Tony Williams
Airman 1st Class
Actually the Germans did catch on to the "load a few tracers at the end of the belt" approach.
I have read that wartime experience among USAAF fighter units in Europe revealed that squadrons which used tracers suffered more losses and scored fewer kills than those which didn't.
OTOH, tracers were popular with bomber gunners as the sight of the tracers flying towards them might make the attacking fighters flinch. The US even developed a special .50 cal tracer round, the ""Headlight", which was designed to be extra-visible from the front in order to emphasise this effect.
I have read that wartime experience among USAAF fighter units in Europe revealed that squadrons which used tracers suffered more losses and scored fewer kills than those which didn't.
OTOH, tracers were popular with bomber gunners as the sight of the tracers flying towards them might make the attacking fighters flinch. The US even developed a special .50 cal tracer round, the ""Headlight", which was designed to be extra-visible from the front in order to emphasise this effect.