Some contemporary footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX-IxiZyGRk
(courtesy the same DH Museum that Brian mentioned) - notice the recoil at 1:03!
Also includes interviews with surviving pilots who describe flying the Tsetse
Mosquito against U-boats (and, at 9:55, against a Ju-88), showing the sheer
size of the ammunition at 12:55.
Molins, who modified the field gun for autofiring (at 50rpm!) were, and still
are, better known as leaders in cigarette making machinery. Not an obvious
connection - until you look at the form factor.
Piers
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus <olympus-bounces+piers.hemy=gmail.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
Behalf Of Martin Walters
Sent: 25 July 2018 17:40
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [OM] [OT] Oldish aircraft with photographic opportunities
Chris:
Seems that the .303s were often used to aim the cannon/57mm gun/rockets.
Apparently, the mg shells also added to the total chaos when all were
fired together (!). Something here:
https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1945/1945%20-%200273.PDF
All said, couldn't find anything to indicate either/or firing of the two
weapon types.
The Tsetse installation was really quite ingenious. The Molins Gun,
which was technically known to the RAF as the "/QF 6 pdr Class M Mark I
with Auto Loader Mk III/" was based on the long-barreled (50 calibre)
gun. The gun weighed 487 kg (635 kg with autoloader) and was *fully
automatic*, with a rate of fire of about *55 rounds-per-minute*. The
ammunition supply in the autoloader consisted of 21 rounds, held in five
racks of unequal length, plus two additional rounds in the feedway. The
rounds in each rack were fed by a combination of gravity and a
spring-loaded arm and each rack was moved into place in turn by an
electric motor. The gun normally used the plain AP shot (that is the
only one shown in photographs), so had a high muzzle velocity of 890
m/sec (2,920 fps). Against U-boat hulls, it was calculated that it would
be able to penetrate the hull when striking at an angle of 45 degrees or
more, at a range of about 1400m, *even through 60cm of water*. The
*gun/aircraft combination was extremely accurate, achieving a hit rate
in training of 33% against tank-sized targets - compared with 5% for
rocket projectiles*.
Martin
On 25/07/2018 11:48 AM, Chris Barker wrote:
> That is some firepower, but I wonder if they could fire them separately, and
> why they would have both sizes of weapon. The .303 (?) machine gun was soon
> judged less effective air-to-air than the 20mm cannon, and it would certainly
> not have been much use for air-to-ground, unless they wanted higher rpm for
> strafing soft targets in convoys, for instance.
>
> Chris
>
>> On 25 Jul 2018, at 01:47, Martin Walters <mwalters1440@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>
>> The fighter bomber version came with 4x machine guns and 4x 20mm cannon in
>> the nose. There was also a photo reconnaissance version used by both Brit
>> and US forces (reverse lease-lend).
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