Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Boak
A direct hit on a box of ammunition is unlikely to be any kinder to an aircraft wherever it is placed.
As for there being "A LOT" - great emphasis noted - of losses from this cause, could some actual numbers be produced to back this up? How did it compare with losses from other causes such as hits to the pilot or engine?
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Hello Graham,
A direct hit into a box of ball ammunition doesn't do anything. Even an explosive shell detonating in a box of ball ammunition fails to produce a secondary explosion. (I know these things to be facts because I've personally observed them. A hit to a box of ball ammunition just scatters ammunition all around. The propellant in cased ammunition is not explosive, but the PETN in a Minengeschoß certainly is.) And when a .50-cal. round hit a PETN-armed shell it detonated it, and that detonation produced a sympathetic detonation of the entire box. Watch the video again, it's quite obvious.
The 'A LOT' emphasis comes from watching a lot of gun camera film. It happened A LOT. And, as opposed to a hit in the engine, the aircraft went cartwheeling out of the sky, making it v-e-r-y difficult to get out of.
harrison987 wrote,
"I am not sure if the unit could really "order" anything. [...]
As mentioned above, many of the factory installed R equipment (R1, R2, R3, R6, etc.) was removed...albeit usually due to the lack of performance that was a result of the installation. So in the end, there were a lot of parts and equipment laying around.
The field installed equipment (RI, RII, RII, RVI, etc.) I suspect was maybe just the units way of re-installing the already removed equipment that was on-hand? [...]
I have never seen any reports or requests for Rustsatz Kits...nor any documents mentioning the aircraft with a RII, as opposed to an R2...but this is not my field of expertise...sadly."
I really wish you expand on all of this. Any additional insight would be valuable. Information on the technical and logistical part of the game is hard to come by, at least for me.
Bronc