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| Weapons Systems Tech. Technology behind the weapons and systems within aircraft. |
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12-13-2008, 01:43 PM
| #1 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: May 2008 Location: Ventura County
Posts: 192
| Cannon armed Hellcats I know there were a few of them, and my friend's looking for some pictures of them. If anyone has any pictures, that would be much appreciated. |
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12-14-2008, 08:08 AM
| #2 |
| Siggy Master   Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Poland
Posts: 13,974
| The kind of a Hellcat armament was tested with F6F-3 late version (an other source says F6F-5).These 20mm cannons didn't become a standard equippent but many of F6F-5N and E night fighters were armed with them.Actually these Helcats were equipped with the 20mm cannons and .50 calibre machine guns combination for which the inboard .50 caliber MGs had been replaced by one cannon for each wing.Besides XF6F-1 prototype was a test bed for the XF6F-4 and was armed with four 20mm cannons instead of these six standard .50 calibre MGs and was never accepted for production. The pic source -Detail & Scale, Squadron/Signal Publication no.49 for Hellcat and some unknown.
__________________  Last edited by Wurger; 12-14-2008 at 11:13 AM. |
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12-14-2008, 10:29 AM
| #3 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: May 2008 Location: New Zealand
Posts: 5,004
| Nice shots mate! news to me the hellcat had 20mm's
__________________  "When all else fails read the manual" |
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12-14-2008, 01:03 PM
| #4 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Dallas, Tx
Posts: 4,346
| Question.........why the longer barrel for the cannon? Is it needed to get that big shell spinning?
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12-14-2008, 01:24 PM
| #5 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Montrose, Colorado
Posts: 3,271
| With a slow burning powder, perhaps like Hodgsdon 4831 a barrel is needed that is long enough to allow complete expansion of the burning powder. The installation may have required that that much of the barrel needed to protrude so the maximun MV was achieved. Last edited by renrich; 12-14-2008 at 04:36 PM. |
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12-14-2008, 03:31 PM
| #6 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Appalachian Foothills in Virginia
Posts: 189
| This is news for me too, that any of the Hellcats were ever fitted with 20mm cannons. Does anyone have any accounts of the night fighters, that Wurger mentions above, using the 20 mm cannons and their effectiveness? As for the barrel length, I just assumed that was due to the larger breech and loading mechanisms in the wing that required the barrel to protrude from the leading edge. Is it both? |
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12-14-2008, 03:47 PM
| #7 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: London
Posts: 3,655
| My understanding was that very few of the nightfighters were fitted with 20mm, those that were tended to be called specials. Certainly the Hellcat Nightfighters used by the RN stayed with 6 x HMG. The Hispano 404 cannon was a much bigger weapon than the 0.50 M2 used by the USN being roughly twice the length. |
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12-14-2008, 06:15 PM
| #8 |
| Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Ventura County
Posts: 192
| Thanks for the pictures. Is the first one a night fighter like the rest? |
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12-14-2008, 06:36 PM
| #9 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Dallas, Tx
Posts: 4,346
| I wouldn't think so One Hellcat as it still has the lighter colored paint on it.
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12-14-2008, 07:01 PM
| #10 | |
| Siggy Master Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Poland
Posts: 13,974
| Quote:
 No, the Hellcat in the first pic was a F6F-3 equipped with cannons for tests. As you can see the bird was painted with three-colour camo scheme.
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12-14-2008, 09:11 PM
| #11 |
| “Archive”  Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 4,852
| Close up detail from the book hellcat squadron signal book 26. Will leave this link here for a day or two and then move to weapons thread as a great resource.
__________________  "Valor does not mean Hero." |
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12-14-2008, 09:16 PM
| #12 |
| Siggy Master Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Poland
Posts: 13,974
| A good idea Paul. 
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12-14-2008, 09:20 PM
| #13 | |
| “Archive” Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 4,852
| Quote:
__________________ "Valor does not mean Hero." | |
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12-14-2008, 10:08 PM
| #14 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Dallas, Tx
Posts: 4,346
| Good idea Micdrow!
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