hi
do any of you guys know if a stuka had forward firing guns???
masu
[}:)]
Yes It had one in each wing, outboard of the bend.
Wayne is correct, but it can depend on the exact model (A, B, D, R, G, etc).
most had two wing guns as he described. they can be hard to notice as the barrels do not protrude very much.
there are some variants where at least one of the wing MGs were faired over.
and there may have been a model that had a camera in place of the MG.
i have some pretty good references at home (i foolishly went to work this morning). if i can find a definitive listing, i will post it tonight or tomorrow.
ed.
Some later “D” models had MG-151 20mm. cannon in place of the 7.92 wing guns.
Hey masu,
Yupper all the above is correct[:p][:p].]
Flaps up, Mike
Hey masu there is a really good place to check out German aircraft.
www.luftarchiv.de/
it has english navigation but the rest is in german. You can see some good pictures and sort off understand the right up a litle
Hey gar26 that luftwaffe site is great.
The Germans had so many variants for their stuff. Each task had a vehicle assigned to it, as opposed to a vehicle having a task assigned. Must have been hugely frustrating for the unit commanders.
Masu,
i have gotten home to my reference (Histoire & Collections Ju 87)
here is what it says:
Ju87A - forward- one fixed 7.9mm MG 17(right wing only)
rear - one 7.9mm MG 15 on a flexible mounting
Ju87B - f- two fixed 7.9mm MG 17 (fairings appear on B2 model)
r - as above
Ju87R (long range variant of B) - armament same as B model
Ju87C (carrier version! based on the B2, only five completed) - armed as B model.
Ju87D-1 f - two fixed 7.mm MG 17
r - twin 7.9mm MG 81Z
Ju87D-2 (adapted to tow gliders) armed as D-1
Ju87D-3 (first ‘ground attack’ model) armed as D-1
Ju87D-3Ag (carried huge two man pods on each wing for dropping agents)
never deployed. had no forward firing guns.
Ju87D-4 (modified D-1 and D-3 to carry a torpedo) armed as D-1
trials inconclusive. converted back to original specs
Ju87D-5 (wingspan increased to 49’ 5" (from 44’ 9") , jettisonable undercarriage)
f - 2 fixed 20mm MG 151 cannon
r - twin 7.9mm MG 81Z
Ju87D-6 a project that apparently came to nothing!
Ju87D-7 (D-3 recycled for ground attack and converted for night harrassment)
presumably armed as D-3
Ju87D-8 (D-5 recycled for ground attack and converted for night harrassment)
armed as D-5
Ju87E (a D-1 model taken to serve as prototype for E series. Like the C series, intended as carrier based. pretty much still-born)
Ju87F (similar to D model but w/ more powerful engine. not enough performance gain. project turned down)
Ju87G-1 (converted D-3)
Ju87G-2 (converted D-5)
both models of tank busters had to 37mm Flak 18 cannon.
on some planes the wing guns were removed. other pilots kept them to fire tracer in order to aim better. the book refers only to wing machine guns. i cannot tell if any of the D-5’s would have retained their 20mm wing cannon.
Ju187 (aft retracting undercarraige, had 20mm cannons in wings and a remote control dorsal barbette w/ 20mm MG 151 cannon and 13mm MG 131 heavy machine gun firing rearward. tail was inverted to clear field of fire. wind tunnel tests on model showed maximum speed still under 250mph (400kph) project rejected.
Ju287 (cantilever low wing, undercarraige & barbette as Ju187. but now the tail would ROTATE through 180 degrees to clear field of fire for a barbette w/ two 20mm cannon. bosses not impressed. sceptical abt the innovations and performance improvemnet small. designation of Ju287 given over to four engined jet project (EF 122)
simple, no?
ed.
they had t 2 in the front (one on each wing)
gar-26 lists a great site, I can’t read german, however. Not anymore!