Originally posted by zorstorer
I should have worded it better. I really was wondering about normal fighter type A/C like the tiffy. Did they ever put in a slight downward angle so they could strafe longer without have to pull out as soon?
Don't think that would have happened. With the big noses and poor over the nose visibility in most fighters any downward tilt would have rendered the guns almost useless for air-to-air engagements while gaining very little in prolonging the ability to strafe. The air-to-air ability was critical even for fighters that were mostly dedicated to air-to-ground. Someone here probably has the numbers (they always do) but I'd expect that you'd find the guns actually tilted up as much as possible given the airframe/wing structure to provide the best ability to lead a target while keeping sight. One interesting variation I've seen was a Grumman Cougar experiement during the Korean War. It had four MG mounted in the nose that could elevate and traverse. Believe the guns were aimed by a primative helmet mounted sight and could theoretically hit anything in the entire forward hemisphere. Wasn't practical for several reasons (including the imminent installation of air-intercept radars in the nose) and was dropped.
Mace
