15-010a Bonus M1919 Picture of the Day

[gsimmons]

This is what we had(VF-124), awesome gun.
Attachment 59243

[CINDERS]

Was just out by a fraction in my dates but I was close Source Wikipedia ~ At the end of World War II, the United States Army began to consider new directions for future military aircraft guns. The higher speeds of jet-powered fighter aircraft meant that achieving an effective number of hits would be extremely difficult without a much higher volume of fire. While captured German designs (principally the Mauser MG 213C) showed the potential of the single-barrel revolver cannon, the practical rate of fire of such a design was still limited by ammunition feed and barrel wear concerns. The Army wanted something better, combining extremely high rate of fire with exceptional reliability.[citation needed]. In 1947, the Air Force became a separate branch of the military. The new Air Force made a request for a new aircraft gun. The lesson of WWII was that the German, Italian and Japanese fighters could reach out and touch the American fighters and bombers with their cannon main armament, while the latter had to get up close and personal with the .50 cal main armament of the P-51 and P-47. The 20mm Hispano carried by the P-38 while formidable against propeller driven planes was deemed a relatively low velocity weapon in the age of jets, other cannons were notoriously unreliable.

In response to this requirement, the Armament Division of General Electric resurrected an old idea: the multi-barrel Gatling gun. The original Gatling gun had fallen out of favor because of the need for an external power source to rotate the barrel assembly, but the new generation of turbojet-powered fighters offered sufficient electric power to operate the gun, and electric operation was more reliable than gas-operated reloading.[2]

With multiple barrels, the rate of fire per barrel could be lower than a single-barrel revolver cannon while still giving a superior total rate of fire. The idea of powering a Gatling gun from an external electric power source was not a novel idea at the end of the World War II era, as Richard Jordan Gatling himself had done just that in 1893, with a patent he filed.[2]

The Army issued General Electric the contract in 1946 for "Project Vulcan", a six-barrel weapon capable of firing 7,200 rounds per minute (rpm).[3] Although European designers were moving towards heavier 30 mm weapons for better hitting power, the U.S. initially concentrated on a powerful 0.60-inch (15 mm) cartridge designed for a pre-war anti-tank rifle, expecting that the cartridge's high muzzle velocity would be beneficial for improving hit ratios on high speed targets.

[Bill Hollinger]

Very cool! I didn't see this info. I think because I looked up "minigun". Thanks again.

[Bob Seijas]

Ya gotta love the Warthog with it.

[us019255]

Ya gotta love the Warthog with it.

Until you are riding your horse across the Owyhee Desert in ID and one comes over at bad breath altitude.

It is an awesome sight, after your horse calms down. I would not want to experience one that was mad at me!

[Paul S.]

I just found out the AC-119 crews have an association website. Link to one of their photos - USAF AC-119 Shadow Gunship Photo 3 - shdwl002

[Bill Hollinger]

Until you are riding your horse across the Owyhee Desert in ID and one comes over at bad breath altitude.

It is an awesome sight, after your horse calms down. I would not want to experience one that was mad at me!

Many years ago while deer hunting Bird Springs Pass north of Red Rock Canyon an A10 rolled up over us at a very short distance. Close enough that we could see his wide teethy grin! The sound as he went past was deafening! We never saw or heard him coming up from a canyon on the other side of us. What a thrill!