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Old 11-21-2010, 08:48 AM
Skoshi Tiger Skoshi Tiger is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Western Australia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sutts View Post
Thanks Setback, another cracking shot I've never seen before. Just shows how ineffective hitting the rear fuselage can prove to be.

I wonder how easy it was to set the wing tanks ablaze in the He 111? I recently read a wartime report somewhere (could have been posted here) stating that something like 1 in 10 .303 incendiary rounds would ignite a self sealing fuel tank. I'd always believed previously that an HE round was required to open a hole up in the tank and expose the fuel to the air to allow ignition. Maybe the tanks took a few minutes to seal allowing some fuel to be exposed to the incendiary effects?

Interesting stuff.
Shots like these really go to show the necessity of shooting at convergence when your using low penetration rounds like the .303.

Although it is obvious that enough systems were damaged to bring the plane down, 700 rounds is about 29% of a spitfires 2400 round loadout (I think its 300 rounds per gun in the Mk1A)

With my average hit% at about *cough*5%*cough* it would take me a lot of trips to bring down a single bomber.

Cheers!