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Re: Me 109 and cannon trough prop-shaft
Artie Bob is correct. It is difficult to think of the barrel of the weapon passing through the engine until you realize that the reduction gear that most if not all aircraft had then caused the axis of the propeller shaft to be offset enoungh from the crankshaft axis that the barrel axis passed between the V created by the two banks of six cylinders each. It's actually very simple and more fighters would have done it if the actual mechanism of the weapon typically hadn't been so long, causing it to intrude into the controls in the cockpit. The 30mm MK 108 cannon used in later Bf109s and TA 152H-1 had a shorter receiver (mechanism) and barrel made possible by a shorter cartridge than usual for this caliber weapon. That's why the ballistics and accuracy were modest (lower velocity and therefore more drop over a given distance) compared to a normal 30mm cannon.
Paul
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