About WW2 fighter aircraft firing power

[Rob Philips]

Have found in the web "Horrido! - Des Jägers Schiessfibel", ed. June 1944, German doc D. (Luft) 5001, approved by A. Galland.

The title translates as "The hunters shooting manual". "Horrido!" is a German hunters expression when greeting the other, or when calling all present to attention. This 36 page brochure is written in a P/O. Percy style used by the RAF, designed to explain complicated matters in the easiest possible way to many, using cartoons to make certain points stick. The matter has even been translated into a deck of cards, with which the basics are explained in an easy way, and with which you can gain money too! Call the General der Jagdflieger (Galland) to get the cards...

Hit probability is explained almost entirely as a function of pilot skills, so there is little answer here to the question I raised. However, the following remarks are noteworthy:

1. Page 7, shooting distance. It is explained that at a range of 600 meters perhaps one hit is scored. This changes to 4 hits at 300m, 9 at 200m, and 36 at 100m. This increase is not proportional but exponential, leading to only one conclusion: "Also ran!", meaning "go close!".
Obviously pattern density has been considered to come to this statement.

2. Page 14 shows drawings, that suggest that the pattern size was small for the Me.109, the main German fighter aircraft. There are no explanations or technical details given, but I assume that this is the results of the limited number of guns, their grouping close together, and the firing rate of the average model of Me.109. From this it follows that aiming has to be good; letting the attacked aircraft fly into the pattern is bound to fail. Trusting barrel wear and poor harmonisation to produce a wider, and more effective, pattern, is a bad idea. The pattern will be wider, but pattern density shall be reduced, leading to less effectiveness. For the same reason the following two advises are given:

A. Harmonisation should be as prescribed, and be checked on a regular basis. Tracer ammo can be used to check in flight, as opposed to on the firing range at base.

B. Harmonisation experiments are discouraged. Harmonizing the guns to longer ranges is called counterproductive. Reasons are not clearly stated; reference is made to results of the research work done by the specialists.

The ins and outs of the use of tracer ammo are mentioned too. Tony Williams mentioned that Allied pilots had objections against the use of tracer, as it would give away to the enemy that shots were being fired. In this German document the matter is seen in a different light:

A. Most aerial combat firing was done, not with too much, but with too little deflection. From that we can deduce that chances are much smaller that the attack is reported by tracer to the target pilot. In any case, the German document does not report this.

B. At longer ranges, tracer appears to represent curved projectile trajectories, that can be confusing. These curves do not result from projectile flight, but from the aircraft flying curves whilst firing bursts. Each projectile flies in a basically straight line, but the sum of these lines produced by firing in a curve is seen as a curve. It is advised to use the additional info given by tracer only on short ranges - both eyes open.


Therefore, hit probability is explained in this work mainly as a function of pilot skills, with reference to the armament characteristics of Germany's main fighter aircraft. Nevertheless, it offers some useful points when looking for ways that would increase hit probability, ways that would not be dependent on pilots skills.

"Fighting in the Air. The official combat technique instructions for British fighter pilots, 1916-1945" cannot be downloaded from the web. Shall order it.

Rob