How did the fighters in World War II aim? For example, P5 1 Mustang, and Zero Fighter?

This question is very interesting. First of all, air combat shooting is a university question. Air combat shooting is not just an enlarged version of gun shooting. The distance between the sight and the barrel of the fighter becomes larger, and the shooting target is farther and faster. Because the barrel is fixed and can't automatically adjust the angle, the pilot can only control the plane to aim.

Before World War II, fighter sights were mainly telescopic sights.

▲ Telescopic sight on fighter.

The earliest fighter sights were mainly telescopic sights, which were similar to those on rifles. Machine guns and cannons are calibrated by ground personnel, and a distance is set at the intersection of machine guns during calibration. The pilot needs to visually observe this distance, and then use the principle of rising angle and advancing angle to aim and shoot through the air gun.

(1) elevation angle

▲ When shooting, due to the action of gravity, the shooting trajectory becomes a parabola, and the shell passes under the target at this time.

▲a is the elevation angle.

The elevation angle of fighter aiming is also affected by the shooting distance, the fixed flight speed of warhead and the ballistic characteristics of warhead. The greater the shooting distance, the greater the trajectory reduction. When shooting in flight, the actual flight speed of the warhead is equal to the initial velocity of the warhead plus the speed of the aircraft, so the trajectory deceleration decreases when the aircraft dives and increases when the aircraft climbs.

(2) Prepaid amount

After the plane shoots, the target will leave the position it just aimed at, so when aiming at the target, it is necessary to predict the target trajectory and put the expected hit point on the target trajectory line, so that the shell can hit the target.

In the time when the warhead flies from the design point to the advance point, the current forward moving distance is called the advance.

▲ Schematic diagram of lead time

In actual air combat, because the target will not always fly in a straight line at a constant speed, the opportunity will make various maneuvers, so it is extremely complicated to judge in advance!

▲ Advance under the relative position and heading of various targets.

There are also many factors that affect propulsion, including target speed, target entry angle, shooting distance, flying height, actual flying speed of warhead, target maneuvering direction and action. , even related to the wind direction and wind power.

▲ Advance when the target maneuvers.

In order to help pilots aim and shoot, they usually carry some tracer bullets in machine guns and cannons. Pilots can see shiny dots flying towards the target, and then use tracer bullets to correct the trajectory.

Reflective optical sight widely used during World War II.

▲ Reflective sights were widely used during World War II.

Reflective sight, its optical system is relatively simple, with the help of optical reflection, imaging at infinity, eliminating the need for three-point and one-line aiming, staring at the center of the light source can aim.

▲ Principle of reflective sight

Because the reflective sight only saves the aiming process of three points and one line, the pilot still needs mental arithmetic and experience to aim and shoot on the principle of advancing the angle.

▲ Simulation diagram of reflective sight on German BF 109 fighter.

▲ Reflective sight on German BF 109 fighter.

Because of the gyro sight applied in the late World War II, pilots no longer need to calculate the advance.

In order to better help pilots hit the plane, scientists in the United States and Britain make full use of gyro technology and rely on gyro to calculate aiming advance. The gyro sight was first invented by the British. As long as the pilot sets the wingspan scale of the enemy plane and covers the enemy plane with the halo on the mirror of the sight, he can pull the trigger and shoot, and the leading calculation is handed over to the analog computer for processing.

▲ Principle of gyro sight

The light emit by that lighting bulb is collect by the condenser, and then reaches the ring plate mechanism through the field mirror. The light passes through the three ring plates to form an aiming halo and distance display, then passes through the gyro lens, and finally is reflected by the reflecting glass to the pilot's eyes.

Later, the Germans also developed a gyro sight, which was applied to ME262.

▲ Germany 16B gyro sight

The United States and Britain even installed gyro sights on warships. The MK- 14 shooting sight developed in 1944 greatly improved the aiming accuracy of air defense weapons on warships and laid a large number of Japanese planes on the Pacific battlefield.

▲ famous? The doctor's shoe box? MK 14 sight

▲ This is a 20mm Irbil antiaircraft gun, MK 14. The arrow on the left is MK 14, and the arrow on the right is the driving mechanism.

▲ After using the gyro sight, you don't need to aim ahead like the previous sight. All you have to do is press the aiming mark at the target and fire.

Finally, how to aim at P-5 1 Mustang and Japanese Zero?

As mentioned earlier, due to the full application of British and American scientists in gyro technology, P-5 1 has installed K- 14 automatic gyro sight, and P-5 1D installed K- 14 sight almost from the beginning, which played an important role behind the extraordinary air combat record of Wild Horse.

▲ Gyro sight on P-51D Mustang fighter.

As for the Japanese Zero Fighter, a reflective optical sight is used.

▲ The last egg, the cockpit diffraction of the top 20 Yunpingxian Town Building in China! !