Originally posted by Vermillion:
Jig, your extrapolating alot of data from a single incident, to explain the ammunition specifics from the entire war (the single F4U-1C incident).
Its like when the Luftwaffe guys start with the MG151"mine" shell thing. True, It may have been the most common shell in the summer of 1944 on the western front (which hasn't been proven in itself yet), but what about the rest of 1939-45? Or in North Afrika, or the Eastern Front?
You can read many accounts of "These pilots preferred this..." or "This squadron typically did this".
That doesnt' mean that you can take those statements and stretch them to cover that those conditions were the prevailing conditions for an entire Country throughout the entire war.
Not only may the conditions/preferences been different for other units/theaters, simple logistics and production availability may dictate much different situations.
Show me some kind of production numbers for shell types per country for the entire war (or other applicable data), and I will type my hands off writting posts in support of making such a change as RAM suggests.
But posts like "Well I read in GrayHawk Killer DoubleAces of the Luftwaffe, that in JG989 that all the aces flew with nuclear tip ammunition mixed in with corrosive chemical warhead ammuntion, while the stinking British Nancy Boys flew with Spitwad ammunition in their cannons, because the British factory workers were having Tea and crumpets instead of working properly for the Queen". 
Well... you get my point.
I only use the F4U-1C incedent because it is the only reference (basically) there is. Most of the others are to vague, but that incident descirbes in the most detail. I have seen nothing that suggest for or agianst otherwise. Notice all the little disclaimers in my post
The stuff above it is totally unrelated other then they both used Hispanos. Generally, during WWII, armor-piercing was more widely available to ground attack units. It was certainly not the best at any one job, but it was capable of all, where as the HE types had almost no use in some jobs.
For comparison, say the GP bombs, vs Incd., AP, HV, Frag, etc. While the others were available time to time, there was nearly always GP's around too.
At one time, I had believed that the 1C's carried HE...but given they operated in a very tight area around Okinawa and had pretty general roles I have no faith in that anymore. (ground attack, anti-shipping, etc. 71 kills during their extensive use)
I pulled up making a left turn, then a right and got him on a head-on. He was about 800 feet ahead of and slightly below me when I fired. This makes an easy shot because you can aim ahead of him; he would run into the bullets, without deflection, just a high-to-low head-on shot. I gave it a long burst. I didn't see the bullets strike. I just pulled the trigger and he blew to hell - a big ball of fire.
Lt Joe Robbins VF-85, 5 Victories (3 in F4U-1C)From the HTC pages. Different situation. Does it suggest they use HE ammo? Maybe. Mix? Now way to confrim it.
F4U-1C 1945 = Close-air-support version with four 20mm cannons; first combat at Okinawa. POP: 200 modified from F4U-1A.Not much here other than specified ground attack. Adds to the 1A/1D confusion though.
The squadron continued strafing and bombing missions until moving to Okinawa in March 1945, and was the first Marine squadron to use fighter aircraft for dive bombing missions. The squadron, now flying the F4U-1C (a modification which include four 20mm cannons and pylons for 5-inch rockets), downed its first aircraft on April 7, 1945. Combat air patrols were the predominant mission until the war ended. From the VMA-311 page. Again this demonstrates the ground attack role. Also notice how long t took for their first kill
But, after the ground-attack switch they switched to CAP's. Even more vague.
As you might guess, finding total production that are specific enough to make conclusions for ammuntion types is difficult. Even more so is distribution amoung squads. Sure they would use what they had, but what DID they have?
I was merely making a suggestion that they were using a AP belt at the time. And Marine squadrons weren't subject to alot of variety
However, before '43, there weren't many HE shells for the Brit's Hispano. The teething problems with the shell lead to very small distribution. I tried to point out they didn't have a choice most of the time due to command issues, but they did pefer the AP round, even after the HE round became more available, most likely because that's all they had used in '42.
I've been looking for 3 hours for web source.
The most specific I've found is "millions of shells"
- Jig
