Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

Check this B-25 that has been converted to a ground attack gunship (one of the first).

Count them, 14- 50 caliber machine guns facing forward. Find a deep hole!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2474/...8cbe547b_b.jpg

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

So would you need 1 NFA tax stamp or 14?

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

from what i understand,
if the A10 Warthog fires it's nose gun to long,
this actually slows down the air speed noticebly

i wonder if the same would hold for this 14 50-cal gunship


has anyone else heard this about the A-10 Warthog nose gun ?

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

I once saw some WW2 footage of these planes in the pacific. The nose and guns came off as a unit. They had footage of them strafing the jungle in close air support.

Also saw a series on the Aleutian islands where the B-25's came in low and the waist gunners raked the japanese positions with .50 cal fire.

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

the A-10 is pretty much built AROUND the gun, a 30 mm rotary barrel auto cannon.
Fires depleted uranium at a rate of 3900 rounds per minute, but the magazine holds 1300 rounds. 20 seconds of trigger time.

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

The B-25g & h model also sported a 75mm cannon. The cannon was less then successful but the 8 fifty cals worked just fine.

The solid-nose B-25J variant carried an impressive total of 18 .50 in (12.7 mm) guns: eight in the nose, four in under-cockpit packages, two in an upper turret, two in the waist, and a pair in the tail.

Unfortunately that many guns being fired caused stress fractures to the airframe so they oftentimes dialed the number back.

The recoil of all the forward firing guns would stall the plane if the firing was extended.

Wikipedia has an excellent article on the aircraft at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-25_Mitchell

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

Tom, is that the B-25 at the Battleship Park in Mobile? They were working on a B-25 last time I was there a couple of years ago - maybe repairing it from Katrina.

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

I want it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

Yeah, you got it pegged. Their air museum had a bad time of it, the displays went under water and were badly damaged.

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

I had thought that the GAU-8 Avenger cannon could also stall the aircraft, but it appears that it is an urban myth.

As far as ground-support attack aircraft, the AC-130 is pretty cool...

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

Do they make a version of this for an Armored Road Vehicle ???

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

I got a picture of it in the air. :banana:
http://www.top-flite.com/airplanes/t...lleryc-lrg.jpg

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

A few shots of AC-130 weaponry and nose art. The large weapon is a 105mm canon, the interior shot shows a crewman beside the weapon while holding a round. The smaller weapon in the top shot is a 40mm rapid fire canon. Amazingly, it is a 40 mm Borfors, the exact same you see on the history channel blazing away at Kamikazes in the Battle of Okinawa. When I say the same, I mean it might be the same one. When the WWII ships were phased out of service, the weaponry was warehoused and that's where the AF gets these. And then, the rotary canon is A GAU 12 25mm. It packs quite a punch on its own.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3564/...d01a452e_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/...63bc84e4_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3653/...abdb6ef9_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3375/...1a2fb1f3_b.jpg

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

My cousin recently retired from the Air Force as a full bird Colonel. He piloted C130's and then AC130's. He loved it. They have asked him to return to full active duty as of a few weeks ago. Last I heard, he was seriously considering going back.

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

I live near a gunnery range. The A-10's guns make my one dog pee the rug. Now with the faintest hint of distant engine noise, I run her outside to empty that bladder.

Re: Armed to the teeth (and more)
 

I love these old aircraft, especially ones that are flyable. I've got a B-25 story that I think is pretty cool, even though it didn't happen to me.

I was stationed at Keesler from 82-84 as a crewmember on the EC-130s, configured as a flying command post known as ABCCC. Some 'Nam guys might know it by its callsign, Bookshelf. Anyway, our old, dilapidated building backed right up to one of the parking ramps.

One day, I came back from lunch, and I noticed a B-25 parked right behind our building. Being a WWII aviation buff, I thought that was cool. My office was one of the few that had a window facing the ramp, and the thing was parked right in front of it. Guys were crowded in there looking at the thing for about an hour. We got back to working, and never noticed it left for a couple of hours.

About two hours after that, one of our captains comes walking in. We gave him some grief about finally showing up for work at about 3 p.m., and he just says, "You'll never guess what happened to me."

He tells us that he walked out on the ramp to get a closer look at, and was just walking around looking at the B-25. Some guy walks up and asks him how he likes the airplane. Of course, our captain raves about it. Then the guy asks, "You wanna go up in it?" Like he had to ask!

Anyway, the guy let our captain sit in the glass bombardier's nose for takeoff and landing, which I can only imagine must be a major rush. Spent a couple hours boring holes in the sky over the Gulf of Mexico. I mean, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity - how many people are left that can say they've flown in one of these? Talk about being in the right place at the right time....