Page 71 - History of War - Issue 18-15

SPITFIRE SM520

The cockpit of the SM520 is
authentic, down to the spade- Unlike the Messerschmitt, the Spitfire
like control column and the never took to the use of cannon and
throttle control on the sidewall reliedonitsdualmachineguns

BROWNINGARMAMENT Junker87and88bomberswhiletheSpitfires
would face off against the fighters. This
During the summer of 1940, the RAF had a decisionwastailormadefortheRAFaircraft,
foolproof plan against the oncoming Luftwaffe. as the guns on the Spitfire were positioned
The Hurricanes would go after the German narrower than those on the Hurricane, making it
easier to engage the Messerschmitt fighters.
At its full capacity, the Spitfire could have
eight Browning machine guns each containing
300 bullets. This sheer amount of ammo at a
pilot’sdisposalmeanteventhosewithpooraim
could at least hit something. These projectiles
Whennotinuse,the
opening of the machine ranged from standard to tracer and incendiary
gun’s barrel was taped to armour-piercing. The incendiary rounds in
over to prevent the particular were very effective, as the RAF pilots
mechanism from freezing
at high altitudes targetedthefueltanksoftheLuftwaffeandblew
Messerschmitts out of the sky.
THEMESSERSCHMITTBF109

INSIDETHESCOURGEOFTHESPITFIREANDTHELUFTWAFFE’SBACKBONE

FreshfromitspreparationintheCondor Serving across all fronts and in all
Legion in the Spanish Civil War, the Luftwaffe’s theatres, the Bf 109 was integral
to the Nazi war machine
Messerschmittswerereadytotakethebattleto
theBritishovertheChannel.33,000weremadein
totalduringthewaranditprovidedthespine
oftheLuftwaffefleet.UnliketheSpitfire,the
Messerschmitt only had two machine
guns but these contained magazines of
1,000 rounds each.
FOR MORE MILITARY HARDWARE, CHECK OUT THE They also had two 20mm cannons,
whichwereusefulagainstbombers
butstruggledtocopewiththe
manoeuvrability of Spitfires and
Hurricanes. Its main Achilles’ heel
wasitsshortrange,whichprevented
BOOKOF it from doing more damage across
theChannel.Despiteitslossinthe
Battle of Britain, the Bf 109 shot
down the most Allied planes in the war and the
design was taken on in 1947 by the new state of
Israel. Its longevity was down to its simple and
directdesignanditwasstillfrequentlyusedeven
AVAILABLE FROM ALL GOOD NEWSAGENTS & SUPERMARKETS, inthelateryearsofthewarwhenthejet-powered
OR ONLINE AT WWW.IMAGINESHOP.CO.UK Me262cameintoproduction.

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