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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1775.PDF
\ Fighter Armament A. R. Weyl, A.F.R.AcS. A Heinkel He III is raked by eight 0.303-in Brownings PART II: (German Equipment in the Second World War: Inefficient Intelligence THE Tedder "Air Fighting Committee," constitutedin 1934 to study the requirements of airborne arma-ment, instigated the multi-gun fighter, the reflector sight, and the mechanically driven turret. In March, 1939, the Air Ministry announced the issue of shell-guns for fighters. On paper, the 20-mm Hispano gun became the standard fighter weapon by the end of 1940, as a lesson learned from the Battle of Britain; but complete re-equip- ment took about three war years longer, because the gun type selected needed re-design. Actually, four 20-mm shell-guns as fighter equipment had been predicted for the R.A.F. in 1939. In 1938, Rolls-Royce offered a 40-mm shell-gun as an existing airborne weapon. Though official tests made with this private venture proved promising, the weapon was rejected in favour of the Hispano gun. The latter was afterwards officially described as having been at that time still, more or less, in an experimental stage, besides being unpractical for installation in wings; also, from 1940 onwards the designers were inaccessible. Most of this was obvious in 1939, so the wisdom of the selection then made is open to doubt. In September, 1939, the most modern British inter- cepters had batteries of eight (later 12) rifle-calibre Brown- ing guns, giving high fire-density at close range. In addition, the reflector sight had been introduced, and certain modi- fications had rendered the ammunition more effective. But the permissible combat range had not increased, nor had the destructive action of hits improved. During the critical days of 1940, only the fighter squad- rons of the R.A.F. stood between survival of this country and domination by Hitler. Mr. Churchill (as Minister of Defence) and the three Chiefs of Staff clearly appreciated this fact and resisted all French pleas for a release of some of these squadrons to fight in France. Churchill, too, fore- saw that if these fighters could successfully resist the onslaught of Hitler's mighty Luftwaffe, it would mean the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany. It was indeed so ; the Battle of Britain broke the morale of the Luftwaffe. The enemy's force never recovered; in spite of the huge numbers of fighter aircraft built, and of the technical qualities of those aircraft and their armament, it never regained its offensive spirit. When this most important air battle of the Second World War was fought, none of the British intercepters possessed shell-guns, in spite of the ministerial announcement made more than 18 months before. The vulnerability of the targets against rifle-calibre fire had substantially decreased; no increased fire-density could make up for this. Protected fuel tanks, as used in Luftwaffe aircraft to the surprise of British experts, reduced chances of destruction; there was armour protection for the crews; vital services had been duplicated, and the stressed-skin metal construction was not prone to collapse when pierced by bullets. Nearly all the attackers had two engines, hence there was a chance of limping home across the Channel if one engine was hit. Thus an amazing number of hits, fired from close quarters, was necessary to success in combat, and victories had to be Though a surprising amount of armament was on view atthe Farnborough Show, any new and highly efficient weapons which may now be under development did not, of course,appear. In this second instalment of his critical examination of fighter armament (the first appeared on August 24th)Mr. Weyl reviews the efficient equipment of the Luftwaffe, and castigates those responsible for intelligence-gatheringat the end of hostilities. While not necessarily endorsing all his views, 'Flight' considers them worthy of serious study dearly paid for. Fortunately, although the latest and most secret British gun turrets had been stupidly displayed to Milch, Udet, and other leading Luftwaffe experts ("to1* impress them"), the defensive armament of the Germanf bombers had remained exceptionally poor. It was not through any merit of those trading in "security" that the Germans did not possess the power turret of contemporary British bombers (e.g., Whitley and Wellington); had the Luftwaffe bombers possessed such turrets, history might have had to be rewritten. Luftwaffe Fighter Armament—On the German side, shell-firing guns were already in evidence in 1939; they increased in number and performance when the Me 109 . series were replaced by more modern aircraft. Also, the policy followed in armament development changed, becom- ing very intense indeed. In Britain, the experts had plumped for a high-velocity gun, firing a shell with flat trajectory and short time of flight; this choice promised good chances of hits over wider ranges, and better penetration through armour. The German policy was less decided. For air combat, the advantages of a quick-firing, low-velocity gun (having less weight and recoil) were rated higher by fighter pilots than the slow-firing, heavy and cumbersome high-velocity gun : more emphasis was laid upon the destructive effectiveness of the shell. Of the earlier Luftwaffe guns, the Oerlikon F.F. (with electrical cartridge ignition) was representative of this trend. It was soon superseded by far-better-developed designs, as, for instance, the 20-mm Mauser MG.151. This was admittedly superior to the British Hispano gun, as comparative tests have confirmed. The MG.151 was followed by the gas-operated type, MG.213/C, of the same calibre but still more highly developed for air combat; and finally by the 30-mm MK.108 and by the peak achievement in gun design, the 30-mm MG.213/C/30. The last-named type still has no known equal in the world; it fired 1,100 rounds per minute, an amazing performance for this calibre. These far-advanced guns utilized electrical firing of cartridges—a 1917 invention by Vickers—in lieu of the striking of a percussion cap by a firing pin. With this system, the round is practically insensitive to shock or heat (and mayT therefore, be roughly jerked about in the gun), is more reliable in ignition, and can safely be used in unlocked breeches. Without this feature German gun design would scarcely have prospered so greatly. Moreover, it permitted convenient gun synchronization, for which purpose it was
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