Bf 110 armament question

[icterio]

Hello,

Could anyone help me with some information?

There was a modification done a depot level to the upper nose armament of the bf 110g-4 in wich the 2 mk108 (130/135r) 30mm cannons were swapped by another 2 mg 151 20mm cannons.

I have read about this mod in various books and magazines (Air international, IAPR, aero detail, etc...) but without reference to the actual ammo load.

this picture (monogram close-up 1 shows clearly the slimmer mg 151 barrels with flash hiders. Apparently some pilots prefer this weapon because of the faster rate of fire. Also, the muzzle flash of the mk 108 was very severe impairing the night vision.



does anyone know the ammo load for these mg 151s?

[Wurger]

According to my knowledge the G-4 variant armed with two MG 151 20mm cannons and these two Mk 108 30mm cannons instead of 4xMG17 in the nose was G-4/R3. Each of these Mk 108 cannons had 135 rounds. Other source says 120 rounds for the port one and 135 for the starboard cannon. The starboard MG151 cannon held 350 rounds and the port one 400 rounds. Unfortuntely I haven't found the requierd info as well. Because shells of the MG151 were lighter than these for Mk 108 it might be assumed these MG151s mounted instead of Mk 108s might have held about 300 rounds per barrel.

[Crimea_River]

That pic was discussed at LEMB and it was not a factory conversion.

From the above site: "A rare bird. The 110G streamlined nose with MG 151/20s. This was a unit installation as this version had not moved through to production by war's end. This is 2Z+GB of Stab I./NJG 6 on 18.7.1944 at Neubiberg. (Die Deutsche Luftwaffe. Zerstoerer-und Nachtjagdverbaende. Teil 3)."

If this and othere were unit mods, it's hard to say what the ammo load would have been.

[Erich]

the arrangement was not factory processed but was done in the field, several notable pilots of NJG 5 also did the same preferring the MG 151/20 in the top nose position and then switching back to the M 108 the latter having late war flash hiders installed - 1945. as to weapons load it would be good to check with the units ZG 26 and 76 which both used the forward nose 2cm weapons package for day hunting.

[Denniss]

According to G-2/R3 and G-4/R3 weapons manual the left MK 108 hat 120 round, the right one 135 rounds.
Unit conversions are hard to come by, one could only assume they had at least 200-250 rounds per gun.