocity of 2800 fps . BTW a jarhead in the gulf war killed two iraqi apcs with a 50cal sniper rifle from over a kilometer away. A third apc surrendered .

Thats possible when those APCs didn't necessarily have even 8mm armour on those.
..and more probable fully wheeled.

[BigJim]

Heheh well Fishu the lead plate "swings" on chain hangers so it is NOT always "zero" angle (since the game is based on time and hits).  If you read my post alittle closer you would see that I did mention the distance thing (you also failed to notice that the load only allows 600 fps max) and I used the example because we use lead bullets which are not "hardcase" or "jacketed" ammo which I believe relates well to "jacketed ammo" and "steel" armour plate.  As for the Iraq APC's well I guess most of their stuff was Russian so YOU must know what thickness the armour is???  As for your bash against American arms all I can say is *yawn*

BigJim

[BigJim]

BTW can anyone convert mm to inchs??? I just figured out that 1 and 1/2 inchs is about 40mm it that right???  If so 12mm (which is the top armour on a PZ IV I just checked the web) is less than 1/2 inch (which seems awfully light)???

BigJim