How the Spitfire got its deadly armament

#history #ww2 #spitfire

[timgosling]

The Hurricane was of course the RAF's first 8-gun fighter. The decision to go from 4 to 8 machine guns was a good one, especially so given the tactical thinking in Fighter Command at the time. Dogfights as in WWI were thought unlikely due to the extreme speed of the new fighters. Hence the concept of standard attacks where aircraft would approach in close formation to dive one by one on their target before regrouping for another try (Fighter Command Attack No1) etc. Hence also the absence of rear-view mirrors The Luftwaffe's experience in Spain had shown them both the idiocy of tight formations and that the fur-ball was still going to be the order of the day. Fortunately the RAF learned fast.

[WhoThisMonkey]

They made the name make a lot more sense.

[Gerhold]

My father-in-law was ground crew assigned to arming machine guns on Spits in Iceland in 1943. While he was working with his mate on servicing the machine guns one bank fired off spontaneously killing the man instantaneously - as he put it "cutting him in half". Could easily have been him. Later he developed mesothelioma - from inhaling asbestos. After the war he had worked in a plant which had its pipework lagged with blue or green asbestos. His widow got compensation from the firm but he confided in me that the gun ports were lagged with asbestos as well which he was in closer contact with. There was much more chance he'd developed the tumour during his service. War is dangerous wherever you're involved in it - front line or in the rear - and health and safety is the least concern.

[MrHeuvaladao]

"Is it supposed to spit fire or not"

[ericgrace]

Such a beautiful aircraft. Form and function are lethally merged.

[levethane]

My Grandfather serviced and occasionally flew Spitfires and Hurricanes during the war. He said the 8 Browning machine guns looked good on paper but were fairly ineffective. The small rifle sized bullets used to often ricochet off metal fuselages and did minimal damage even when they did penetrate unless it hit crew or essential parts and beyond 300m their accuracy and velocity was poor.

[cliveburt]

And the reason they have .303 Brownings ... the some 10bn rounds of .303 ammunition left over from WW1.

[enriqueconde]

Please find a picture of the daughter Hazel to add into the b roll.

[TimBarrett-bu]

They were literally like, “Give me guns, lots of guns”

[freakyflow]

It was a high speed racer Built into a fighter ..303 guns were small to fit the thin wing However into 40' 41' these guys compared to german armor upgrades And counts of 3 spitfires to shoot down 1 bomber at times Changed the role to the Hurricane with more robust And more ammo location for bomber attacks..While the spitfire seen 20mm cannons installed in pod forms There was also a version with the 50cal

[Spartacus-]

The spitfire only has one wing. The "wings" were built as a single structure. This is known as a monoplane wing. It's important to note the wing of the spitfire was the main structure, unlike most other monoplane designs.

[level]

The Spitfires Eight machine guns firing .303 caliber rifle rounds, not really much of a match against the Bf-109's firepower. But they the job done!

[davidmorgan]

Yes it had eight machine guns but, they were light caliber .303 unlike the eight .50 caliber on the P-47.

[TechnoMagi-hr]

If Frank Wittle had got funding by 1940;we would have had Jet Fighters

[mt_baldwin]

Why they didn't have that many to start with is they didn't think dogfighting would be a thing, the planes would be too fast. A lesson it took a while to learn, they were still thinking this in the Vietnam war. But air forces have learned it, which is why they threw their hands up and now no matter what will continue to put a machine gun on even the most advanced fighter jets today

[Martin-qb]

My Dad joined the RAF in 1936 . He was part of a team that reduced the length of the wooden prop, although this reduced the performance of the plane, none of the Spitfires fitted with them crashed on landing due to the prop digging into the ground when it was wet . They sent their findings to Supermarine . They came up with the 3 blade metal prop . Thank God for that 😂 .

[acmlsrtvxacmlsrtvx]

And they knew how to get things done back in those days. They certainly made it happen.

[prakashholla]

I am 70, male. My dad bought me a boy's adventure book published in UK. There was a build your own Spitfire article. They specified Balsa wood while all I had, at 13, was plywood. I went ahead and used the design to cut and assemble by gluing together the body, main wing and tail wing. It was powered by attaching a rope to a hole in the main wing. I had to circle round and round releasing more rope as the plane picked up speed. At one point the plane was zooming round and round on 25' of rope. I think the plywood being heavier was better than light weight balsa
It performed dives, soared and gave a real sense of satisfaction to a 13 yo pilot.
Capt Bigglesworth!

[onetimer]

Why is it such a leap to calculate that doubling the amount of rounds you're putting on a target increases the odds of hitting it in the short period of time they were talking about?

[Iamwtfboi]

"8 guns may have seemed excessive"

Meanwhile the Hurricane with 12 MGs