In article Z_NAb.19515$d35.8687@edtnps84, Kurt Jeffery
writes


On a fighter equipped with machine guns and 20mm cannon, how common was it
to fire BOTH weapons at the same time?

Thanks in advance for your response.



Depends first of all if your gun controls allowed it. I think that most
RAF fighters with mixed armament did, the early Beaufighter being a
notable exception:

On early single-engined RAF fighter aircraft during the war the gun
firing control was located on the spade grip and was a single button
with a rotating safety ring surrounding it. This dated from the eight
gun period.

When the Spitfire acquired cannon, the control column had a triple push
switch fitted for selective firing of; cannon, MGs, and both together.
I do not know what this switch looked like.

The Mosquito FB6 had a gun master switch on the instrument panel and on
the control column there was a forefinger operated trigger for the 20mm
cannon, and a thumb-operated trigger for the machine guns.

The early Beaufighters had a single button for all guns (20mm and .303),
and the later ones had a forefinger trigger for the cannon and a thumb
button for the MGs, similar to the Mosquito.

(Anyone know about the options for the Lockheed Lightning's mixed
armament?)

Later on, a new type of gun firing control came into use in the RAF
which had an exposed camera button next to a hinged safety cover over a
triple pressure gun button for selective fire.

But I don't know precisely when this refinement came in. It was present
in the Hornet, the Sea Fury, the Meteor Mk III, the Vampire etc. (all
cannon-only fighters). A push on any part of the 'wobble button' fired
all four cannon.

I am sure that being able to fire just a pair of cannon selectively
might have been useful at times, but I have not come across an RAF gun
control that allowed this.

I guess that by firing all together you would maintain a better chance
of hitting a target, so when would selective fire be useful? MGs only
against soft targets (strafing troops?) and cannon for hard skinned
(vehicles and aircraft?). I have not come across any doctrine on this.

Perhaps Tony and Emmanuel might be able to comment further?

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Eadsforth