Cartridge casing ejection

[FTC_Zero]

I recently noticed visible casing ejections on some German planes. It is pretty cool, but aren't those supposed to be collected in encased bins on the plane? On the albatross the cases seems to eject from holes on the bottom of the fuselage, but on other planes like the Fokker Dr1 or D7 the side ejections seem not right.

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by FTC_Zero

[Guest deleted@219798]

Yeah and the casings look more like the size of cannon casings not LMG. Looks like something from a cartoon.

[Guest deleted@219798]

It's particularly noticeable on the Fokker DVIII because you can see the shells being ejected from cockpit view. Those things look like cannon shell casings.

 

[kendo]

Are you sure it's not a case of....

 

 

[Todt_Von_Oben]

On a Spandau 08/15 LMG, the tube on the left side of the breech block / receiver group returns the empty cloth belt to a separate compartment in the ammo tub.

 

The empty casings exit forward from the low front end of the receiver group; below where the air-cooling jacket meets the breech block.  Extraction throws them forward and gravity pulls them down below the barrel. 

 

Where they go after that depends on the application but the empty cases are ejected clear of the gun and the only thing recovered through that tube is the empty belt.

 

The Alby could be right; I've never checked to see what the internal ducting might be but the empties would seem to be headed in that direction, though.  

 

But those pics of the Dr.1?  Yeah.  That's wrong.  The Spandau does not eject empty cartridge cases sideways from either the left or right side apertures of the breech block / receiver group.  The mechanism doesn't work like that.

 

The belts feed in from the right and exit on the left.  Pulling the charging handle moves the bolt / carrier group aft to draw one bullet aft from the belt.  Pushing the charging handle forward, the recoil spring helps move the first bullet forward and down into the breech and barrel; while the top half of the bolt / carrier group simultaneously grips the next bullet in the belt, above.  Squeeze the trigger, the lug drops, the pin strikes, the primer detonates, the first round fires, and a recovery system routes some of the expanded gasses from the barrel to drive the bolt / carrier group aft again.  That aft motion enables the lower half of the bolt / carrier group to grab and extract the empty case while the upper half of the bolt / carrier group simultaneously grabs and extracts a fresh round from the belt, above.  Recoil spring pressure drives the bolt / carrier group forward to simultaneously (1) insert the new live round into the breech; (2) latch onto the next fresh round above; and (3) eject the empty case forward and down through an aperture in the receiver group situated directly below the barrel. If the trigger remains pulled, the seer pin is disengaged, the bolt flies free, and the action continues automatically; driven aft by gas pressure and forward by a spring.  Repeatedly feeding, firing, extracting, and ejecting in a continuous process.  Ratatatat.  Or something like that.  But it's not like an M-60 that spits out the right side.  This one ejects out the bottom and forward.

 

Without running to Wikipedia to check, I think most of these birds probably had some sort of chute that routed the empties down and out through the belly; like what we see in the FC Albatros.

 

EDIT:  I have to amend my statement.  I do believe the Devs got it right.

 

When I look as closely at the gun in FC as I can, it looks like the empty cases are not ejecting from the feed or exit ports; but ejecting from the area of the ejection port aperture at the lower forward face of the breech block receiver group housing; just as they should be. 

 

From there, they appear to be flying right or left from UNDERNEATH the feed / exit ports; not out through them. 

 

Could that happen IRL?  Without any other form of ducting and in the windstream; maybe so.  I can't say it's impossible.

 

I read that Goering complained about the empties hitting him in the face and had some kind of duct installed.

 

And I've seen details evidenced in pictures of the DVa and DVIIF that could be mods intended to route the cases down and out of the plane; not back into the cockpit. 

 

So, at this point I think the Devs got it right and I was looking at it wrong.

 

FWIW 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Todt_Von_Oben