Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Boak
The Russians did it too. The technology was entirely reliable, and was preferred because of the increased accuracy of the weapons and agility of the aircraft. Wings distort under flight loads, particularly in hard turning combat, which means that the guns would not necessarily be pointing in the same direction as the sight. The additional weight of the guns and ammunition increased the inertia of the aircraft in roll and yaw, whilst taking up space that could be used for fuel for extra range.
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Graham-
Thanks for the information-laden response, I understand the advantages of gun synchronization much better; I especially didn't consider that wing distortion under load could be created by internal wing guns and that it could be severe enough to distort their line of fire-->good stuff to learn and know.
I didn't mean to suggest no other WWII air forces used it; several other major nation combatants in WWII, including the Russians (as Graham pointed out), Italians, and Japanese, had 1-2 synchronized guns (excluding engine-mounted guns firing through the center of the airscrew spinner) in most of their fighters. However, I labeled the Luftwaffe as the WWII leader in this field because most of the Focke-Wulf fighter line (Fw 190A-series, Fw 190D-9, Ta 152C) successfully synchronized four guns (two cowling machine guns, two wing-root 20mm cannon; four 20 mm cannon in cowling and wing roots in the Ta 152C) through the same airscrew, which seems impressive to me--perhaps I'm just easy
. I'm not aware of other fighters that carried four synchronized guns, although I could be wrong.
Kenneth