NOT TO BE PUBLISHED The information given in this document is not to be communicated, either directly or indirectly, to the Press or to any person not holding an official Position in His Majesty’s Service, Notefied « te Small Arms Training ~ Volume I, Pamphlet No. 6 _ Supplement No. 1 The Anti-Aireraft Cartwheel Sight (Eye Shooting) For use with -300, -303 and -5-inch Weapons on A.A. Mountings and the 20-mm. Gun on the Universal ’ ' Mounting Mark L. 1943 Crown Copyright Reserved . By Command of the. Army ‘Council, ‘Pus Wax Orrick, , Q \ Stir May, UM3, Morte. . Vrinted under the Authority of HIS MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE by iXeliher. Hudson & Kearns, Ltd., London, S.E.1. >CONTENTS . ' PAGE lotroduction ... oe sn we ae ve we J Definitions wee ae coe bee eee ” we 1 . ‘ CHAPTER I SEC. , 1: Principles we She we ow 2 2. The A.A, cartwheel sight ase ae ae 6 3. Observation of tracer wee 7 4. Fire‘control ,.... aes ae wa “ 10 5. Dive bombing |... ee . we «72 : “CHAPTER hh 6. Sequence df A.A. cartwlieel sight instruction wwe IS Lesson L. Direction of aim otf . . : . 16 1 2. Fstimation and aypicition ‘OL aun oll a 16 ” 3. istimation of aim off spee:!s wee 1? : 4. Acming practice . wee is 5. Dive bombing (outdoors) 2. te se 19 1 6. Dive. bombing GUndeors, alternative to lesson 5a : ot 7. Fire discipline training 24 Appendix A. ‘dmaprovised training kit . a 26 o B. Speed groups of enemy aireratt . 24 DISTRIBUTION . 2 min, AA, coys ‘ Seale HALAL units} . Le AA. ,. boa oe Scale C S/L units J . Other arms... wee wee wel ae’ « Scale A-+5 OW s ON, Scale IV O.C.T.Us. and 148 Training Lange wee ee fous TIh R.A. training regiments ” . Scale B4-50 WAMG.TSC, ... lan O.RT.Us. see we ae wee S.A.A.A, (gunnery wing) SAS. Hythe we school of Infantry... fe ae os S.A.S., Netheravon ... Advane: ed) handling and fielderatt + ne choo! Command W.T; schools ©... R.A, practice camps AA. reserve regts,. 0.00 7. po. London District, ‘South “Eastern "and ‘astern mands, A.A. and A.Tk, Schoo} ... oy CH.Q. AA, Sebsel eee eee tee * 100 Scale A-+--5 “100 - 100 «= 10 we 10 we -10 «= «10 we 20 -» 100 Com- «es “100 v- 1000SMALL ARMS TRAINING . Volume I, Pamphlet No. 6 THE ANTI-AIRCRAFT CARTWHEEL SIGHT (Eye Shooting) INTRODUCTION 1, The A.A. cartwheel sight is the standard sight for the engagement of low flying enemy, aircraft with the 20 mm. gun on universal mounting, Mark I, and smaller calibre weapons on A.A. mountings (300, -303, and -5). 2. The principles involved in the use of this sight are extremely simple. 3. The sight can be used so that effective fire can be brought to bear on aircraft attacking from any direction, at any speed, and at any angle of approach. 4. The sight enables the gunner to swing the gun on to the aircraft and apply the necessary lead with great rapidity. Speed is of extreme importance since the time of engagement using the 20 mm. and smaller calibre weapons will at all times be very short. DEFINITIONS _Throughout the instruction, certain terms are used which for convenience and ready reference are explained hereunder :— 1. Line of sight.—The straight line from the observer to the aircraft. 2. Direction of flight.—The prolongation of the fuselage in a forward direction. For practical purposes it can be taken as an imaginary line from the tail through the nose of the aircraft. 3. Approach angle.—The angle made by the direction of flight and the line of sight. This can be assessed by the appearance view of the aircraft or that proportion of the total length of the fuselage that appears to be visible. 4, Aim-off.—The amount it is necessary to lay the gun ahead of the aircraft to allow for travel of the aircraft during the time of flight of the projectile. 5. Aim-off speed.—The speed at which an aircraft crosses the line of sight.6, Crossing point.—The position at which the aircraft is at its point of nearest approach to the gun. * . 7. Present position.—The position of the aircraft at the moment that the gun fires. 8. Future position.—The position at which the projectile and the aircraft meet, i.¢., the time of flight of the aircraft from the present to the future position must be the same as the time of flight of the projectile from the gun to the future position, CHAPTER I 1. Principles 1. Generat.