vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Very cool!
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25mm guns were probably missed opportunities for Germany, japan and Soviet Union.In the WWII era it seems a 30mm high velocity gun entailed too much compromise (see how massive the Mk103 is, and relatively low RoF). But maybe a high velocity 25mm gun could have been feasible for mounting in a typical WWII fighter?
As for the mechanism, yeah it seems the API blowback used by the MG/FF and Mk108 was somewhat of a dead end, and not really suitable for higher velocity guns. One sort of hybrid mechanism that supposedly achieves fairly high RoF and is usable for higher velocity guns as well is "gas-unlocked blowback", where instead of the mass of the bolt preventing the backwards movement in the initial stages after firing, the bolt is locked and there is a gas mechanism that unlocks the bolt and then the rest of the action happens by blowback
The MG213 must rank as the premier air to air gun, for longevity, performance and widespread application.The German's MG213 and MK213 was highly innovative, and were 20mm and 30mm respectively.
There is a certain point where the caliber of the weapon along with it's weight, has to be worth the effort to be used in an aircraft's armament.
With the exception of the GAU-8, which had an airframe built around it, most cannon have to be able to work within the aircraft's performance profile.