The big thing I see with this is the question "what is historical?" - something that cannot really be answered with any degree of certainty for either side in question.
Sure some documents and "first hand" reports do float around for people to read and interpret however there is no set "belts were made like THIS XYZ" etc.
The main thing is the issue of supply: The beltings were not factory made with set patterns, they were made at individual unit level by the staffel and Gruppe armourers for the luftwaffe and at the squadron and airfield level by the RAF armourers. Even now ammo belts are normally put together at unit level: hell I had to arse about belting up row after row of 5.56 for the minimi with a mix of ball and tracer with no "you must do it this way" guidance given.
With regards to the way belts were made up during the war; my interpretation through seeing the few clips available and reading wartime diaries is that the belts were indeed put together by armourers sitting around a table with the belting machines and boxes of ammo by type, (tracer/ball/etc.) and they had a rough guidline of how to mix them up with specific beltings made up when the pilots knew in advance their mission type, I also believe that the crew chief for each aircraft liased with the armourers for the belts whenever pilots requested certain types of ammo if possible and supplies were readily available - as such having the loadout system as it stands at present without the restrictions proposed does have a certain standing if being historically correct.
Obviously if supplies are low or there are no "type XYZ" available then that is something that could be factored in - but with this where do you stop? of sorry, you can't fly your aircraft today as the last time you flew on this server you crash landed and your aicraft still ahs two days to go before it is repaired? or even stopping people using custom convergence distance?
Now, as for my oppinion in game, I personally do not like seeing E4's taking whole belts of minengeschoss since I doubt that was a widely used belting option or the Brits having full beltings of DeWilde ammo - although in reality belts like that were probably used at some point either by request/ lack of other ammo type or any other wartime reason. - It's not as if we have access to wide reams of day to day beltings or a fully detailed supply chain for each type of ammo - we can barely piece together full information on aircraft supply or even camo scheme regulations (for the Luftwaffe as the RAF ones were a little more standardised) let alone something as small as ammunition types and availability.
I have to agree with Red and Dutch on this one, pushing for something on the basis of "realism" when it doesn't have enough supporting evidence isn't the right path on this one and will likely serve to only further alienate people and provide more fuel for red/blue bias whiners.
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