Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Dennis
The Fokker Eindekker, if I recall correctly, was experimentally fitted in 1916 with four guns firing through the propeller with an interrupter gear. The advantages didn’t justify the extra weight. Although I can’t access it at the moment, I recall an account of a similar installation on a Morane mono-plane.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Dennis
Having said that, I don’t want you to think that I am blind to the reasons for guns to be wing mounted. That was a simple place to put them, the armourers wouldn’t be tripping over the erks servicing the engine, and in all probability, it was cheaper. Aerodynamically, if the wing concept had a thick enough cross section, there was no penalty to pay in that respect either. One point I had forgotten until this interesting thread came along was that with wing-mounted guns it was generally possible to store the ammunition perpendicular to the CG. While this didn’t alter the fact that several hundred pounds of ammunition might be outboard (in the wings), it was better than having it in the nose.
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Bruce-
Thanks for your interesting comments on the gun synch topic. I was intrigued to read that the Fokker Eindecker was experimentally fitted with four machine guns. Just some innocent comments from curiosity: If it could fly with four machine guns, why did the Eindecker not operationally carry two machine guns instead of one? In the WWI-era fighter aircraft, the increase from one machine gun to two was considered major progress; it was one of the primary reasons for the temporary ascendency of the Albatros fighter over its one-gunned opposition. Also, my impression of the Eindecker was that it was a bit underpowered and I can imagine the Eindecker would be straining to carry four machine guns.
Your point that fuselage guns placed several hundred pounds of weight in the nose is also intriguing. I must admit I hadn't considered this aspect of engine cowling-mounted guns. In a informal and fast visual survey, I noticed that many fighters with fuselage-mounted armament have the breeches of their cowling guns (and presumably the ammunition supply) located either just atop the front part of the wing and landing gear struts or behind them. These include the Bf 109, Fw 190A/D series, Ta 152, A6M-series (Reisen, "Zero"), Ki-61 (Hien, "Tony"), Ki-84 (Hayate, "Frank"), IL-2, La-7, and Yak-3. Would this location still "count" as making the aircraft nose-heavy? I'm not trying to nitpick for nitpick's sake, but just trying to understand better the mechanical aspects of cowling-located armament and its effect on flying characteristics.
Thanks to all who responded to this thread; the responses were all interesting and I learned much from them.
Kenneth