Guns

Nearly every aircraft carries guns, and in the propeller era they are the only weapon there is. The instruments show machine-gun ammunition as MG and cannon ammunition as CNN. Both fire together when guns are selected.

Machine guns and cannon

• Machine guns fire fast but do little damage with each round.
• Cannon fire slower, heavier rounds that hit far harder. They are the only guns that can pierce a U-boat’s pressure hull.
• Some bombers carry gun turrets that aim and fire by themselves. Press T to toggle them.

Aiming

• Guns fire straight ahead, and their rounds take time to arrive. Aim ahead of a moving target, at the lead indicator.
• Rounds that travel past their range are gone, so open fire only when the lead indicator appears.
• Lower-level aircraft can’t aim their guns far from where the nose points.

Reloading

Guns reload by themselves when they run dry. Press R to reload early. Land on a friendly aircraft carrier to rearm at once.

Reading a plane’s page

A gun is listed like this: 4 × 20mm cannon (195r 12r/s 800m 705m/s 10s) [540dps total]. That is four 20mm cannon, each holding 195 rounds and firing 12 rounds per second, with a range of 800 meters and a muzzle velocity of 705 meters per second. They reload in 10 seconds, and together deal 540 damage per second.

Planes