Maxim 08/15 "Spandau" rate of fire

[Olham]

I am wondering about the Spandau's rate of fire again.

Creaghorn, you had slowed it down in your sound mod. But when I read this passage yesterday

in Arthur gould Lee's book "No Parachute", I thought the OFF guns rate of fire might be rather realistic.

Here is the passage:

 

"Scott left us, cause he'd shot away half his propeller. The Sopwith Kauper interrupter gear with which

the Pup is fitted is complicated mechanically, and sometimes goes wrong, and then the bullets go through

the prop. It's this gear which slows down the rate of fire of the Vickers. In the air, when you press the trigger,

instead of getting the fast rattle of a ground gun, you have a frustrating pop! pop! pop! pop!

The Huns have a much more efficient gear, for the Spandaus fire very fast. In fact, when you hear the twin

Spandaus of the Albatros opening up on your tail, they sound like some vast canvas being ripped by a giant.

And our answer is pop! pop! pop!"

 

Well, I have ripped modern tarpaulin canvas into stripes with another man, and the "rate of fire-type sound"

is rather fast. Very fast indeed.

[JFM]

Usually rate was set at 450 rounds per minute but that varied with the prop RPMs.

[Creaghorn]

I am wondering about the Spandau's rate of fire again.

Creaghorn, you had slowed it down in your sound mod. But when I read this passage yesterday

in Arthur gould Lee's book "No Parachute", I thought the OFF guns rate of fire might be rather realistic.

Here is the passage:

 

"Scott left us, cause he'd shot away half his propeller. The Sopwith Kauper interrupter gear with which

the Pup is fitted is complicated mechanically, and sometimes goes wrong, and then the bullets go through

the prop. It's this gear which slows down the rate of fire of the Vickers. In the air, when you press the trigger,

instead of getting the fast rattle of a ground gun, you have a frustrating pop! pop! pop! pop!

The Huns have a much more efficient gear, for the Spandaus fire very fast. In fact, when you hear the twin

Spandaus of the Albatros opening up on your tail, they sound like some vast canvas being ripped by a giant.

And our answer is pop! pop! pop!"

 

Well, I have ripped modern tarpaulin canvas into stripes with another man, and the "rate of fire-type sound"

is rather fast. Very fast indeed.

 

as JMF said correctly it's usually dependent of the RPM of the prop.

the reason why it sounded so fast is the twin spandaus. especially if they alternate and don't shoot simultaneously. if each gun has e.g. 6 shots per second, and they alternate, then they sound like 12 shots per second. much faster.

[Olham]

Yes, that makes sense. Still, 6 shots per second IS very fast, isn't it?

[Andy73]

I think it depends on the Fact that there are two Guns synchronised seperately. They are not combined, I think. First shot of the left Gun, then the Right Gun. Left Gun, Right Gun. Left Gun, Right Gun, and so on. Or sometimes both Guns are firing at the same time, this sounds very slowly. This Effect of being not synchronized together gives a faster rate of Fire. You can hear this effect very good in the Movie "Blue Max" with George Peppard. Listen to the German Machine Guns. Sometimes they are both synchronized, sometimes they are both firing at their own will

[Lewie]

If anyone here has heard a WWI era Vickers fire, they were pretty slow rate of fire, I think 400 RPM is considered normal

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPv_f_aSyP4

[Olham]

And this is a ground gun - not slowed down by the synchroniser gear.

Here is a Maxim 08/15 "Spandau" - of course also as a ground gun.

It would have been slower synchronised.

 

[33LIMA]

And this is a ground gun - not slowed down by the synchroniser gear.

Here is a Maxim 08/15 "Spandau" - of course also as a ground gun.

It would have been slower synchronised.

 

 

 

There was an interesting thread about this over at The Aerodrome:

 

http://www.theaerodr...-legends-2.html

 

The conclusion (on P2) was an RoF of around 440RPM for a synchronised Spandau. If I'm interpreting this right this is for one weapon and varies accorcing to the RPM of the motor (as you can hear in the Blue Max movie).

 

The sound of the WW2 German MG42 is often described as "tearing calico" and that had a cyclic RoF of about 1200 RPM.

 

Despite the many instances of dramatic licence, there are signs that the movie "Aces High" made some effort to get this right, as seen in ths clip where the CC-geared Vickers, the twin Spandaus, and the unsynchronised Lewis all have their own RoF with the latter noticeably faster;

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Gy4e0P6DNWw

Edited April 22, 2011 by 33LIMA

[Hasse Wind]

I don't think any WW1 sim has yet to model the effect of the prop's RPM to the machine guns' rate of fire. Maybe one day? In P5?

 

The Maxim gun's rate of fire could be increased as better technology became available. With accelerators and metal ammo feed belts, the Maxims of WW2 were even better weapons than those of WW1. For example a modified Finnish army Maxim M32/33 had a maximum rate of fire of 850 rounds per minute.

[JFM]

Hasse, that would be great if sims could replicate that. Depending on power settings and RPM, there could be a significant drop in RoF. It would affect one's tactics and make one cognizant to attack via the "rpm sweet spot" for maximum RoF. Also add more to the "what it was like" immersion factor. (And, to light a backfire here, I'm not saying OFF doesn't already have a "what is was like" immersion factor.)