About the lack of a proper HET belting for the SAFAT, debated sometimes in the forums, an interesting finding of the well-known Quarry Nildram site (
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk):
"The .5" Vickers Class B aircraft gun was not purely experimental. Small numbers were sold to both Siam (Thailand) and Japan in the 1930s, although no aircraft installations have so far emerged. It is presumed that these guns were chambered for the semi-rimmed version of the 12.7x81 cartridge.
It now appears that the IJA's use of this cartridge in the Ho-103 aircraft gun was a separate development via Italy (who adopted this calibre for the Breda-SAFAT and Scotti aircraft guns), and the Italian explosive projectiles were adopted by Japan."
Now in this forum someone already poke into the code, you can find some data here (explosion radius of Breda HET 4 cm, vs 15 cm of the Browning M2):
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthr...?t=2845&page=2
Regards,
Ins