Old Week
Abstract: "Tiger's Mouth Escape" is a comedy set in World War II, both the plot and the characters, it is a classic, and it is definitely a super masterpiece that has been popular for a long time. As a military fan, I am naturally particularly interested in bombers, reconnaissance planes, anti-aircraft guns, anti-aircraft machine guns and other weapons and equipment that appear in the film.
"Tiger's Mouth" is a comedy set in World War II, both the plot and the characters, it is a classic, and it is definitely a super masterpiece that has been popular for a long time. As a military fan, I am naturally particularly interested in bombers, reconnaissance planes, anti-aircraft guns, anti-aircraft machine guns and other weapons and equipment that appear in the film.
First of all, we must talk about bombers, and the main line of the film is how three British pilots escaped from France with the help of the French after skydiving. The three British pilots were the crew members of a British bomber. Judging from the appearance of this bomber, it is clear that it is the most famous "Lancastrian" bomber of the British Army in World War II.
At the outbreak of World War II, the performance of the British active "Manchester" bomber was already significantly behind, so the British Air Force asked for the rapid development of a new bomber to replace the "Manchester" bomber, in addition to the requirement must be the use of four "Merlin" engines to ensure a sufficiently large range - the "Merlin" series of liquid-cooled engines is the fist of Rolls-Royce (yes, it is the company that produces luxury cars). It was the best piston engine in the UK and the world at that time, and many combat aircraft of the British Air Force used the "Merlin" engine, which could allow this new generation of bombers to be installed with four at once, which showed the British Air Force's preference for this engine. In addition, it was required to use the "Manchester" bomber components as much as possible so that production could begin as soon as possible.
Chief designer Roy Chavel, on the basis of the fuselage of the "Manchester" bomber, cleverly elongated the wingspan and easily solved the problem of placing four engines by elongating the wing ribs, but also improved the lifting resistance and maneuverability by increasing the scale of the aspect ratio.
The prototype of the new aircraft was first tested in January 1941 with the Manchester MK3 model, mass production began in June, and in October it was officially named the Lancaster bomber, and the Soldier began to completely replace the Manchester bomber. The Lancaster bomber adopts a conventional aerodynamic layout, with a length of 21.08 meters, a wingspan of 31 meters, a height of 6.23 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 29.5 tons, a maximum bomb load of 9980 kg, a maximum speed of 462 km / h, a cruising speed of 322 km / h, a maximum range of 4000 km (3200 kg of ammunition), Self-defense weapons: 2 7.62 mm machine guns in the nose turret, 2 7.62 mm machine guns in the fuselage back turret, 4 7.62 mm machine guns in the tail turret (early models installed 1 7.62 mm machine gun in the belly turret), 7 crew members - "Tiger's Mouth Escape" said 5 pilots, 2 people were captured and 3 people were rescued, obviously not right, the minimum need is 6 people, 1 pilot, 1 navigator, 1 bombardier, 3 machine gunners (operating the nose, the back of the machine, and the tail machine gun respectively).
The "Lancaster" bomber produced a total of 7366 bombers of various models in the war, with a total of 156192 sorties and more than 600,000 tons of bombs, which was the largest number of sorties and bombs dropped by the British bombers of all types, and participated in three famous "thousand-plane bombings" against German cities and the "Gomorrah" aerial campaign against Hamburg - Gomora originated from the Bible, because the people of Gomora did many evils in the city, causing the wrath of the gods, and descending a heavenly fire to destroy the whole city of Gomorrah in one fell swoop. At that time, the Allies carried out a week-long air raid on Hamburg, destroying most of Hamburg's buildings, killing 100,000 people and leaving 4 million homeless. The air raid on the German capital Berlin was the key task of the "Lancaster" bomber, and from August 1943 onwards, several air raids were carried out on Berlin almost every month, and Berlin was as familiar to the "Lancaster" bomber as his uncle's family. During the war, the Lancaster bomber also carried out several special missions, such as bombing the dam of the Ruhr industrial area, bombing the German Navy's most famous battleship "Tirpitz"... Therefore, the "Lancaster" bomber made a great contribution to the victory of the war is by no means an empty phrase.
In "Tiger's Mouth Escape", this British "Lancaster" bomber was first injured by anti-aircraft artillery during the air raid on Germany, and then the trek flew over Paris, causing the German air defense unit in Paris to alarm the masterpiece, when the camera appeared was the German Flak38 type quad 20 mm anti-aircraft gun (the props were very realistic), a shot, actually shot down this "Lancaster" bomber! To know that the maximum ceiling of the "Lancaster" bomber is 5800 meters, the general flight altitude is above 3000 meters, and the maximum height of the Flak38 quad 20 mm anti-aircraft gun is only 2000 meters, and the power is small, not to mention that it cannot hit "Lancaster", even if it hits, it is difficult to beat down such a big guy as "Lancaster".
Because the Flak30 20 mm anti-aircraft gun had a low rate of fire to meet the operational needs, the Germans made improvements, with an improved barrel length of 112.5 times the caliber and a maximum rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute. It was finalized in 1938 and hence the name FlaK38. Due to its light weight, this anti-aircraft gun can be carried on a variety of vehicles, the most famous of which is the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun mounted on a half-track vehicle, which became the most important field anti-aircraft weapon for German ground forces, especially armored units, with a large number of equipment and widespread use. Therefore, the use of this quad 20 mm anti-aircraft gun as an urban anti-aircraft weapon in the film is obviously not quite right. In reality, the German army mainly carried out air defense of key cities with large-caliber anti-aircraft guns such as 100 mm and 88 mm. Moreover, the Initial Velocity of the FlaK38 20 mm Anti-Aircraft Gun was only 830 m/s, which was obviously insufficient in power, even against low-altitude targets. Therefore, later in actual combat, the German army more used the FlaK38 20 mm anti-aircraft gun for flat firing, and turned it into an infantry support firepower. And in actual combat found to be very effective against the paratroopers parachutes parachutes, four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, the rate of fire is fast enough, this power against the aircraft is not good, against the flesh and blood paratroopers is definitely more than enough, it is said that when landing in Normandy, many Allied paratroopers were killed under the muzzle of this anti-aircraft gun.
