Quote:
Originally Posted by 41Sqn_Banks
Well ...
Spitfire 8 machine guns to fire vs. Me 109 2 machine guns to fire ... nearly 4 times of guns!
I'm not counting the MG FF, 'cause the 55 sec. of fire only applies to the machine guns, not the canons.
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Quite right. This was the first thing that glared at me from the way this documentary was presented when I saw the first broadcast.
The 109 has to hold a 'plane in it's sights 4 times as long to get same weight of projectiles on target, compared to Hurris and Spits, using machine guns alone.
As it happens 55 secs is near enough four times 14.7secs. Roughly the same rate of fire.
The sensible view of this is that the 109 pilots had loads of time to sight the target with their m/g's, then let go with a short burst of cannon.