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    Contributing Member CINDERS's Avatar
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    The WI is the coding for A.P the headstamp - R /|\ L is Royal Laboratories.

    Allot of the fighter pilots had their guns unofficially harmonised to abound 200 - 250 yards or even shorter ranges due to the fact even though there were 8 x 303 MG's they were after all only rifle cartridges.
    The BF 109's 20mm was a great worry to the RAF as it would only take a few hits on a Hurri or Spit to do them in, one brand new spit went up and sustained 3 x 20mm hits on the port side fuselage had a rather heavy landing and broke her she never flew again time of flight 23 minutes!
    Pilot was wounded but survived.
    See pic of actual aircraft you'll note the hits and the top of the fuselage is crinkled due to the hard landing and internal damage to the formers the off side was peppered like a colander from the fragmentation of those 20mm hits.

    The Japaneseicon Zero though a great aircraft had some serious flaws one of which it was almost like tin foil the skin on the wings etc so much so they had fold /pop out foot pegs so the pilot did not stand on the wing and dent it.
    Plus no armour or self sealing tanks made it very vulnerable for the pilot or aircraft burning, until the Hell cat came along the tactic was to dive on the Zero shoot them up and dive away not get involved in a dogfight with them.
    The range the Zero had for a carrier based plane surprised the US when they tested the one they recovered flipped over on an island intact relatively the aircraft could cruise for 8 hours on its internal tanks.

    An empty packet I have of 303 for aircraft use only.
    Plus a staked WRA Co. 303 for aircraft use only
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    Last edited by CINDERS; 03-12-2023 at 11:40 AM.

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    Legacy Member usabaker's Avatar
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    Thread Starter
    Quote Originally Posted by CINDERS View Post
    The WI is the coding for A.P the headstamp - R /|\ L is Royal Laboratories.
    Thank you Cinders
    Veteran US Navy Seabees - US Army Corps of Engineers - American Legion Post 0867
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    Contributing Member Sapper740's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CINDERS View Post
    .......until the Hell cat came along the tactic was to dive on the Zero shoot them up and dive away not get involved in a dogfight with them.
    Maybe for the first 3 months of America's involvement in WWII but by September we had come up with the "Thach Weave" which nearly completely negated the Zero's superior performance over the Wildcat. The first time Lt. Commander Tadashi Nakajima encountered what was to become the famous double-team maneuver on the part of the enemy two Wildcats jumped on the commander's plane. He had no trouble in getting on the tail of an enemy fighter, but never had a chance to fire before the Wildcat's wingman roared at him from the side forcing him to dive and run for safety. By all reports Nakajima was raging when he got back to Rabaul at the effectiveness of the "Thach Weave".

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