Hey all,
Since I really wanted to have some souces on that ballistics issue between fighter and bomber I started a search on the subject.
Here's one which discusses fighter gunnery in some detail (the book is probably known to some?):
http://www.demovfw.com/firstfighterwing ... vering.pdf (starts right with chaper 1)
Much more on bomber gunnery (training):
http://www.bomberlegends.com/pdf/BL_Mag ... yTrain.pdf
http://www.jcs-group.com/military/war19 ... unner.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VI/ ... ml#page572
Comparing all sources it seems to me fighter pilots had at least one main advantage (mentioned before!); their guns were
generally firing much more in their direction of flight than turret guns in bombers. Yes, their plane was moving a lot as well, complication firing resolutions, but bomber gunners had to deal with sideways firing which was hard to compensate for. It was compensated for . . . ! And it of course helped that the bomber wasn't jinking through the air like mad. But somehow managing a quick and effective firing solution when firing (partly) sideways at a fast manoevering fighter is witchcraft, pure experience/skill or perhaps sheer luck. Are their any trustworthy figures on how much fighters were shot down by heavy bombers and v.v.? Preferably on the ETO?
I also found it enlightening to read that tracer fire was not helpfull in telling the real trajectory of firing since the tracer bullets were lighter (hollow filled with incendiary). That was mentioned before as well, but new to me. It's in those sources I included.
Happy reading,
Jaroen.
