P-47/51 deflection shots into the belly of the German tanks,reality

In article , Tony
Williams writes
Alan Minyard wrote in message news:e2r6lv03q966itpnh24
...

The reference was to .303 tracer rounds. The .50 cal AP would, in all
probability, not penetrate after a ricochet, however if you can put
50-60 rounds under the belly there is a fairly good chance the one or
two will.

Well, at the risk of repeating myself (the problem with long threads!)
you need to bear the following in mind:

1. It is extremely unlikely that any bullets bounced off the road
would strike a tank's belly armour at an angle better than 30 degrees
(that would involve the plane attacking in a dive steeper than that).

2. The penetration of a .50 AP round at 300 yards and 30 degrees is
just 5mm (official figures) - and that's without bouncing off the road
first).
and hitting the belly armour sideways on much of the time...

3. The belly armour of any 1944 tank is at least double that, to the
best of my knowledge.

Well, I just did the obvious and Googled for Tiger belly armour and the
rear belly plate was 25mm horizontal. Forward belly plate was 40mm.

4. In order for the bullets to bounce off the road but penetrate the
armour, the road would have to be harder than the armour plate.

At the 30 + angle required I would agree - I have seen bullets skip off
hard clay and carry on at hardly reduced velocity - but that was a graze
of just a few degrees; turning through 60 is not a serious proposition.

(That's a tip - if you ever have to build a bullet stopper, hard clay is
a beaut...)

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

I just get the feeling that after hundreds of rounds were expended at
the fuel trailer and the tank that there was so much flame and muck
flying around that any pilot might be excused for thinking that he had
unzipped the floor plates.

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Eadsforth