The E-7 rectified this problem as it was the first Bf 109 subtype to be able to carry a 300 Litres drop tank mounted on a centre-line rack under the fuselage. One of the limitations of the earlier Bf 109E4s was their short range and limited endurance, as the design was originally conceived as a short-range interceptor. The E-7 was the next major production variant after the Battle of Britain, entering service and seeing combat at the end of August 1940. The Bf109 “Emil” gets a new E-7 variant, which comes with two nose-mounted MG17 machineguns (7.92 mm) and two 20 mm cannons in the wings. The Luftwaffe receives a few new toys in Desert Wings. It equipped the majority of the RAF bomber fleet during the second half of the war, especially the mighty Lancaster.īf-108 close up view of the instrument panel. In practice, it demonstrated accuracy roughly equal to the Norden’s. However, it was smaller, easier to use, faster-acting, and better suited to night bombing. XIV was theoretically less accurate than the contemporary Norden bombsight. This kept the sight pointed at the target even as the bomber manoeuvred, dramatically increasing its accuracy and ease of sighting. XIV sighting unit was much smaller than the Course Setting sight, which allowed it to contain a gyro stabilization platform. XIV required only 10 seconds of straight flight before the drop and automatically accounted for shallow climbs and dives.
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XIV was essentially an automated version of the Course Setting sight, using a mechanical computer to update the sights in real-time as conditions changed. However, the late Mk I variant has the “Mark XIV bomb sight”, which was also known as the “Blackett Sight”. This was partly rectified with the P-40B, which had additional armor behind the cockpit, but fuel system and control line vulnerability remained a problem to some extent with all Tomahawk types. Though strongly built, the early P-40A variant was poorly protected and lacked armor and self sealing tanks.
In all, Eighteen Royal Air Force (RAF) squadrons, four Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), three South African Air Force (SAAF) and two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadrons serving with RAF formations, used P-40s. These american aircraft were provided to the Commonwealth forces under the Lend-Lease policy. The Curtiss P-40 is one of the most fun additions to the North African theater.
These efforts eventually culminated in the Spitfire Mk IX. This forced the engineers at Supermarine and Rolls-Royce to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new Spitfire variant that could stand a chance against the “Butcher Bird”. Following Battle of Britain tradition, a Spitfire shoots down a Bf109.Īn interesting point about the Spitfire Mk V is that while its better armament increased its combat effectiveness, its performance rapidly started to become an issue against later Bf.109 variants and the FW190, which completely outclassed the Mk V at the time of its operational use.