Why some HMG break wings & others don't

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Ice_Eagle

Every airforce, well almost every airforce used a 'party mix' of ammo. So even the Germans used a mix of ammo types along with the M-geschoss.

Granted, although the Luftwaffe didn't get minengeschoss ammo until 1941, and, later in the war they had shortages of that ammo type.

Originally Posted by Ice_Eagle

Also, of all the guncam footage I've seen, wings RARELY get blown off. Off that, the ones I do see are BF-109's and FW-190s
losing there wing to 50cal hits. Which can be reproduced in-game.

I think we're looking at the same gun camera films. We're both in agreement that it's a rare thing for a fighter to lose a wing to .50 cal fire. I disagree that it's possible to reproduce those (rare) effects.

In my extensive damage model tests, I've discovered that it is literally impossible to remove an FW-190's wing using just .50 cal BMG fire. This is due to the lack of explosive bullets in the mix, as I described in my previous post.

On the other hand, it is depressingly easy to remove a Bf-109's wing.

Originally Posted by Ice_Eagle

M-geschoss bullets were designed for critical damage on flight surfaces & engines. As seen on guncam footage of
-17's being attacked. Usual target are ailerons, elevators, rudders, and engines.

Agreed. Sadly, IL2 doesn't model the effects of different sorts of ammo as well as it might, because the game engine doesn't (or can't) recognize different materials used for plane construction at the time.