It is a Aichi D3A1 Kanbanku, Serial Number 3170, from the carrier Kaga, AII-251 tail code, flown by PO3c Sakaguchi Noburo and PO3c Asahi Nagaaki, shot down in Middle Loch, Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Ashai survived the crash but was shot when apparently reaching for his own pistol. The aircraft was pulled out of the water and studied by the US Navy in Philadelphia. There are many photos of this wreck including another cockpit shot from the other side. The "bicycle handbrake" on the throttle is how the pilot fired the cowl mounted machine guns.
Good job! The Zero used the same type of gun trigger it also had a selector switch at the top of the throttle handle allowing the pilot to switch between 7.7mm only OR 7.7mm + 20mm. It's unfortunate there wasn't a third option: 20mm only, because if the pilot chose to fire both while under g-load the 20mm will not hit the target at all if the pilot is "using the 7.7mm to aim" as so many have incorrectly claimed. The muzzle velocities, ballistic trajectories and ballistic coefficients of the two VERY different calibers absolutely destroy this nonsensical notion.
4 comments:
Ki-61 Hien
Hello, IMO it is D3A.
It is a Aichi D3A1 Kanbanku, Serial Number 3170, from the carrier Kaga, AII-251 tail code, flown by PO3c Sakaguchi Noburo and PO3c Asahi Nagaaki, shot down in Middle Loch, Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Ashai survived the crash but was shot when apparently reaching for his own pistol. The aircraft was pulled out of the water and studied by the US Navy in Philadelphia. There are many photos of this wreck including another cockpit shot from the other side. The "bicycle handbrake" on the throttle is how the pilot fired the cowl mounted machine guns.
Good job! The Zero used the same type of gun trigger it also had a selector switch at the top of the throttle handle allowing the pilot to switch between 7.7mm only OR 7.7mm + 20mm. It's unfortunate there wasn't a third option: 20mm only, because if the pilot chose to fire both while under g-load the 20mm will not hit the target at all if the pilot is "using the 7.7mm to aim" as so many have incorrectly claimed. The muzzle velocities, ballistic trajectories and ballistic coefficients of the two VERY different calibers absolutely destroy this nonsensical notion.
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