Quote:
Originally Posted by Sutts
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.
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The RAF did some tests in 1940 to see why they were failing to down bombers.
The problem was that the small bullets fired by the RAF's MGs could not carry enough incendiary or explosive to guarantee success, and also had insufficient penetration to defeat armour reliably.
Ground tests carried out by the British, firing at an old Bristol Blenheim from 180 m to the rear with various British and German guns and ammunition, revealed that the .303 incendiary B Mk VI bullets would set light to a Blenheim wing tank with only one hit in five; during the Battle only one or two of the eight guns were normally loaded with this ammunition. Other .303 and 7.92 mm incendiaries were only half as effective.
Both German and British armour-piercing rounds could penetrate up to 12 mm of armour plate if fired directly at it from 180 m, most of the bullets were deflected or tumbled by first passing through the fuselage skin or structure. As a consequence, only a quarter to a third of the bullets reached the Blenheim's 4 mm-thick armour plate at all, and very few penetrated it.
There are loads of reports of German bombers comming home with over 200 bullet holes. The 8 x .303 were more effective against fighters.