By the end of the film, the pilot, the commander, and the painter, with the help of the nuns, escaped from the German headquarters in a carriage, and the Germans sent a reconnaissance plane to track their tracks. In order to chase a few pilots, they actually dispatched reconnaissance planes, and the Germans really paid blood. The reconnaissance aircraft has a distinctive appearance, so it is easy to determine the type of aircraft - The Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft.
The Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft was successfully developed by Henschel in 1937 and uses the latest airfoil, cantilever fixed landing gear, semi-enclosed cockpit with a canopy, and the observer position is open. An 880 hp BMW 132dc star-piston engine was installed. 2 occupants, one pilot, one observer. There is only one pilot in the film. Moreover, it is said that this reconnaissance plane can only conduct reconnaissance and has no weapons. In fact, the Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft is armed, with a 7.92 mm machine gun in the front of the nose and a detachable 7.92 mm machine gun in the rear, which may be difficult to compete with fighter air combat, but there is no problem in dealing with ground targets. In addition, it can carry 5 10 kg bombs or 1 50 kg bomb. If in actual combat, there was no need for the Fat Major to lead the ground troops to chase, the reconnaissance plane could strafe with machine guns and drop bombs to attack the nun's carriage.
In 1938, the Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft, which had just begun to equip troops, took part in the Spanish Civil War. However, after the beginning of World War II, due to backward performance, mainly due to insufficient engine power and limited range, it was discontinued in 1941, and the total production was only 600. During World War II, as the Luftwaffe had begun to equip large-range reconnaissance aircraft on a large scale, the Henschel Hs 126 was converted into a glider tractor and a night attack aircraft.
One of the most famous operations of the Henschel Hs 126 during the war was the 12 September 1943 ingestion DFS 230 glider, carrying special forces led by Skolnez from the Italian airport of Badika in Rome, to surprise the Great Sasso Mountains and rescue Mussolini, who was imprisoned.
In the film, the reconnaissance plane with only one pilot and no weapons was shot down by the German cockfighting eye sergeant " , and many people were impressed by this segment. It is just that some articles say that the Eye shot down the reconnaissance aircraft with anti-aircraft guns, which is of course a big mistake, and the Eye shot down the reconnaissance aircraft with the MG42 machine gun, which was the most famous machine gun of the German army during World War II.
MG42 is a general machine gun, the so-called general machine gun is the use of light barrel bipod is a light machine gun, switch to a heavy barrel mounted tripod is a heavy machine gun, if coupled with a sight is an anti-aircraft machine gun - the film is used as an anti-aircraft machine gun. MG42 was finalized in 1942, so it was named MG42. This machine gun is extremely good and is known as the best machine gun in World War II. The biggest feature is that the rate of fire is very, very fast, up to 1200 rounds per minute, which is 20 rounds per second of ticking! Whether it was in the icy Soviet battlefield, or in the sweltering heat of the North African desert, or in the bushy European wilderness and rubble-strewn towns, the MG42 was the most important pillar of firepower of the German infantry, so it became a nightmare for many Allied officers and soldiers. The most appropriate evaluation of the MG42 is a "shortest time, lowest cost, best machine gun". Due to the MG42's unique gun sound similar to tearing cloth, it is impressive, so according to the characteristics of the MG42's gunshot, there are many nicknames. American soldiers called the MG "Hitler's zipper" because of the sound of MG's gunshots pulling like a zipper, Soviet soldiers called the MG42 "Linoleum ripper"; and German soldiers called it "Hitlersäge".
The second feature of MG42 is the use of metal stamping manufacturing process, and at that time the guns in various countries were basically cutting processes, stamping technology, whether it is raw material utilization or processing efficiency, are epoch-making advanced. As a result, the production of MG42 reached a staggering 1 million sticks!
However, mg42 is not perfect, because the rate of fire is too fast, but also brought some problems, first of all, the ammunition consumption is too large, causing a lot of pressure on logistics supplies, so that many German officers and soldiers have to take point shooting to save ammunition - the eye in the film is also point shooting, but he is obviously not to save ammunition, but he does not have the confidence to let go of the continuous shooting. There is also because of the high rate of fire and lead to the barrel temperature will rise quickly, although equipped with a spare barrel, and the replacement of the barrel time is only a few seconds, but after all, the replacement of the barrel is still more troublesome, but also will cause shooting interruptions, the continuity of firepower is a great impact.
In actual combat, it is theoretically entirely possible for mg42 to shoot down a low-altitude reconnaissance plane, that is, the probability is relatively small, the cockfighting eye can shoot down the reconnaissance plane, it is really a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse, of course, this is a movie, and appropriate artistic processing is also reasonable.
"Tiger's Mouth" is not only a classic war comedy, but also the weapons that appear in the film are also the star weapons of war, even if it is just a glimpse, it is enough to make military fans feel addicted.
(The picture of this article is from the network)