forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => WW1 Aircraft Information/Questions => Topic started by: Russell on March 15, 2014, 02:04:35 AM
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I was leafing through the WNW Fokker D.VII instruction booklet (not that there's much likelihood of me getting around to build one at the moment :-\) - there was a photo showing the guns with the loaded ammunition belts in place.
It got me wondering what the German protocol was for loading ammunition - in the sense of between missions would the aircraft normally be without ammunition (only loaded immediately prior to a mission) or were they typically stood at dispersal in loaded condition?
Regards
Russell
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I don't know for certain the protocol, however I can offer a few reasons why I am pretty sure aircraft were not left overnight loaded:
-- Fabric ammunition belts were susceptible to humidity, distorted belts led to jams, airmen did not like jammed guns. At all.
-- Fuel and coolant (and I believe oil) were completely drained from the aircraft every night. It stands to reason that the extra work of unloading the guns would not be unreasonable to expect.
-- Pilots were known to personally inspect their ammunition round by round before it was loaded into the aircraft. Again, this speaks to how seriously the ammunition was handled.
EDIT:
I misread your question slightly. My hunch is that the aircraft were prepared for combat on a daily basis when there was a chance of flying, which would mean filling all fluids and loading the ammunition. At that point I assume the aircraft would be left in a readiness state until a mission was flown or the staffel stood down at night.
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Bo,
Both parts of your reply covered it nicely as it happens.
I'd been wondering if it was more representative to model the ammunition feed troughs with or without belts - it guess in reality it's just down to how we perceive our model at that moment in it's (modelled) existence.
Regards
Russell