26.01.2010, 12:42
Maj. Leonard "Kit" Carson ordered his squadron not to use tracers for two valid reasons:
1) they give a false impression of distance
2) they show the enemy your position
he said that when you hit a target with your 6 .50cal you could well see the sparks and flashes, and to him that was enough. He was not a big fan of deflection shooting, but IMHO the ballistics of the .50cal are ideal for that, far better than any other ammunition of WW2.
Some pilots had just one machinegun loaded with tracers, this to allow adjusting your aiming but without giving too much visibility to the enemy.
There were several schools of thought regarding the use of tracers, and to be honest I'd not use em on German planes, but they help a lot in deflection shooting with Allies planes and fixed gunsights. The introduction of gyro gunsights makes the use of tracers completely superfluous.
A.
1) they give a false impression of distance
2) they show the enemy your position
he said that when you hit a target with your 6 .50cal you could well see the sparks and flashes, and to him that was enough. He was not a big fan of deflection shooting, but IMHO the ballistics of the .50cal are ideal for that, far better than any other ammunition of WW2.
Some pilots had just one machinegun loaded with tracers, this to allow adjusting your aiming but without giving too much visibility to the enemy.
There were several schools of thought regarding the use of tracers, and to be honest I'd not use em on German planes, but they help a lot in deflection shooting with Allies planes and fixed gunsights. The introduction of gyro gunsights makes the use of tracers completely superfluous.
A.