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Re: [OM] [OT] Oldish aircraft with photographic opportunities

Subject: Re: [OM] [OT] Oldish aircraft with photographic opportunities
From: Martin Walters <mwalters1440@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:39:46 -0400
Chris:
Seems that the .303s were often used to aim the cannon/57mm gun/rockets. Apparently, the mg shells also added to the total chaos when all were fired together (!).  Something here: https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1945/1945%20-%200273.PDF All said, couldn't find anything to indicate either/or firing of the two weapon types.

The Tsetse installation was really quite ingenious. The Molins Gun, which was technically known to the RAF as the "/QF 6 pdr Class M Mark I with Auto Loader Mk III/" was based on the long-barreled (50 calibre) gun. The gun weighed 487 kg (635 kg with autoloader) and was *fully automatic*, with a rate of fire of about *55 rounds-per-minute*. The ammunition supply in the autoloader consisted of 21 rounds, held in five racks of unequal length, plus two additional rounds in the feedway. The rounds in each rack were fed by a combination of gravity and a spring-loaded arm and each rack was moved into place in turn by an electric motor. The gun normally used the plain AP shot (that is the only one shown in photographs), so had a high muzzle velocity of 890 m/sec (2,920 fps). Against U-boat hulls, it was calculated that it would be able to penetrate the hull when striking at an angle of 45 degrees or more, at a range of about 1400m, *even through 60cm of water*. The *gun/aircraft combination was extremely accurate, achieving a hit rate in training of 33% against tank-sized targets - compared with 5% for rocket projectiles*.

Martin

On 25/07/2018 11:48 AM, Chris Barker wrote:
That is some firepower, but I wonder if they could fire them separately, and 
why they would have both sizes of weapon.  The .303 (?) machine gun was soon 
judged less effective air-to-air than the 20mm cannon, and it would certainly 
not have been much use for air-to-ground, unless they wanted higher rpm for 
strafing soft targets in convoys, for instance.

Chris

On 25 Jul 2018, at 01:47, Martin Walters <mwalters1440@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:


The fighter bomber version came with 4x machine guns and 4x 20mm cannon in the 
nose. There was also a photo reconnaissance version used by both Brit and US 
forces (reverse lease-lend).

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