why fire a cannon at a figther ,you needed power to kill a big bomber..a .50mm
would shredd a zero so why would a P-38 jockey waste 20mm on one

It seems to me that four or six fifty-caliber guns was the perfect
armament for American fighters in the Pacific. Not only was the Zero
lightly timbered; so were Japanese bombers. The engines weren't all
that different (the Ki-44 Shoki/Tojo was basically a Ki-43 with a
bomber engine), and the gas tanks if anything were more vulnerable.

Most hits on a bomber just went right through--a Japanese "heavy" was
little more than a DC-3 with gun positions and bomb-bay doors.

all the best -- Dan Ford
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