How Much Steel can a Longbow Pierce?

[DarkSoldier]

Can anybody answer this question? I need to know for a story I'm writing if a traditional English longbow can penetrate or otherwise inconvenience the armour of a main battle tank or armoured personnel carrier.

If such a feat is impossible for a longbow, I'd still like to know.

 

[Bront]

I doubt it's possable to pierce a modern tank, but some cars, or the realy old tanks, maybe.

Do a search on Longbow Penetration, and see what you get.

 

[Geoff Watson]

It depends on the pull. A really big, strong bow can penetrate more.

But, since a longbow only rarely penetrated human armour it will have no chance against tank armour. Maybe a normal car.

Geoff.

 

[mythusmage]

Car bodies are made out of mild steel for the most part. I recall a 9 year old boy (me) who once dented the roof of a car with one blow. Things haven't changed all that much in the past 42 years.

AFV armor a longbow arrow just aint going through. What you need to look for are design mistakes. Such as the fuel tank the Soviets used to put on their tanks to extend the range. The expectation was that the enemy would always be in front of the tank. On a model like the Joseph Stalin II the tank wasn't even armored, and even deisel fuel will go up when it drips on a hot tank engine.

BTW, in the modern car the hard points, of all things, are the windows. A longbow arrow has a better chance of getting through the hood and firewall than the front window.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Do a search on Longbow Penetration, and see what you get.

Porn.

 

[Umbran]

Can anybody answer this question? I need to know for a story I'm writing if a traditional English longbow can penetrate or otherwise inconvenience the armour of a main battle tank or armoured personnel carrier.

If such a feat is impossible for a longbow, I'd still like to know.

If a simple arrow could easily penetrate a tank, you'd see soldiers equipped with crossbows again

Modern tanks aren't just steel plate. They are composites of steel or titanium, ceramics, and plastic honeycombs. The sides of the tank are sloped and shaped to deflect projectiles, and so on. While one might think, "perhaps they've engineered so much to take on bullets and missiles that they've overstepped and will let arrows through," that simply isn't the case. Tanks and APCS are also designed to take on shrapnel, which is often moving much more slowly than your common bullet.

 

[Hand of Evil]

See Potential and Kinetic Energy: http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/energy/workshop2/kinetic.html

You also have to think arrow heads.

 

[Black Omega]

Longbows could not always pierce medieval steel armor. Their changes of piercing a tank are pretty much nil. I'd never have thought of the question, though.

 

[Bront]

Porn.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Those are my sentiments of it too.