Why are the cannons so weak on the 109-E, yet so strong on the Russian planes?

[winny]

It's all a bit complicated..! It probably all comes down to luck. You could put 3 seconds worth through a plane and it survive, or you could hit the pilot with one shot.

Comparing the guns is a little like compring the planes themselves... All have strong and weak points.

I'm no scientist btw, just a bit geeky.

[TRC Subaru]

Good info Steyr, rate of fire must have some influence on hitting a moving object, whether it is a human being or a fighter plane, that is probably why a machine gun was created in the first place, more bullets can make up for a lack of accuracy…as will most likely happen in a moving plane. There may be some differences in rpm, velocity and projectile mass, and with equal pilots in two different planes, one may have a slight advantage, but really, in the end, as Winny says, it may all come down to Luck!

[Panzergranate]

The power of a gun is determined by the length of the barrel in relatition to its bore. This is given as a figure refered to as the Calibre Length, which is given as an "L" number, in cannon ballistics.

For example, a gun described as being 20mm. L55 is 20mm. bore by 20 x 55 millimetres in length.

The bigger the L number the more high velocity the shots fired.

The 0.'50" (12.7mm.) HMGs on the P-51 B are higher velocity than the short barrelled versions on the P-51 D because of the higner velcoity.

Back to the diffences in hitting power between the German and Russian 20mm. cannons..... it is down to gun velocity and ammunition differences.

The German 20mm. cannon is L30 in length/

The Russian 20mm, cannon is L107 in length.

The German 20mm. Solothurn HE cannon shell contains a blue coloured semi-explosive incendary content and isn't particularily large. The AP round, like all AP rounds, is a non-explosive solid manganese steel slug that will punch through steel and thin armour plate found on some aircraft.

The Russian ShVAK fires a much larger shell , with a much larger propelling cartridge down a longer barrel at a higher velocity. The shell is APHE (Armour Piercing High Explosive) designed to penetrate tank armour. It could penetrate around 50mm. of steel and 27mm. of armour plate.

The same goes for the British 20mm. Hispano cannons, long barrelled and high velocity. The Hispano will punch through over 75mm. of steel and 42mm. of armour plate.

The German cannons are underpowered because they actually were in real life.

[philabong2]

hey guys,
all this talk about RoF and fire power reminded me of this vid, I thought this was completly amazing and wanted to share lol - The company's called Metal Storm and are developping new guns which are quite impressive and very versatile - goal is to put maximum amount of effective rounds in the smallest volume and in the shortest time spand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlkpRjjHaog

There are a few more of these on youtube

[kozzm0]

Maybe the e3 cannon is weak, but for overall target blasting I'd pick the e3 over an la5, if the la5 weren't faster and more agile. I can't aim the la5's cannon's at anything with any accuracy, it jumps around too much. With elevator sensitivity at max to get the best plane performance, even the slightest control movement sends most of the shvak rounds whizzing harmlessly past the target. And la5 is my favorite plane.

I like the f4 even better, despite its only one cannon. It hardly recoils at all, and I can aim with precision. With any kind of cannon, you only need to hit once against a fighter to effectively win the fight. Doesn't work in furballs, cause someone else will finish them off and take credit, but in 1 on 1 dogfights the f4 is great.

For the same reason I prefer the k4 to the g6, especially now that I've figured out how to BnZ with it and win. The k4's rounds mostly go where you aim them, and the g6's go mostly don't.

If there's any unfair cannon in BOP I'd say it's the Spitfire's. But that's only because I hate Spitfires.

[juz1]

Originally Posted by philabong2

hey guys,
all this talk about RoF and fire power reminded me of this vid, I thought this was completly amazing and wanted to share lol - The company's called Metal Storm and are developping new guns which are quite impressive and very versatile - goal is to put maximum amount of effective rounds in the smallest volume and in the shortest time spand

There are a few more of these on youtube

Aussie invention...leaves one hand free for a stubby and fits easily on the back of a Ute...

[winny]

Originally Posted by Panzergranate

The German 20mm. Solothurn HE cannon shell contains a blue coloured semi-explosive incendary content and isn't particularily large. The AP round, like all AP rounds, is a non-explosive solid manganese steel slug that will punch through steel and thin armour plate found on some aircraft.

The Russian ShVAK fires a much larger shell , with a much larger propelling cartridge down a longer barrel at a higher velocity. The shell is APHE (Armour Piercing High Explosive) designed to penetrate tank armour. It could penetrate around 50mm. of steel and 27mm. of armour plate.

The same goes for the British 20mm. Hispano cannons, long barrelled and high velocity. The Hispano will punch through over 75mm. of steel and 42mm. of armour plate.

The German cannons are underpowered because they actually were in real life.

The shells were not that much different. I've done a diagram.. (to scale)


These are the HE versions
The Germans stopped using AP rounds pretty early in the war because they realised that the high-capacity mine shells (Minengeschoss or M-Geschoss) introduced on the 109 E-4 were far more effective at bringing down aircraft.
(this is the shell that I'm basing my figures on).

The Russian shell was heavier and so was the projectile by a couple of grams, the muzzle velocity of the M-Geschoss was higher than the AP round (585mps) and was 700mps against the Russian 790mps.
The german round contained much more explosive (20g) than the Russian round (6g).

[mattmanB182]

Interesting that its the E-3 in the game and not the E-4. At any rate, it seems like the Emile should have more punch then what they give it more credit for.