Hi Chris,
> I suppose it made it easier to see where you shots were going ;-).
Hmmm, 'C-T' ('Chicken Tracer') projectiles?!? :)
> the shots in as you closed with the target. You could sometimes see
> the practice rounds (inert, ball) hit the ground but your risked
> being too close and having your score disqualified if you did ... and
> getting too close to the ground for comfort!
For these purposes there are of course also the 'reduced load' and
'non-ricochet' TP projectiles. I know they exist at least for the
notorious GAU-8, and I'd expect them also to exist for the Tornado for
mud moving missions. Still, of course, the plane would be close to the
ground, but at least the ricocheting effect is much less of a threat...
> We loaded HEAP (high-explosive, armour-piercing) for war. I
> practised it with it once on a US range in the south of Germany and
> they seemed quite impressed with its efficacy and our accuracy.
It is interesting to see this type of projectile still in use today.
Typically, this was one of the types of WW2 loads, being labled then
APHE (basically the same acronym, but written the other way around), or
by the Germans Pz.Spr.Gr. (Panzer Spreng Granate) who used them a lot.
I _thought_ to remember that they had been discontinued in favour of
simply a mixed war load of pure HE(I) and AP rounds (with a ratio of 4:1
for arial combat missions, and differently (shifted towards the AP ones)
for missions against ground targets), due to the fact that an APHE (or
HEAP) projectile is by definition a compromise between the two of them:
i.e. less piercing power than an AP and less explosive charge than an
HE(I).
Interesting to see them still being used then. Surely this is mainly
intended for relatively little armoured vehicles?
> The Tornado GR1's guns (27mm Mauser) were a different kettle of fish:
> much higher muzzle velocity and rate of fire. We started at a much
> higher range for practice and its range and accurancy are a match for
> the A-10's great machine.
Yes, the ADEN/DEFA 30x113B rounds pale next to the 27x145B Mauser BK27
rounds. Of course of the Western armament the A-10's GAU-8 is still
'king of the hill' with a firing rate of max. 4200 30x173 rounds per
minute (!) vs. the BK27's firing rate of 1000/1700 rounds per minute,
which also fires a much more powerful (i.e. 30x173 vs. 27x145B)
cartridge at that. No wonder they can pretty much rip up tanks with
their DU rounds. :P
Either way: I guess firing either of them must be quite the experience!
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