—There is nothing new or difficult in shooting at aircraft using the A.A. cartwheel sight. The principle is the same as, say, throwing a boot at a cat running along the top of a wall. In order to allow for the travel of the cat during the time of flight of the missile it is necessary to aim at a point ahead of the target along its future direction. This is called “ aim-off'" (Fig. 1). - Alm OFF oa ST Q fa- == --=-X Fis, 1. 2. The divection and amount of aim-oft and their application to the sight are arrived at in the following manner :— (a) Divection of aim-off With modern aircraft it can be assumed that the direction in which the fuselage of the aircraft is pointing is the direction of aim-off (Fig. 2}.Fic. 2. Shae. eau - In order to apply this direction to the A.A. cartwheel sight the aircraft must be positioned in such a w: appears always to point towards the centre ay that the fuselage of the sight. (Fig. 3). Fie. 3.Except for aircraft directly approaching, diving in front of, or passing directly over the gun, the direction of aim-off will alter throughout an engagement and constant adjustment will be necessary. . (b) Amount of aim-off This will depend on two factors :— i. The speed of the aircraft. . The approach angle or appearance view. ‘i } The speed of the aircraft Clearly an aircraft flying at 300 m.p.h. will require twice the amount of aim-off as one travelling at 150 m.p.h. Speeds are not easy to judge and are best estimated by recognizing aircraft and knowing their operational speeds. As a guide they can be separated into three groups of 100, 200, and 300 m.p.h., and these must at all times be known. (ii) The approach angle or appearance view It will at once be obvious that the amount of aim-off will not depend only on the speed of the aircraft. For example, an aircraft flying directly at the gun will require no aim-off, whereas one flying directly across the line of sight will require the full amount of aim-off according to its speed. It therefore also depends upon the angle of approach, For training purposes this can easily be judged from the appearance view or that view of the fuselage which is visible, relative to its full length. X Approach angle 0 degrees. Approach angle 90 degrees. Head-on view. Full view. Fic. 4, In the example above the directly approaching aircraft presents a head-on view of the fuselage and the approach angle is 0 degrees, whereas the crossing aircraft presents a full view of the fuselage and the approach angle is 90 degrees, denoting that the aircraft is at the crossjng point. (Fig. 4}.‘mora souvivadde rey Jo oj8ae yoeordde so189p Of ‘ITT ‘8H—'¢ ‘DITsmota souereodde yng Apreou Jo a[8ue yoroiddr sa18ep no ‘zg ‘n[—"9 ‘ordIt will be impossible to judge approach angles or appearance views to fine limits, so that for practical purposes they are divided into five categories :— Approach angle Appearance view About 0 degrees ... + Head-on. » USdegrees ... .. gview. — » 80 degrees ... + Coming up to } view. », 60 degrees ... «» Nearly full view. » 90 degrees ... «Full view. 3. Approach angle and aim-off speed It will now be apparent that the amount of aim-off depends not only upon the speed of the aircraft but also upon its approach angle or appearance view, and according to the size of either, a proportion of the speed will be required. This is called atm-off speed. Thus for small approach angles or when only a small umount of the fuselage appears to be visible the aim-off speed vill be a fraction of the speed of the aircraft. The aim-off speed, however, does not increase uniformly as che approach angle increases. When the angle is small, up 0 30 degrees or half appearance view, a little increase in the ingle will produce a large change in the aim-off speed, whereas 1ear the crossing point when the approach angle is large the elative change in aim-off speed is small. In order to arrive at the aim-oft speed for different approach ingles and different appearance views, the five categories siven in paragraph 2 (b) (ii) are used in the following nanner :— Approach angle Appearance view , Aim-off speed About 0 degrees Head-on view. Nil. » 15 degrees Quarter view. Quarter aircraft speed. 1 30 degrees Coming up tohalf Half aircraft speed. view. _» 60Qdegrees Almost full view. Full aircraft speed, Jess 50 m.p.h. 90 degrees — Full view. Full aircraft speed. (For aircraft speeds see Appendix « B’”’,)