⚜ | Ammo counters in WW2 planes

Various nations adopted ammo counters in their aircraft during WW2. Here is a look at the German ones.

⚜ Sources ⚜
D. (Luft) T.6505/1 bis 3 , Schußzaehler Teil 1 bis 3 SZ1000 SZ500 SZ100, Vorschriften-Karte, RLM Mai 1943

D. (Luft) T.6504/1 bis 3 , Schalt-, Zaehler- und Kontrolkasten Teil 1 bis 3, Vorschriften-Karte, RLM Mai 1943

[no.]

Hearing an actual German pronouncing ww2 German terminology is so satisfying

[robgraham]

One work around that the British used was to load all tracers in the last couple of seconds of their MG belts. When the pilot saw a solid stream of light they knew it was time to break and head for home.

[YarGBR]

As always German engineering leading the way.
I've read from a Brazilian P47 WW2 pilot that they used tracers round to control ammo.
The first 20 or 30 seconds of ammunition had a tracer every 10 rounds.
In the last 10 seconds every other round was a tracer.
He said that this gave a clear visual reference on the control of firepower.
Cheers and happy flights.

[_tyrannus]

Excellently put together as always. Even though I don't speak German (save for a few mandatory words) it's great to have you read the quotes as they're displayed. Great training for phonetic recognition!

[OlDMEGRNnd]

This was a really interesting video Bis.
Also i recently moved to Germany from Ireland and trying to learn the language so listening to you is really cool too.
Keep it up.

[BatLunette]

Bismarck: *reads long german quote
Me: *afk tea brake


:D actually I enjoy it

[DanielWW]

*Clicks on video.

Willing to bet the Germans did this because it is brilliant.

30 seconds in...
Germans, never change, ever. :P

[caseyalexander]

From what I learned about the American planes such as the P-51, they had about 25 seconds worth of ammo. The 2 guns of the 6 closest to the pilot would have the last 5 seconds worth.

[rogerdavies]

ever heard the term "the whole nine yards"? the P-51 carried up to 9 yards of 50 cal bullets for each gun, often less ammo was loaded to allow for longer flights. pilots would tell the armorers to give them the whole 9 yards hence the term the whole 9 yards meaning the full load

[leakycheese]

An excellent presentation, thank you. I've always wondered about these devices since I started playing IL-2.

[finno-pxof]

This channel has made me a very happy man

[markbattista]

Fantastic, as usual a well put together video . I Thought I knew a lot about WW 2 military aviation, studying it since 1966 but you have really done your homework . Thanks, Mark Battista

[Sagetower]

Fantastic video, I love the attention to detail. Reading aloud an excerpt from the aircraft's handbook was really fascinating too.

[swapertxking]

Random yt recommendations, I am 1000% not disappointed

[solidshepard]

That was really interesting, I'd love to see more of these kind of Explanations/Presentations. :)

[HSMiyamoto]

"Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) needed an ammo counter although his gun only had 6 bullets. So an ammo counter makes sense for any repeating firearm. JK

[JJMain]

2:40 "To answer this, let's look at the official handbook from 1943"

[sgtpepper]

This is extremely well made!
Good work :)

[orestogams]

Amazing! Never even thought about it, just assumed that it was somehow shown somewhere :D

[mitchellvliem]

I really like your videos. Easy and to-the-point explained and fun and interesting to listen/watch. Keep it going.