Paintball Shootdown

[KSP_CPA]

They touched on this in a prior episode but I'm curious what it would take to shoot down a FT plane with a paintball gun. My suggestion, two teams, a pilot and gunner (or 2) armed with a paintball gun on each team. Same figure 8 course for each plane at the same time. First to shoot down the other plane wins. Max altitude ceiling is lowered every minute.

Planes would probably be something which would be actually damaged by a paintball gun and be slow enough to realistically hit. Maybe a 3 cell mustang or 2 cell mini.

Could also incorporate fireworks (I'm thinking roman candles) make it a 4th of July battle.

 

[Merv]

Shooting paintballs from the ground at a plane is a lot of fun.
Shooting paintballs air to air and planes with fireworks, not a good idea.

 

[PsyBorg]

Technically.... shooting an RC aircraft with anything now that we are regulated as REAL aircraft could be considered a federal offence depending on who is looking at the situation.

 

[KSP_CPA]

FT plane with a paintball gun. My suggestion, two teams, a pilot and gunner (or 2) armed with a paintball gun on each team ?

Just like real dog fighters, putting a paintball gun on an FT plane I can see the weight and space of the ammo being a limiting factor. Assuming you can get a gun, air supply, and firing mechanism on a flying plane (P-38 would be a good choice with dual engines), each paintball weighs about 3 grams so 100 rounds of “ammo” would be about 2/3 of a pound. CG shifts, lift characteristics, speed, everything would change from all-up weight to dry weight. Would be fascinating to see the troubleshooting involved in solving those engineering problems.