08 May 2023

Something Obvious

There's a long running myth that fighters bounced ricocheted .50 BMG off roads and through the belly armor of Nazi tanks.

Let's test with GURPS!

.50 BMG does 6dx2 pi+.  .50 BMG AP does 8d+1(2) pi.  API does 8d+1(2) pi inc.

Penetration from an average roll are 42 DR and 58 DR respectively.

That's also penetration at 0°.

UPDATE: I simply cannot find my reference for the belt composition used by the fighters.  So I have removed mention of what combinations were used.

The most common Nazi tank when Mustangs are strafing targets of opportunity is the Pzkw IV, with belly DR of 40.  Panthers and Tigers have thicker skins underneath too!

Just barely penetrates if it was a straight shot.

But a ricochet would be at an angle that doubles the DR and even a max roll of 72 isn't punching the, now, 80 DR of the belly.  API with a max roll will get 9 up through a Panzer IV's belly, but now we have to consider that it's lost a lot of velocity from the ricochet and the hit on the road likely triggered the incendiary charge before it hits the bottom of the tank.

I'm going to say Myth Busted.

Especially since our Armor Lord and Savior The Cheiftan covered this very topic and it falls under "other lies told by fighter pilots."

4 comments:

  1. Just curious:

    What makes you think that a/c didn't carry AP ammo...?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because they didn't. 3- Ball, 1- API, 1- Tracer is the normal aviation mix. Changing to 4- ball 1- API-T later on.

      Re-reading what I wrote... You can take it to read that they didn't carry API. I'll fix it.

      Delete
  2. I was asking, because I figured that unlike me, you had a reference or twenty handy.
    And because I assumed API and/or API-T were in the usual party mix at one time or another, even if they're not plain AP, thus still "armor piercing".

    I see you've come across some other serendipitous info too, which, again, was why I asked.
    Sheer curiosity.

    Having seen more than a few wild .50BMG tracers doing unreal things after the initial impact with anything, while taking out tanks with ricochets is a bit of a fish story for everyday (not to mention the eyewitness testimony of someone zipping by at 300MPH is a wee bit suspect), it may nonetheless have happened a time or three.

    Wars are full of strange unlikely things that nevertheless happened.

    Couldn't say if this is one of them, and it is unlikely, but not impossible, so I'm open to any evidence.
    Thanks for the update.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am very frustrated that I had a reference that told supply pukes what they could and could not order pre-packaged.

      It's really bugging me that it's disappeared.

      USAAF got different mixes than USA, for example.

      Delete

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