7 ms·

Was this because of their incredibly short ammunition reserves? I heard something recently about spitfires having only having about 20s worth of machine gun fir

• pg 16y ago
  Yes. They always seem to have fired in short bursts.
• stan_rogers 16y ago
  Partly, and in the case of Spitfires and Hurricanes (never forget the Hurricanes -- they weren't nearly as pretty, but they were every bit as effective) partly because of the limited structural damage that the .303 round could do. Later variants were more heavily armed, but the Battle of Britain was fought primarily with Brownings chambered for the .303 British. That pretty much left pilots, the cylinders of radial engines and pressurized fuel and oil systems as the vulnerable points. (Those with .50 Brownings and 20mm auto cannon could afford to shoot at other things, but a fuselage hit still rarely did more than add ventilation.)