) wrote in message . com...
As usual I mixed up terminology. Sorry about that. Therefore the
conclusion so far is that the pilots telling these stories only
assumed that this technique worked. If anything worked in that attack,
it was something else. And please do not birng in other craft and
calibers. P-47/51 were not armed with 20/30/40/75 mm cannons.

More's the pity; the USA had an excellent 37mm aircraft gun in the
inventory - the high-velocity M9 - but never used it. A pair of those
slung under a P-47's wings would have transformed their tank-killing
ability.

There's a very interesting article about the effectiveness of Il-2
against heavy armor. Even though when anyone says Il-2 people
automatically think tank-buster, the effectiveness was nearly
negligent. If they got any, it was by massive application of firepower
or luck. They were excellent against soft targets with rockets, bombs
and guns though. That article could be found at www.batllefield.ru
somewhere. Unfortunately, I could not find it just now. The site is
mostly armor oriented.

The Il-2 3M was equipped with a pair of high-velocity 37mm NS-37
cannon, which were capable of penetrating just under two inches of
armour plate at normal firing range - plenty against the side or rear
armour. However, they were difficult to use as the recoil of this
weapon was severe enough to push the nose down on firing. The main
tank-killing weapon of the Il-2 was the PTAB 'cluster bomb'; they
could shower an area with bomblets, to great effect, and they demanded
much less accuracy from the pilot.

Tony Williams
Military gun and ammunition website: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk
Discussion forum at: http://forums.delphiforums.com/autogun/messages/