Quote:
Originally Posted by moose1am
6 fifty cals converging at 800 ft should schred just about any plane or explode it with incindinary/armer piercing ammo.
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"Should". A machine gun is much like a shotgun. At anything further than point blank range the vibration causes bullets to go pretty much everwhere but where they're aimed. I've fired .50s, and it's pretty funny to watch. The cute sewing-machine-like stitching seen in movies is nothing like the real deal.
Adding more guns compounds the problem. The sympathetic vibration transmitted from the guns to the wing makes the wing itself shake, and this is transmitted back to each gun, causing them to vibrate in odd directions. More bullets overall are put out in the general direction of the target, but less bullets from any single gun actually hit. Still, the trade-off was obviously worth it.
Couple that with the fact that an enemy plane is rarely sitting still in relation to the shooter, and it takes a very good pilot to shoot down his opponent with a single burst.