P-47 Ait to Ground Role - Different Armament?

[DAVIDICUS]

RG_Lunatic said, " In actuality, they were considering a P-47 with 6 x 37mm guns on it,"

Six 37mm guns on the P-47? Where have you heard this? I know that a variant of the XP-72 was designd to have four 37mm guns.

Isn't there something in the Geneva Convention about that?

I cannot recall where I saw it, but I remember thinking it was absurd, and also that the US M4/M10 37mm was a crappy gun anyway. It was one of those wild ideas that went nowhere.

What I cannot understand is why the USA didn't simply neck up the .50 BMG to 20mm. It should have been easy to do (ala the Japanese Ho-5) and it should have been possible to maintain nearly 800 m/s, 800 rpm, and deliver a 90-100 gram HE round. No major changes were needed, just minor changes to the breech, barrel, and feed mechanism.

=S=

Lunatic

[cheddar cheese]

6 37mm's!? Wow

Originally Posted by cheddar cheese

6 37mm's!? Wow

It was an absurd notion, the number was later cut to 4, and then never pursued. My point was simply that the P-47 could certainly mount 6 x Hispano's, especially the later short-barrel variety.

A more interesting armament would have been 8 x B20's or .50 BMG's necked up to 20mm.

=S=

Lunatic

[the lancaster kicks ass]

8x20mm!! my god

Ya, you could set the guns up to have a large cone of fire, and harmonize them to cover a wide pattern, and it would be very easy to score on any fighter target and a few hits would be enough to cripple/kill it.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i don't really think it'd be that suited to air-to-air combat would it??

[mosquitoman]

Or harmonize them so 1 burst would make almost any plane disintegrate

Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ass

i don't really think it'd be that suited to air-to-air combat would it??

Why not? The B20 had 800 rpm RoF and 800 m/s velocity, a necked up BMG would have been about the same. Ballistics would be a little worse than the .50 BMG, but still good to 400 meters. Because the 20mm would be HE fewer hits would be needed to defeat a fighter target, so the guns could be harmonized to create a larger "shotgun" pattern, greatly increasing the chances of scoring a few hits, but reducing the number of hits scored a bit for a given time-on-target. Alternatively they could be left more tightly harmonized to give more lethal effect, but it would probably be over-kill for fighter targets. Half a dozen 20mm hits was enough to pretty much ensure killing or severly crippling any Axis single engine fighter.

I see no reason why such armament would not have been possible and quite effective for aerial combat.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well what about the ammo count??

Should have been able to manage 250-300 rpg. The P-47 could carry up to 425 rpg of .50's.

Actually it might be able to carry 425 rpg. The B20 was a necked up Brezin UBK (or S) 12.7 mm. The 20mm ammo fit in the same disintigrating linked belts the 12.7mm fit in, the only difference was that rather than the forward part of the cartridge necking down to 12.7mm, it was strait (like a .22). So by length of belt, their was no difference. Weight would be the only limiting factor - the rounds themselves are about 35% heavier (for HE).