Tests were made in 8-ft high-speed wind tunnel to determine the drag reduction possible by eliminating the barrel jacket of a protruding 50-caliber aircraft gun. It was found that the drag of a standard aircraft gun protruding into the air stream at right angles to the flow can be reduced by 23% by discarding the barrel jacket. At 300 mph and sea-level conditions, this amounts to a decrease in drag of from 83 to 64 pounds. A rough surface finish on the barrel was found to have no adverse effects on the drag of the barrel, the drag being actually less at high Mach Numbers.
Drag Measurements of a Protruding .50-caliber Machine Gun with Barrel Jacket Removed
1943-01-01
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
Drag measurements of protruding 0.50-caliber machine gun
Engineering Index Backfile | 1941
|Base Drag Considerations on a 0.50-caliber Spinning Projectile
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2008
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