.303's

[Kurfürst]

Originally Posted by Flying Pencil

Quite a few LW bombers barely made it back to France with over 200 hits on them.

IIRC the record holder was a bomber with 1000+ .303 holes in it, and there are stories of whole Squadrons expanding all their ammunition on a single Dornier or Heinkel.

It really matters where you hit them. From what I've seen, creating fires are the surest way (PK is another, but it more difficult to pull unless using a head-on). RCMGs have no real ability to damage the structure, especially if hits are all over the place.. and the gunner and crew positions on BoB era German bombers were fairly well armored, and they had self sealing tanks. Their defensive firepower were not so great, but if 2-3 Heinkels shooting at you at the same time, it can get messy quickly with a lucky hit. Slugging it out with one is also a bad idea IMHO - the Heinkels are like flying tanks, the Ju 88 otoh was very manouverable. The Do 17 is the easiest to be shot down IMHO, as it has neither the robustusness of the Heinkell nor the nimbleness of the 88, but the radial engines seem to be very resistant.

British bombers are on the other side of the scale - they are vulnerable but have relatively good firepower. Still, Blenheims are essentially flying targets. The tail gunner on the Wellington is a problem, but is rather easy to be silenced with the center mounted MGs on Germans fighters; thankfully those are generously provided with ammunition. And it catches fire very easily. I am not sure if it's flyable, think not, but it would be great to have a equivalent of the 111!