You must remember that the .303" British cartridge was adopted in 1888 as the standard infantry rifle round. It was designed to kill unarmoured, soft skinned human beings, not shoot down machines that had not been invented yet.
Rifle caliber machine guns, while still in use in most air forces at the start of WW2 were inadequate at best in the air to air role. It was not uncommon for German bombers to get back to their bases in France with hundreds of bullet holes in them.
To take down a fighter you must hit something vital. Hard to do from astern with what amounts to a fast firing deer rifle.
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Personally speaking, the P-40 could contend on an equal footing with all the types of Messerschmitts, almost to the end of 1943.
~Nikolay Gerasimovitch Golodnikov
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04-17-2011, 02:16 AM
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