Gatling Weapons of WWII

Marten[^];3303239 said:
you would have maybe 3-4 second burst, and all that recoil would basically leave you standing still.



[^]Marten

How is the recoil from any Gatling gun going to stop a 5 ton aircraft travelling at 200 mph plus. The recoil from a 155mm field gun might but no concievable airborne gatling could do it. Unless you suspend Newtons 2nd law of motion.
 
So it's 102 g.'s at 1050 meters per second times 400. Comes out to.......for a 20mm M-61 and 43 kg at 853 meters per second for the 155. Who's stolen my calculator?

First correct answer gets a free dance lesson.

Second correct answer gets 2 free dance lessons.
 
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vulcan in the nose of a b-25

On Gatlings in WW2, for shipboard use, someone else pointed out the dangers of ships losing electrical power (the South Dakota comes to mind).

For aircraft, however, far more than electrical power or CG issues, recoil stresses are your worst enemy. Gatlings are not so much larger in a dimensional sense, but they are considerably heavier and a conventional MG, and firing any kind of extended burst is likely to warp the wings on anything smaller than an A-20. That said, a 20mm aborad a B-25 would be pretty devestating, but you would have to evolve dive-attack tactics, as the "racetrack" profile is a recipe for a shoot-down, until the very end of the war.

The lead time, depending on which Power you're giving this to, is going to be 1938-1942 at the absolute latest, IOT get it deployed in any significant numbers....
there were ground attack versions of the B-25 with up to 14 forward firing .50 cal M-2 machine guns. A M-61 vulcan cannon in the nose would have quite a bit of damage to japanese ships. I don't think the gun had been developed yet. We went to the M-39 pontiac cannon in the mid 50's and then to the vulcan.
 
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