Comments by "Mike Armstrong" (@mikearmstrong8483) on "Vultee/Convair XA-41; The Right Aircraft for the Wrong War?" video.
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With 4 high velocity 37s it would probably have been the only plane of that era that actually had a realistic chance of hitting a tank with a gun big enough to do damage, at least from the rear.
Under ideal test conditions with nonmoving targets and top pilots, it was found that there was only a 7% probability of hitting a tank sized target with a 37mm, which allowing for a 15 round drum magazine meant a single hit at most. Against a moving target, with someone other than a test pilot, facing light flack, in variable weather, an antitank mission relying on guns was almost always a wasted sortie. 20mm guns with higher rates of fire, higher velocities, and more ammo capacity were better for the role, but with almost no chance of armor penetration the best a pilot could hope for was track damage or starting a fire on the rear deck.
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