Red Tails (2012)

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Schöneboom

Speaking of arcade mode: Here is the same trick maneuver shown in "Red Tails", attributed to the German squadron leader "Pretty Boy", then copied by the American hotshot, Joe "Lightning" Little.

Commonly called a stall turn. As described a very effective but potentially disastrous maneuver. As shown it the graphic absolutely impossible. The plane needs to climb until it is almost out of speed, followed by an intentional controlled stall. If they did it that way in the movie then they didn't talk to any pilots who've actually done it.

Originally Posted by MH

Not that bad and not laser beam either.
0.5 well stabilized on tripod should shred any thing at 800ft.
On aircraft wing,i don't know but should work better than tripod i think.
Its one of its merits-the accuracy.

Yes that bad. The barrel is rifled. As the bullet travels down it the barrel vibrates in a circular pattern. The next bullet is fired almost instantly, and is affected by the rotation already imparted. Yes, a tripod-mounted gun will shred anything at 800 feet, not because of its accuracy but because of the volume of lead being sprayed over the whole area. The chance of an individual being hit by automatic fire is fairly low.

The same is true with airborne guns, except that the plane itself is also bouncing around. The the more guns, the less the accuracy. This is offset by the fact that six times as many bullet are filling the area. It becomes a statistical game. Don't think for a second I'm dissing the .50, or it's use in aircraft. It was an effective, devastating weapon. First, though, you have to hit the target. The Germans did just as well with a single MG151/20 and two MG131s, all mounted in the nose.