TRIVIA QUESTION

Now…..where did I put my slide-rule?

I would think that for a given set of parameters, they would have a table they could consult to determine the aim point, or hurry up and invent radar-control. But then, Timothy might have the correct answer.

OOPS! Miscalculated.....13,200 feet ....2.5 miles

Timothy wrote: My engineering/physics career immediately thought not enough information given, e.g., where is the battery in relation to the flight path so as to determine the time it takes for a round to get to the POA. Need muzzle velocity for that part of the answer. Then I realize it’s likely a trick question - looks like the effective ceiling for the ‘88 is 26K feet. The bomber crew likely be worried more about Me109’s than 88 flak at 30K feet.

Louis Losi wrote: WWII GERMAN 88 MM FLAK GUN AND U.S. B-17 BOMBER TRIVIA A U.S. B-17 bomber is flying, over Germany, at an altitude of 30,000 feet and a speed of 300 miles per hour. A German 88 mm Flak gun battery would have to aim how far ahead of the U.S. B-17 bomber to bring it down? Would the fact that this is a fragmentation projectile come into play when considering that 26,000 feet. All they need to do is lay out the shrapnel not place a solid projectile.

Smokpole wrote: OOPS! Miscalculated.....13,200 feet ....2.5 miles

W5USMC wrote: My Father's Squadron destroyed the 88 mm and any Me109s so the B17 flew its mission unscathed!

Louis, my father was a Fighter Pilot with the 63rd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group. "Zemke's Wolfpack" That is his P47 in the picture.

Here is an interesting twist to the question of required lead. We were both correct. Actually I rounded up just a little. It is actually 2.4 miles. So how can we both be correct when I said 2.4 and he said 2 miles. Nobody specified when the shots were fired, early war of late war. There were several versions of the flak 88. The early version had a straight bore while the later version used a tapered bore and fired a sabot round. The early version (which I used) could reach 32000 feet. The late one could reach just over 36000 feet and had a slightly higher velocity. The time to 30000 feet was 30 seconds for the early version and 25 seconds for the later version. 5 seconds difference. A B17 moving at 300 MPH traveled 440 feet per second. In 5 seconds that is 2200 feet or just under .4 miles. SO, the lead for a later flak 88 was 2 miles and the lead for an early model was 2.4 miles. We were both correct, but we were using different models of the flak 88.  Does your head hurt yet? I could really screw with your mind if I included factors like projectile ballistic coefficient, temperature, barometric pressure, ...etc.....

W5USMC wrote: Louis, my father was a Fighter Pilot with the 63rd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group. "Zemke's Wolfpack" That is his P47 in the picture.