A Flight Investigation of the Effects of Varied Lateral Damping on the Effectiveness of a Fighter Airplane as a Gun Platform

Flight tests were conducted at three conditions of damping and two atmospheric turbulence levels with fixed-reticle, gyro computing, and telescopic gunsights. Results of simulated strafing runs indicate that the gun-line dispersion could be expected to be decreased about 7 percent by increased lateral damping and to be increased about 85 percent by decreased damping and about 40 percent by rough air of the type encountered. Use of the telescopic sight indicated a 20-percent decrease in gun-line dispersion