page_title: Gun harmonisation
hierarchical_section_title: Gun harmonisation
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a derivative work based on the planform of a Hawker Hurricane fighter as seen at File:Hawker Hurricane 3D ExCC.gif. I added eight lines to represent gunfire converging at a point. The convergence is not to scale with regard to actual convergence schemes which were several hundreds of yards or meters to the convergence point.
context_page_description: In aerial gunnery, gun harmonisation, convergence pattern, convergence zone, convergence point or boresight point refers to the aiming of fixed guns or cannon carried in the wings of a fighter aircraft.
  The wing guns in fighters were typically not bore-sighted to point straight ahead; instead they were aimed slightly inward so that the projectiles met at one or more areas several hundred yards or metres in front of the fighter's nose. The intent was either to spread the fire of multiple weapons to increase the chance of a hit, called "pattern harmonisation", or to concentrate the fire to deliver greater damage at one point, called "point harmonisation".
  A drawback of harmonisation was that guns worked effectively in a limited zone, so targets closer or farther away from the zone were not damaged as much, or were completely missed. The rounds would diverge further apart after passing through the convergence point.
  The convergence of multiple guns was a common practice from the 1930s to the 1950s, especially in World War II. Military aircraft from the 1960s onward generally did not carry guns in the wings, so convergence was not as much of a concern.
context_section_description: In aerial gunnery, gun harmonisation, convergence pattern, convergence zone, convergence point or boresight point refers to the aiming of fixed guns or cannon carried in the wings of a fighter aircraft.
  The wing guns in fighters were typically not bore-sighted to point straight ahead; instead they were aimed slightly inward so that the projectiles met at one or more areas several hundred yards or metres in front of the fighter's nose. The intent was either to spread the fire of multiple weapons to increase the chance of a hit, called "pattern harmonisation", or to concentrate the fire to deliver greater damage at one point, called "point harmonisation".
  A drawback of harmonisation was that guns worked effectively in a limited zone, so targets closer or farther away from the zone were not damaged as much, or were completely missed. The rounds would diverge further apart after passing through the convergence point.
  The convergence of multiple guns was a common practice from the 1930s to the 1950s, especially in World War II. Military aircraft from the 1960s onward generally did not carry guns in the wings, so convergence was not as much of a concern.
caption: Fire from the eight machine guns of a Hawker Hurricane is shown converging to a point, then diverging. (Drawing not to scale.)
exif: {}