Ken. WW2, most German and British tanks also used gasoline.
As far as fighter use of Cannon goes, the Germans had quite a lead in the availability and the installation of cannon type weapons. They seem to have appreciated the advantages of the larger calibre well before the RAF and had the 20mm weapons in the wings of the Bf109E before WW2, having learned the lessons in Spain. The RAF seemed to agonise about cannon and the Spitfire had to wait till Nov '40 for the Mk1b to get 20mm cannon in the wings working satisfactorily, while the Luftwaffe outgunned them through the BoB. By the time of the Spit
Vb, the Germans had sorted the engine mounted cannon in the 109F and, shortly after, the Fw190 with at least two wing root mounted 20mm, sometimes four and, nothing below 12.7mm. The Germans preferred the bigger weapons and soon moved on to the 30mm MK108. This weapon suffered from early poor quality but did become reliable enough and, with the thincase "minen" type blast shells they were a very effective weapon, only an average of 4 hits req'd to down a heavy bomber. For the Americans, it would seem that the .5 BMG was sufficient to deal with many situations, particularly against fighters and small bombers. Certainly, there was an element of strength in numbers, with 6x .5BMG and generally huge numbers of P51's hunting the Jagdwaffe in the later stages of the War. However, the pure effective weight of fire from the 4xMK108 in a 262 was impressive. Interestingly, the late developed MG213 20mm and MK213 30mm revolver cannon were the basis of many postwar weapons, including the ADEN 30mm and latterly, the Mauser 27mm in the Tornado. Of course, the Americans developed some excellent revolving barrel weapons. However, the instantaneous rate of fire achieved by the revolver type Mauser can be an advantage in a .5sec snap burst and, the installed weight of the Mauser is low.
OAP