Re:Tokyo police are using drones with nets to catch other dr...
by lotharbot on Saturday December 12, 2015 @10:50PM
(#10725357)
The version of this I heard is that the first air-to-air shots were fired during the Border War (US / Mexico) in around 1911 or 1912. Somebody unloaded his six-shooter and didn't hit a darn thing.
Just before WWI, Caproni designed an airplane with a machine gun mounted above the propeller [0], but the military wasn't that interested in it. It wasn't until the invention of the interrupter gear (credited in part to Roland Garros and part to Anthony Fokker) that air-to-air combat got to be really deadly, on account of pilots being able to fire accurately at other aircraft.
Re:Tokyo police are using drones with nets to catch other dr...
by Xylakant on Sunday December 13, 2015 @12:28AM
(#10725514)
Before, Machine guns were either mounted outside the propeller circle (which made aiming harder) or propellers had deflectors on the back which made them less efficient.
Just before WWI, Caproni designed an airplane with a machine gun mounted above the propeller [0], but the military wasn't that interested in it. It wasn't until the invention of the interrupter gear (credited in part to Roland Garros and part to Anthony Fokker) that air-to-air combat got to be really deadly, on account of pilots being able to fire accurately at other aircraft.
[0] http://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/caproni-ca20