Slightly off thread..............................
I was on exchange with the USN at China Lake when the competition for the gun for the AV-8B was being run. Some of us went out to the ranges to watch a demo. The three competitors were the Brit 30mm Aden, the standard issue USN 20mm gatling, and a development of the 30mm GAU8, the 25mm GAU 12.
The guns were static, mounted on trestles on the ground.
The target was an armoured vehicle.
First off was the Aden. you could hear the pop, pop as each bullet left the barrel, arced gracefully upwards, to fall gracefully down to hit the target with some pleasing flashes.
Second to go was the 20mm gatling. A lady-like f@rt and a stream of bullets flying pretty much in a straight line to hit the target with some very pretty flashes.
Then they fired the GAU12. A manly f@rt, followed by a stream of bullets going - as far as the naked eye was concerned - in a straight line - with no discernable gravity drop - straight to the target which instantly returned to Airfix components.
We looked at each other and said "We want one of those please!"
Guess which one we got?
