Yep, but generally incendiary ammunition wasn’t used. There were tracers, but the idea was to break the target apart rather than to set the skin on fire. Hitting the opponent’s fuel tank was desirable, but generally speaking you wanted to break parts off.
Most aircraft at the time had some fabric-covered parts, generally the control surfaces (rudder, ailerons, and elevators). The Hurricane was deigned using ‘old school’ techniques. It was developed from the Fury biplane. The Spitfire, which first flew four months after the Hurricane’s first flight, was developed with the more modern monocoque construction.
IIRC, the primary purpose of incendiary ammunition in WWI was to go after the observation balloons. By WWII most front-line fighters and bombers were metal. The idea was to smash as much lead as possible against that metal so as to cause structural failure. (Or to kill the pilot, or to set the fuel on fire.) The British used .303 Brownings, and had to use eight of them in the Hurricanes and Spitfires to get that lethal mass. Later Hurricanes carried 12 Brownings. Both the Hurricane and Spitfire later gained quartets of 20mm cannons in the wings. Meanwhile, the Bf-109 was designed with a pair of 7.92mm (roughly .30 caliber, like the Brownings) machine guns (one in each wing) – and a 20mm cannon firing through the propeller hub. Most of our planes (e.g., the P-51 Mustang or the F4U Corsair) used six .50 caliber guns, which packed a greater punch. The mighty P-47 Thunderbolt had eight fifties.
Take a look at some of the documentaries, and you’ll see how well the guns chewed up the metal. In many clips you’ll see parts flying off.
Hm… Kind of getting away from U.S. Navy (designed-for) fighters in the European air war…
Phrases such as this make me feel all tingly and happy inside.
I never understand why people don’t mention the mighty P-47 Thunderbolt more often. I suppose it’s because the P-47 isn’t as immediately striking in appearance as others, but for sure one can’t fault its performance.
On August 19 1944 Ens. Alfred R Wood shot down two German planes while flying an F6F-5 from VOF-1 off the USS Tulagi over southern France. On August 20 Lt Edward Olszewski scored two more kills flying the same plane. I have no information as to what sort of German aircraft was involved. Souce F6f Hellcat in Action. Squadron books 2009
Did a quick wikipedia search. and the German aircraft shot down on August 21, 1944 were JU 52s. USS Tulagi was operating in support of Operation Dragoon the invasion of Southern France.
I’ve read that, at very high altitudes, the chunky, heavy Thunderbolt was more maneuverable than any of its contemporaries. Possibly because of the horsepower and the elaborate supercharger system.
So, to sum up, you’ve got a plane that was faster, higher-flying, much more rugged, more heavily armed, longer-ranged, faster-diving, AND more maneuverable under some circumstances (at bomber-stream height) than anything your enemies had. And present in large numbers.
According to the Order of Battle page for this operation, there were several Hellcat squadrons involved:
800 Squadron on the HMS Emperor
VOF-01 on the USS Tulagi
VF-74 on the USS Kasaan Bay
VOC-01 (a composite squadron) with the Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force
This site ( http://www.vectorsite.net/avf4u.html#m5 ) claims some Royal Navy Corsairs engaged the Luftwaffe (but no enemy fighters) over Norway in raids on the Tirpitz in April, July, and August of '44, but wiki says no aerial opposition was encountered ( Vought F4U Corsair - Wikipedia ).