Pretty much
This sums it up so well.
Here’s an article about it. The tl;dr is: test pilot shoots at ocean, kicks in afterburners, bullets start out faster, but slow quickly. They reunite in mid-air and sparks fly.
Instant karma
Never shoot at the ocean, kid. Mother nature takes it personally
I mean Xerxes and Caligula also attacked Ocean and look what happened. And it wasn’t even really Ocean.
What I don’t get is… I mean, the relative speed difference between the bullets and the plane just doesn’t seem like it would be enough to cause them to rip through the plane as if the plane was shot on the ground from a dude with a gun or something.
The bullets lose momentum once fired, but the jet added momentum after firing, so it’s more like it caught up to the bullets.
Right but what was the speed difference at impact? Like if the jet was only going say, 60 MPH faster than the bullets, wouldn’t it just be like when some gravel on the road bounces off your car on the highway?
Indeed. I read a little more and it did indeed shoot itself down, so… 🤷♂️
Yeah in the end it IS what happened, so I guess the speed difference must have been considerable. I just wonder how it could have been so much. Maybe the afterburners can create a LOT of acceleration/thrust, idk.
There were angles involved - imagine throwing a Frisbee forward and running fast enough to bump into it. Now imagine you throw it up, and you run until it hits you in the back of the head
No matter how fast you’re going forward, it’s still coming at you from an angle you’re not moving
He shot the bullets, then tilted down a little more and hit his afterburners. He had to pull up so not to continue on to a salty grave and his parabolic trajectory and the bullets surprised each other. So, a pinch of the bullets slowing significantly and a sprinkle of the plane speeding up.
The Tiger gained the dubious distinction of being the first jet aircraft to shoot itself down. On 21 September 1956, during a test-firing of its 20 mm (0.79 in) cannons, pilot Tom Attridge fired two bursts midway through a shallow dive. As the trajectory of the cannon rounds decayed, they ultimately crossed paths with the Tiger as it continued its descent, disabling the aircraft and forcing Attridge to crash-land the aircraft; he survived with a broken leg and multiple broken vertebrae.
From Wikipedia
I think just saying that it hit itself due to its high speed doesn‘t really tell the whole story.
thanks, I was looking for exactly this extra context
I think just saying that it hit itself due to its high speed doesn‘t really tell the whole story.
Well just like most descriptions of ADHD isn’t it?
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Yeah, the initial velocity of the bullets would be the sum of the plane’s velocity plus whatever velocity the bullets gain coming out of the barrel.
But, what apparently happened is perfectly believable (if extremely unlucky). It’s not that the F-11 was faster than its bullets, it’s that it flew in a way that its path intersected the path of the bullets it had fired. As soon as the bullets left the barrel they would have started slowing down, eventually ending up on a ballistic trajectory. The F-11 would have stayed at approximately the same speed, but if the pilot hit the afterburners it would have sped up considerably.
Still, the likelihood of the speeding up plane hitting the slowing down bullets is extremely low.
Imagine the fear and shock of test firing your guns into the water, speeding up and moving on, then suddenly your aircraft is shredded by a seemingly invisible force.
I’d shit out my heart.
Big acorn moment
Why yes, I am capable of shooting myself in the foot at record speed as soon as I open my mouth. In fact it’s mandatory!
Lovely of you to notice!
The problem with being faster than light is you’re always in darkness.
faster than its* own bullet
I like to imagine that fighter jet was used for plane jousting. Fuck missiles and machine guns, MELEE PLANES!
Oh no, NCD has another leak
F-11 is confused…. It shot itself in its confusion.
It’s super effective!
This is an excellent example though.
