On 11/07/2020 12:39, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 11/07/2020 13:14, Spike wrote:

The concept of the cannon-armed fighter was proposed before WWII, and
the HS404 autocannon was fitted to the Beaufighter in 1940. The Battle
of Britain showed that the 303 round was not adequate for the task, and
so the move to equip the single-engined fighter force with cannon ramped up.

My would have been uncle died in a westland whirlwind - the 'cannon
fighter' of 1938. in IIRC 1940.Right idea, not enough engine.

Wasn't that known as the 'Crikey', because that was what pilots said
after experiencing its speed?

I understand that something like 100,000,000 rounds of 20mm ammunition
had been made in advance, and this was put at risk by the unreliability
of the guns.

Here's 3m46 of British ground attacks in 1944. Locomotives made
attractive targets...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19R3xVJ_iBY

Not necessarily spitties tho. Looks like tiffies. That was their speciality

Wasn't it just...

I put the video up to show the effectiveness of cannon-gun fire on a
target - 40 rounds a second exploding on a fully-steamed-up locomotive
gave spectacular results. There's shedloads of gun-camera footage on You
Tube.

Tiffie rocket footage is awesome

A sixty-pound explosive projectile arriving at 700mph was quite
something to be on the receiving end of!

--
Spike