The Me 410 Hornisse were armed with the same BK 50mm autocannon as the Ju 88P-4, but were only used as bomber destroyers. The Hs 129 could carry a 30 mm (1.181 in) MK 101 cannon or MK 103 cannon in a conformally mounted gun pod (B-2/R-2). The Ju 88P gunships were armed with 37mm, 50mm and 75mm guns, and were used as tankbusters and as bomber destroyers. Dedicated 'tankbuster' aircraft such as the Ju 87Gs ( Kanonenvogel) were armed with two BK 37mm autocannon in underwing gun pods. The Germans also made a sizable number of heavy fighter types ( Zerstörer-'destroyer') armed with heavy guns ( Bordkanone). De Havilland also produced seventeen Mosquito FB Mk XVIIIs armed with a 57 mm QF 6-pdr anti-tank gun with autoloader, which were used against German ships and U-boats.

303 (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns, together with up to 4,000 pounds of bombs in the bomb bay and on racks housed in streamlined fairings under each wing, or up to eight '60lb' RP-3 rockets. The de Havilland Mosquito FB.VI had a fixed armament of four 20 mm Hispano Mk.II cannon and four. The British also made large numbers of twin-engined fighter bombers. (130 mm) high velocity aircraft rockets (HVARs). Later the B-25J was armed with eight 5 in. The B-25J variant removed the 75mm gun but carried a total of eighteen 0.50 cal (12.7 mm) AN/ M2 Browning machine guns, more than any other contemporary American aircraft: eight in the nose, four in under-cockpit conformal flank-mount gun pod packages, two in the dorsal turret, one each in the pair of waist positions, and a pair in the tail, giving a maximum of fourteen guns firing forward in strafing runs. The H models, delivered from August 1943, moved the dorsal turret forward to just behind the cockpit and were armed with the lighter 75mm T13E1 cannon. For use against shipping in the Pacific 405 B-25Gs were armed with a 75 mm (2.95 in) M4 cannon and a thousand B-25Hs followed. The YB-40 was sometimes described as a gunship, and a small 25-aircraft batch of the B-17-derived gunships were built, with a dozen of these deployed to Europe the XB-41 had problems with stability and did not progress.ĭuring World War II, the urgent need for hard-hitting attack aircraft led to the development of the heavily armed gunship versions of the North American B-25 Mitchell. These were to accompany regular heavy bomber formations over occupied Europe on strategic bombing raids for long-range escort duties as 'flying destroyer gunships'. 50 cal machine guns as the Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress and Consolidated XB-41 Liberator respectively.

50 caliber machine guns.ĭuring 19, the lack of a usable escort fighter for the United States Army Air Forces in the European Theatre of Operations led to experiments in dramatically increasing the armament of a standard Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress, and later a single Consolidated B-24D Liberator, to each have 14 to 16 Browning AN/M2. The B-25 bomber was heavily armed with 75mm and.

Gunship battle hile