The P-47

[Squaretail]

Some neat footage. I thought the drop tanks would come off in a more controlled fashion though, at 5:57.

[Slick Goodlin]

In a lot of ways I think the P-47 was the first ‘modern’ fighter in that they realized it was okay for the plane to be big enough to haul around all it needed to do a good job.

An earlier theory had been to design fighters like racing planes: make the smallest airframe then mate it to the biggest engine you can make work. I think these were generally intolerant of further development because any amount of weight added often represented a pretty large fraction of MTOW. A much larger airplane is less disturbed by moving up in gun calibre, or adding pilot armour, or hanging a bigger engine, etc.

Sort of like how the F-15 is massive and also wildly successful.

[Squaretail]

make the smallest airframe then mate it to the biggest engine you can make work.

Essentially it was the opposite process. They found the biggest engine, then built an airplane around that.

[Slick Goodlin]

make the smallest airframe then mate it to the biggest engine you can make work.

Essentially it was the opposite process. They found the biggest engine, then built an airplane around that.

Yeah, which made it the success it was.

[Colonel]

Interesting that at the beginning of conflicts the lightweight hotrods - the Zero in WWII and the MiG-15 in Korea- were so successful.

But they could be taken down with .50 cal which was kind of lightweight. The crazy Brits liked .303 (a step up from .22 but) … people used what they had I guess, but 20mm cannon was so much more effective ... almost .80 caliber!

The US Navy, running trials late war, concluded that - for about the same weight - four 20mm Hispano-type cannon were about twice as effective as six . 50″ machine guns: the explosive shell allowed a major step up in lethality against both air and ground targets.

Not that I have anything against .50 caliber. Makes for a fun party pistol:



That's my .50 Magnum on the left, dwarfing the Desert Eagle in the center (which most people think of as a large pistol) and the so-called "full size" Glock on the right looks like a pocket pistol.

It's interesting to compare my pistol rounds:



That's .32 on the left, then 9mm Luger, then .45 ACP, then .44 Magnum, then .50 Magnum on the right.

This is actually all you need though - just the 1911 genius of John Moses Browning in .45 ACP:



But if you want to answer someone pounding on your front door after midnight, the .50 in your right hand is a good choice too.

[Squaretail]

The Americans were kind of late to the cannon game, with a few exceptions (the P-38 and P-39), the .50s being the main armaments for most of their fighters until the end of the war. An interesting history all in itself. The Germans and Japanese weren't as universal about adopting cannons as it might seem, while the A6M had a pair of 20mm, its army contemporary Ki46 (also with the awesome name Hayabusa) was armed with a pair of 7.7mm guns for most of its service. The brits were pretty quick to upgrade and skipped the .50 weapons, the Spit V had 4 .303s and two 20mm, the later hurricanes had 4 20mm weapons and so did the rest of its Hawker lineage.

Apparently the eight .50 guns were thought to be excessive since the Americans reverted to six for most other fighters, right through to the Sabre. Though as usual the USAF and Navy couldn't agree since the Navy switched earlier to cannons with the later versions of the Corsair, and the last propeller "cat" had four 20mm. Though I don't think they could ever decide until the appearance of the M61, the Tigercat still had both.

It was always interesting that the P-39's 37mm weapon wasn't further developed.

[Colonel]

The 20mm M61 has been around unchanged for about two thirds of a century so it must do the job.

Of course the A-10 30mm cannon is King.