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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2472.PDF
584 FLIGHT NOVEMBER 26TH, 1942 FIGHTER ARMAMENT —PART III ment combination. Two 0.5m. and two o.3in. Brownings are grouped in the nose, together with one 20* mm. gun, and published photographs suggest that tjje installation has been well thought out. U.S.S.R. With characteristic reticence, the U.S.S.R. has allowed little to be published of the armament with which so much damage has been done to the Luftwaffe. , German descriptions of captured Russian machines show, however, that 12.7 mm. and 20 mm. guns are in use in addition to rifle-bore weapons. Other reports refer to a gun of much larger size, possibly 37 mm. Rates of fire and muzzle velocities are said to be high. The Lagg, Mig and Yak single-seater fighters appear to be armed with one 12.7 mm. and two rifle-bor« guns ; or one 20 mm. and two 12.7 mm. guns. T^ie engine mounting is favoured, and outboard installa tions on fighters are uncommon despite Press reports of Russian fighters with eight wing guns. Japan Like Italy and the U.S.A., Japan was hesi tant to adopt any armament scheme to super sede twin, fuselage-mounted, synchronised guns, although experiments were made with three or four front guns, and even with fixed, rearward-firing guns, on single-seaters. Recently Japan appears to have fallen into line with 1939 German practice, and the stan dard Navy OO (" Zero ") fighter is armed with two synchronised 7.7 mm. guns and two 20 mm. wing-mountedJDerlikons (as on the Me 109E), but no gun prinstallation of notable interest has come to light during the war. Certain Japanese single-seaters are said to carry a combination of 7.7 mm. and 12.7 mm. guns. • The 7.7 mm. Japanese gun, as used on fighters, is of obsolescent Vickers pattern (re sembling the model used in the R.A.F. before the introduction of the Browning) and the 12.7 mm. is believed to be of Browning type. France To France, more than to any other country, must go the credit for fostering the develop ment of high-velocity 20 mm. and 25 mm. aircraft guns for fighter aircraft. Several years before the present war the Hispano-Suiza concern adapted ^f gun of this calibre to fire through the hollow airscrew hub of a vee-twelve engine, and an installation of this type was first putlnto regular service in the P'rench Air Force in the Dewoitine D.510 single-seater, an example of which was acquired for study by the British Government. As already recorded, a 37 mm. gun was fitted to an Hispano-Suiza engine during the last war. When it was seen in France that good results could be obtained regu larly with the " e.ngine cannon," it was decided to mount two 20 mm. high-velocitystins (more powerful than the common Oerlikon FF n>edeT) in the wing of a fighter, inde pendent of the engine, and the " pluricanon " formula was accordingly- evolved. - In addition to the Hispano guns, a number of 25 mm. Hotchkiss were tried out on fighters, but the Hispano was eventually standardised. It is known that an efficient 23 mm. Hispano gun was in existence at the fall of France ; this was an interesting proposition in view of the fact that it was claimed that a 23 mm. explosive shell could be made to hold twice the explosive charge of a 20 mm. projectile. The "Destroyer" Great credit is due to the Potez concern and the French Air Ministry for evolving what might be termed the first successful " hpaVy " fighter, or what the Germans know as a " zersttirer" ("destroyer"). This was the Potez 63 which, as will be immediately apparent from a study of photographs, was almost identical in layout with the Me 1 jo, which came at a later date. The chief feature of the Potez 63 was the installation of twin 20 mm. guns in the bottom of the fuselage (this feature was reproduced in the Me no), and the installation, after the outbreak of war, of multiple machine guns in addition to this main armament. Future Trends The foregoing gives a picture of international practice in the arming of fighter aircj&ft since the beginning of the war; it does not, due tjf the reticence of the belligerent powers on prototype aircraft and their armament, provide a sure basis for a forecast of future developments. Never theless, it may reasonably be concluded that armariient schemes as suggested below may be adopted during the The layout of the Hispano cannon installation in the nose of the Potez 63. next year or two: — Single-engined tractor fighters, with engines of 2,000- 2,500 h.p., may be seen with any of the following combina tions of guns: Four or six 20 mm. Eight or ten 0.5m. Two 30 mm. or over. Two 20 mm. plus four or six 0.5m. Ammunition supplies will, of course, vary according the installation, but the following will probablv be minp^" mum figures for the number ^f rounds per gun : * 20 mm.—100 rounds. 0.5m.—300 rounds. 30 mm. or over—20 rounds. Single-engined "pusher" fighters of the same \x> may be expected to carry similar armament, but the small cross-section of the nacelles of these aircraft will probably oblige designers to make use of the wing to accommodat- "overflow"' armament and/or ammunition. It is improbable that twin-engined aircraft of donbh the power will carry twice as heavy an armament, but another 50 per cent, may reasonably be added to th above loads. Appreciable improvements in sighting, feeding and heat ing arrangements jrfust accompany the development of new types of weapons, and the destructive power of high-ex plosive, and/or incendiary, ammunition will doubtless be augmented.
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