Am I right in thinking that the mags on these weapons were the early 60 round type rather than higher capacity (120?)? If so, can anyone give me a lead on where I might obtain said magazine? Condition is not too important as long as it is complete.
As ever, TIA.
By: Charley - 8th March 2005 at 23:20
Thanks for confirming that Tony. I assume it’s a misprint. 20 rpg would have been about one burst from each cannon!
By: Tony Williams - 8th March 2005 at 22:37
120 rpg definitely.
TW
By: Charley - 6th March 2005 at 23:11
In his book “Meteor””, Brian Philpott relates that the Meteor was originally to be fitted with 6 Hispanos carrying only 20 rounds per gun. If this is true and not a misprint for 120, I don’t know whether they would have had a short belt or a box magazine. Maybe there are some of these smaller box mags around as they might have been used in another application of the Hispano. Luckily sense prevailed and the Meteor got 4 cannon with 120 or 150 rpg.
By: Tony Williams - 3rd March 2005 at 21:03
The only size of Hispano drum used by the RAF was 60 rounds (although both smaller and larger ones were used elsewhere). This was replaced in RAF service by a belt-feed mechanism which could be fitted to any Hispano without modifications, although the ‘recoil reducer’ (muzzle brake) was removed as the gun needed to recoil harder to drive the belt feed mechanism. The length of the belt varied according to the installation, from around 90 to 250 (approx) but around 120 was standard for single-engined fighters.
Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
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By: DazDaMan - 3rd March 2005 at 15:11
I’m not sure of the right answer, but I do know that the Spitfire Ib-Vb had a 60-round drum-fed cannon, but this was changed to a 120-round belt-fed cannon in the MkVc onwards. Was it the same gun, only adapted to take belt-fed rounds?
I’m not too up on aircraft armaments, and I can’t confirm without the books.
I’m probably completely wrong, though! 😉
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March 3, 2005 at 10:04 am