How long were combat planes supposed to actually face other fighters

>>34646396
it depends. A skilled pilot would only need four shells to kill 4 pilots. Headshot or spine shot pretty much used to guarantee the plane going down.

With good trigger discipline and aim I would imagine 5-6 planes if the spitfire had 4 20mm cannons with 200 rds a peice instead of the .303 machine guns

>>34646396

Not impossible, but unlikely for a Spitfire Mk. I. The .303s lacked punch but carried quite a bit of ammo.

>On 11 December 1940, Flying Officer Charles Dyson of No 33 Squadron destroyed six Italian Cr42s in a single sortie within 6 minutes.

>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aviators_who_became_ace_in_a_day

S>>34646484
Six Cr.42's doesn't equal four bf-109's

P-38s were famous for dogfighting all day - the Japanese called it "the plane you load before dawn and fly all day"

>>34646782
>>34646484
I've remember it being said the Spitfires were a close match to the German's Bf-109 E so they the spitfire would target them first. The pilot in the Dunkirk movie was kinda bs. I mean he should've ran out of ammo after the last bomber to which he unloaded a shit ton of ammo. You would think he has holes in his wings or fuel tank

>>34646782

Early Me-109s weren't exactly durable. Stukas and He-111s were basically deathtraps.

>On 29 May 1940 Corporal Albert Lippett and his pilot, Flight Lieutenant Nicholas Gresham Cooke, claimed five Junkers Ju 87 bombers in their Boulton Paul Defiant during their second mission that day Dunkirk evacuation. During their earlier mission that same afternoon they had shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and a Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter and that same day also contributed to the destruction of two Junkers Ju 88 bombers over the Dunkirk beaches.

The Spitfire carried more ammunition total than the Defiant, so while 5 kills in one sortie would be exceptional, I still don't think it would be impossible.

There are many more aces in a day using early war aircraft, though it isn't clear whether they were made in one sortie or not.

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>he needs a lot of ammo to get kills

>>34646849
>I've remember it being said the Spitfires were a close match to the German's Bf-109 E
not during the battle of france. spits had several serious problems. no variable pitch propellors, and a gravity fed carburator.

alot of biriths planes did have a fuck ton of guns tho.

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I give less than a fraction of a fuck what you think of this plane, but I am posting it here not only because of it being in Dunkirk but also because it is undeniably beautiful.

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>>34646396
>How long were combat planes supposed to actually face other fighters during WWII

Think the average WW2 dogfight lasted about 20 minutes

>I mean in Dunkirk the spitfire shoots down at least 4 enemy planes, wouldn't he actually run out of ammo well before that ? How many planes could he realistically engage ?

Early spitfires had 18 seconds of continuous fire and pilots would tend to fire in 2 second bursts.

So say theoretically a pilot in a spitfire shoots another aircraft with a 2 second burst and every time hits them dead right, then the max he could down before he was out of ammo would be 9 aircraft.

But truth be told you would be luck to shot down one in a sortie and as combat reports showed that an average of 4,500 rounds were needed to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

>Spitfire P9374 fly again 75 years after it crash-landed on Dunkirk beach

>>34646421
>planes are snipers now

>>34646428

>if the spitfire had 4 20mm cannons

dude, spitfires of that time had 8x 7.7mm peashooters in wings with a wide spread with like 2800 ammo, 350 per gun

btw 200 ammo per cannon is a pretty high number, spitfires with 20mm cannons had 120 per cannon and it wasn't uncommon for some planes to have 60 per a 20mm cannon

>>34648931
I was ballparking the round count. But that should still down 3-4 planes if luck and skill is perfect. Accounting for 80-100 rounds per kill

>>34648187

It was the swansong of dive bombers, pretty much the best dedicated ground attacker of the war

Ilyushins need not apply