OT: Warbirds

[Ronald Lee]

Originally posted by Old Guy:
I stand corrected. the 4 oz figure was from an interview, I never fact checked it.

Still a lot of lead coming at ya.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">6 M2 firing 500 rounds/minute, that is 3,000 rounds. Of course they only fire short bursts to conserve ammo. Who is going to be counting the weight of bullets when you've got 3000 rounds of bullets coming at you. That is some pretty heavy duty fire power for it's day.

[GM]

In the early '50s we had a neighbor that was too busy fighting to notice what model fighter strafed him during a WWII Pacific battle, but he looked like someone had taken a huge hole puncher along both sides of his torso, then filled them with scar tissue. Fortunately he had been overweight at the time and the spacing missed his shoulders, so they were just painful flesh wounds. He went without a shirt as much as was deemed acceptable, wearing a huge bullet sans powder 'dog tag' to show folks what caused the disfigurement, though at this point in time I don't recall what caliber he said it was, I only remember the indentations swallowed up a quarter with room to spare.

[Old Guy]

Lead splatters on impact, which increases the damage.

Japanese planes had 7.7 mm (.303) guns with a smaller bullet. Prolly saved his life. The Zero also had 2 cannons, but he would not have survived that.

I can quite sympathise with not getting the model of plane. I'd be too busy changing my underwear.

[Ronald Lee]

Originally posted by Old Guy:
Lead splatters on impact, which increases the damage.

Japanese planes had 7.7 mm (.303) guns with a smaller bullet. Prolly saved his life. The Zero also had 2 cannons, but he would not have survived that.

I can quite sympathise with not getting the model of plane. I'd be too busy changing my underwear.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Agreed. Getting hit with a 50BMG round would be quite devastating to flesh. The flesh would get blown out the back because a bullet pushing ahead like a road grader or snow plow. Most of the time, you can't get out of the way fast enough, all the pilot have to do is move the rudder a little to the left and right, and you'll be toast in a strafing run.

[GM]

Hmm, assuming the caliber defines a shell's diameter it was somewhat larger and a lot longer with a long pointed bullet tip compared to my dad's 45 ammunition. Anyway, IIRC he was injured near the end of the war and IIRC my history the Japanese air armada was basically extinct by then except for the Kamikazes, so friendly fire? Also, if they were, would they still splatter since they didn't hit any bones, only fat/skin/clothes, or just maybe flatten and why the holes were so much bigger than the casing? I was just a kid and never gave it any thought, he was just a war hero to me, but now I'm wondering if he 'showed off' because it was friendly fire since surely anyone that fought in those battles would know the difference and what past for metro Atlanta was teeming with ex-WWII combatants.

[Ronald Lee]

Originally posted by GM:
Hmm, assuming the caliber defines a shell's diameter it was somewhat larger and a lot longer with a long pointed bullet tip compared to my dad's 45 ammunition. Anyway, IIRC he was injured near the end of the war and IIRC my history the Japanese air armada was basically extinct by then except for the Kamikazes, so friendly fire? Also, if they were, would they still splatter since they didn't hit any bones, only fat/skin/clothes, or just maybe flatten and why the holes were so much bigger than the casing? I was just a kid and never gave it any thought, he was just a war hero to me, but now I'm wondering if he 'showed off' because it was friendly fire since surely anyone that fought in those battles would know the difference and what past for metro Atlanta was teeming with ex-WWII combatants.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm not an expert, but from my understanding, most military ammunition are not designed to "splatter." It was ruled inhumane by the Geneva Convention. Actually, the more technical term is "expand."

[Old Guy]

Originally posted by GM:
assuming the caliber defines a shell's diameter it was somewhat larger and a lot longer with a long pointed bullet tip compared to my dad's 45 ammunition.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">He may well have survivied cannon fire. Lucky man.

[GM]

True, but I thought the Geneva Convention restriction didn't come into effect until the early '80s.

[Old Guy]

http://www.thegunzone.com/hague.html

The US is not a signor to that agreement. we do however adhere to it.

There have actually been several official conventions, and some unoffical ones also refered to collectively as "Geneva conventions"

Most of themm deal with wounded and prisoners of war.

As I said, the US does honor that agreement today. I am not willing to concede we did in WWII.

I'm agnostic- evidence please.

[GM]

Originally posted by Old Guy:
He may well have survivied cannon fire. Lucky man.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yet not so lucky, he died young of lung cancer in '57 IIRC as a consequence of the toxic conditions he worked in at the late Fisher Body Plant's spray painting facility. We always knew what colors were sprayed that day by what was in his hair, etc. since only minimal protection was provided.