Originally posted by whels
guys remember, the trail ur talking about in RL isnt really a smoke trail as much as a contrail. the bullet is HOT and the air it is passing through is VERY cold, as the bullet travels it leave the contail much like high flying planes do with thier engine exhaust.
u wont see the trail shooting guns on the ground cause the air
is ALOT warmer then @ 30k.
whels
All I know about smoke trails is what my dad has told me; which is there weren't any.
Once, however, in practice the conditions were right for contrails, which were a significantly better method of tracking rounds. They had some fool (probably a Marine) towing a target, which the student gunners would shoot at. Each student had bullets with different colored paint on them, so when they hit the target some of the paint would rub off and they could count who had how many hits.
Dad, being (oddly enough) a lot like me used the contrails to aim his fire at the tow wire. Sure enough, the wire parted, the target fell, and practice was over for the day. When they checked the wire it was his color (blue) that separated it. I guess he didn't enjoy being ice cold and cramped in his Emerson turret at o'dark hundred when he was 18.
He once commented he had about 20 hours in the B29 and entirely TOO MANY hours in a B24. I'd pay money to do something he learned to hate...of course the deal is nobody is allowed to shoot at me...
