The importance of correct lead was explained in the Luftwaffe Fighter Gunnery manual with an analogy designed to capture the attention of the young men forming the intended audience
The example was given that a shell will take one second to travel 500 meters and in that time the enemy aircraft would have traveled 100 meters, therefore the pilot needed to aim 100 meters ahead of the aircraft at that range
The young woman's hand on her outstretched arm was shown as the aim point if the target was her shoulder, and one did not have to pull lead if fortunate enough that the approach was frontal - to the aircraft, naturally
The radius of the circle on the Revi gunsight was the measure by which lead was to be calculated for various relative angles of the target, however it was emphasized that a no deflection shot was the ideal
Hans-Joachim Marseille was the master of the high-angle deflection shot using such extreme leads that he often couldn’t see the target aircraft. He would pepper his target from propellor boss to cockpit using a two-second burst.
@hw97karbine via X
