Killer Spad

[Condor44]

I just read about a SPAD that needs to be added to the game. The S XII Ca. 1 was armed with a 37mm Hotchkiss gun that fired through the prop shaft. Only about 100 were built. Guynemer scored 4 kills in one. Reprtedly it could destroy an airplane with one hit. Only the best pilots were allowed to fly it. If this were Aces High it could be offered as a perked plane. Maybe it could be made available only to pilots who reached 40 hours or 40 kills. This sounds like WWII armament. I had no idea there were fighters with cannons in WWI. I wonder if Germany had anything like it. You would have to be sure your speed was high or the recoil might cause a stall.

I found this in one of the books in my collection and confirmed it at a couple of internet sites. We gotta have it!

[SirMike1983]

The XII also suffered from a number of drawbacks. The cannon would often jam and then become unworkable. The weight also threw off the handling of the aircraft to a degree. The rate of fire on the cannon was also very slow, and its range extremely limited. It would be interesting, but it is a peripheral plane at best. The amount of work that had to be put in to keep the XII viable was extra. For these reasons you don't see cannon guns in WWI aircraft like you do in WWII. By the 1930s-40s they had become much more viable for air use.

Edited August 21, 2009 by SirMike1983

[+Olham]

This was debated before during Phase 2, and I remember, that someone wrote, the

fumes of the gun fire where very nasty and unhealthy, and the pilot caught quite some

of that. The range of 30 mm projectiles was even in WW2 much more limited than the

smaller calibres; they perform an earlier downwards curve due to their weight.

 

I wonder, why they didn't add a third machine gun instead. But maybe the space was too limited.

Edited August 21, 2009 by Olham

[rhythalion]

Yeah, but one would think if there was space for a cannon, there'd be space for a MG :)

[+Olham]

rhythalion, that "Cannon-SPAD" didn't have MGs at all. Must have also been a wheight problem,

with the ammo and all.

[rhythalion]

Interesting, one reads quite a few different versions LOLZ. I'd always read that it was in addition to the single MG of the SPAD VII. My old encyclopedia had much the same info?

 

As an example

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/de...aircraft_id=684

[SouthPaw.]

I wonder, why they didn't add a third machine gun instead. But maybe the space was too limited.

 

I seem to recall reading about at least one SE5a with 2 Vickers in addition to the Lewis gun, making a total of 3. I just can't remember or find the source again...

 

And I'm sure someone somewhere at least experimented with modifying their plane to have 3 guns. All kinds of crazy experiments were undertaken all over the front - like putting a cannon in a plane made of wood and canvas.

[rhythalion]

I dunno, but maybe there was an issue with overheating of the gun when firing from a location through the "V" as in a Spad... maybe the slower rate of fire of the cannon made it a bit more "workable". Overheating was an issue anyway, so it might have been made a bit worse by the engine being so close?

 

And more than likely, as in the old Fokker IV, the performance hit was still too big with a third gun, plus ammo, for the pilots who preferred faster responses from the airplane?

Edited August 21, 2009 by rhythalion