How did Plane machine guns not shoot through propellers?
There are many different types of synchronization gear, but the simplest involves an irregular-shaped disk that triggers the gun to fire once per revolution, at a specific point. This produces a high rate of fire without the risk of hitting the propeller.
How did ww2 planes not shoot their propellers?
The aircraft had a mechanical linkage to prevent the gun(s) from firing when the propeller blade would be in the bullets’ path. The use of metal “armor” on the propeller blade was dropped when machine guns changed to fire larger bullets with more force/mass/velocity, like the . 50 caliber (0.5 inch diameter) bullets.
Who synchronized the propeller and machine gun?
…in the form of an interrupter gear, or gun-synchronizing device, designed by the French engineer Raymond Saulnier. This regulated a machine gun’s fire so as to enable the bullets to pass between the blades of the spinning propeller. The interrupter itself was not new: a German patent had been taken…
How did bullets not hit propellers?
A synchronization gear (also known as a gun synchronizer or interrupter gear) was a device enabling a single-engine tractor configuration aircraft to fire its forward-firing armament through the arc of its spinning propeller without bullets striking the blades.
How did planes shoot through propeller?
What was the first aircraft with guns?
The French were the first to develop an effective solution. On April 1, 1915 French pilot Roland Garros took to the air in an airplane armed with a machine gun that fired through its propeller.
What kind of guns are on fighter jets?
In the current day and age, the cannons on fighter aircraft range from 20mm to 30mm. The gun most frequently used by the USA is the M61 20mm cannon. However the USA also uses the GAU-12/22 25mm gun. The GAU-12 was on the Harrier, and the GAU-22 is in the new F-35.
When did aircraft start using sync gear?
The first true sync gear to enter service was in 1915, in the German Air Service. By 1930, fighter aircraft came standard with two synchronized rifle caliber machines guns, both of which fired forward through the spinning propeller using an electric synchronization system.
Why do propellers need to be synchronized on a plane?
On a plane that’s actually flying, the propeller would be spinning roughly 5 times as fast, which makes the precision of the synchronization gear all the more important. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses.
Why did the propellers of early planes not work?
Early versions did not work properly and the pilots found they were destroying their propellers rather than enemy aircraft with their machine-gun fire. In the early months of 1915, the French pilot, Roland Garros, added deflector plates to the blades of the propeller of his Morane-Saulnier.
When did gun synchronization start?
Gun synchronization experiments in France and Germany took place in 1913 and 1914 using a mechanical hydraulic link between the two systems. The first true sync gear to enter service was in 1915, in the German Air Service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ5OJ803JgE