13.07.2009, 13:33
I think you'll find your typical bolier thickness figures of 11-12cm are way off.
Anything from 3/8" to 1 1/4" would be more realistic. That's 0.95cm to 3.17cm.
I too have seen plenty of gun camera footage showing browning 50 cal equiped aircraft blowing boilers with the accompanying great plume of smoke/steam straight up in the air. The rounds may have been armour piercing but the guns were standard 50s.
I've also read several P-47 veteran accounts describing how blowing the boiler was the first task to achieve and how rewarding it was seeing the dramatic steam plume as the engine slowed to a halt.
We'd be missing a trick if brownings were incapable of killing a locomotive boiler.
Just my 2 cents....
Anything from 3/8" to 1 1/4" would be more realistic. That's 0.95cm to 3.17cm.
I too have seen plenty of gun camera footage showing browning 50 cal equiped aircraft blowing boilers with the accompanying great plume of smoke/steam straight up in the air. The rounds may have been armour piercing but the guns were standard 50s.
I've also read several P-47 veteran accounts describing how blowing the boiler was the first task to achieve and how rewarding it was seeing the dramatic steam plume as the engine slowed to a halt.
We'd be missing a trick if brownings were incapable of killing a locomotive boiler.
Just my 2 cents....