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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2471.PDF
NOVEMBER 26TH, 1942 FLIGHT FIGHTER ARMAMENT —PART 111 •** t° tne development of fighter armament, except their 12.7 ammunition. U.S.A. America has for long been famed for the quality of her firearms, and it is not surprising that some of the finest aircraft machine guns have been produced by the Colt concern. These guns are sometimes designated "Colt," but are more commonly known as Brownings, denoting the original patentee. They are produced in 0.5m. califere as well as in rifle bore (the U.S. rifle-bore cartridge i/a rim less 0.3m.), and are standardised by many countries, in cluding Great Britain. However, after considerable re search into the problems associated with aircraft guns of 20 mm. bore and over, it is noteworthy that the Americans finally adopted an Hispano type gun as their standard air craft weapon larger than their "fifty caliber" (0.5m.). Despite the merits of the American guns, the U.S. Army and Navy air services standardised, until the overwhelming superiority of British installations had been made clearly ipparent, on the archaic formula of two synchronised guns. Like the Italians, they favoured the combination of a 0.5m. giH^with one of rifle bore. Wing-mounted. guns were adopted as "extras" after it had become evident to the authorities that greater fire power was essential in modern warfare. The first step taken to increase the armament of standard U.S. single-seat "pursuit ships" was the addition of two or four wing-mounted o.3in. Brownings to the original armament of the Curtiss and Republic types then in ser vice. Later, the introduction of the Bell P-38 Airacobra, with its unorthodox layout, gave the Americans one of the most effectively armed fighters of its power in the world. American 37 jxim. Cannon As supplied to the R./O7. the Airacobra mounts a "^g 20 mm. ^jun which fires through the hollow airscrew hub (the Allison engine is behind the pilot); two 0.5m. Brown ings in the top fuselage cowling, firing through the airscrew arc; and four 0.3m. Brownings in the wing. In the U.S.A. a 37 mm. gun, with a reported rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute, has been fitted in place of the 20 mm. Hispano, but up to the present there have been no indications of the success or otherwise of this gun. Neither is it stated that the full armament of 0.5 and 0.3m. guns has been retained in addition to the 37 mm. weaeon. po far as is known, the present type of American 37 mm. gun, as used on the Airacobra, is a Government (Ordnance Corps) product, and is not the same pattern as the American Armament Corporation's gun of the same bore. Another notable installation has been made on the Curtiss Kittyhawk. This type, a modern descendant of the earlier P-40 series, is equipped with six of the efli Loading the .5m. guns in the nose of a Lockheed Lightning. This particular machine appears to have three .sin. and two .3m. Brownings. cient 0.5m. Brownings, all of which are mounted in the wing outboard of the airscrew arc. A similar installation is evident in published photographs of the Republic Thunderbolt fighter (probably the largest and heaviest single-sejrter in the world); the Thunderbolt should, how ever, be capable of taking an even heavier armament, or, alternatively,, a greater quantity of ammunition per gun, than can be stowed on the smaller Kittyhawk. Photo graphs of the Thunderbolt show that the guns are mounted in the wing outboard of the airscrew arc and that they are staggered, probably to facilitate feeding. The North American Mustang, one of the most bril liantly designed fighters produced in recent years, disposes two 0.5111. Brownings under the engine cowling (mounted unusually low in thp fuselage) ; two similar guns in the wing (unsynchronised) ; and four unsynchronised 0.3m. guns. There would appear to be no reason why the current types of U.S. single-seat fighters should not be armed with 20 mm. wing-mounted guns; in fact a Curtiss Hawk, the airframe of which was similar to that of the P-40 series, was, several years ago, equipped with two 20 mm. Madsen guns. The twin-engined, single- seater Lockheed Light ning (P-38) makes an interesting comparison with the R.A.F. Whirl wind, and embodies an other interesting arma- A Kittyhawk testing its six .5m. Brownings at night. The appearance of diverging paths is, of course, an illusion caused by the perspective of the viewpoint from which the photograph was taken.
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