What were the big innovations in AAA in WW2? A common form used in modern air-to-air weapons uses a laser as an optical source and time-of-flight for ranging. The US repeated it for N. Korea and N. Vietnam but failed again ( a whole another story) so luckily its not an era we will see again. Working with Western Electric Company and Raytheon Company, miniature hearing-aid tubes were modified to withstand this extreme stress. The Hush-Kit Book of Warplanes will feature the finest cuts from this site along with exclusive new articles, explosive photography and gorgeous bespoke illustrations. Fuze assembly was completed at General Electric plants in Schenectady, New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. 3. The flammable hydrogen gas of the zeppelins made incendiary bullets much more deadly than standard ones which would pass through the outer skin without igniting the gas. Weapons and Ammunition. I think the TF2 Engineer summed it up perfectly: "How am I going to stop some big mean mother hubbard from tearing me a structurally superfluous new behind? Flak is a contraction of German Flugabwehrkanone (also referred to as Fliegerabwehrkanone) meaning aircraft-defense cannon, the original purpose of the weapon. The only Allied option was tactical infatry inserted to upset the German air defenses and provide a diversion for the larger forces to come in after. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Saturday NatSec Roundup - Lawyers, Guns & Money. Who does the voice of Vanessa on Phineas and Ferb? Incendiary ammunition is a type of ammunition that contains a chemical that, upon hitting a hard obstacle, has the characteristic of causing fire/setting flammable materials in the vicinity of the impact on fire. That is exac. One hopes that they were prepared for a . How do they get the shells to explode at the correct altitude? When the distance between the fuze and the target changed rapidly, then the phase relationship also changed rapidly. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. What does cholera look like under a microscope? Same principle is used for special types of shrapnel ammo in the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle. The 20mm caliber is a specific size of cannon or autocannon ammunition. Despite intense work by the Germans to finish the project, it was finally put out of action by a raid on 6 July 1944 before a single shell . Note here that the amplitude of this low frequency 'beat' signal corresponds to the amplitude of the signal reflected from the target. Flak in the Second World War was very effective. [44] One tube was an oscillator connected to an antenna; it functioned as both a transmitter and an autodyne detector (receiver). Bullet 50 feet from the plane? against light targets such as infantry and non-armored vehicles. Thanks for reading my nosense about the flak cannon. Pressure sensors are usually used in combination with other fuze detonation technologies such as acoustic and magnetic induction. These included planar electrodes and packing the components in wax and oil to equalize the stresses. Alternate Ammunition is the generic name for special munitions launched from LRM, SRM, and MMLs. By April 1945 44 percent of the flak arm was made up of people unqualified for combat, foreign nationals or prisoners of war.. The B Mark VI incendiary bullet was packed with nitrocellulose, and a small steel ball was placed in the tip of the bullet to ensure that the chemical exploded on impact. A simulated battle conditions test was started on 12 August 1942. This was only partially true. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. 4 How many shells does a flak gun fire per minute? Ignition is often delayed by varying means until after impact. [41] In addition to extreme acceleration, artillery shells were spun by the rifling of the gun barrels to close to 30,000 rpm, creating immense centrifugal force. Acting like a normal bullet in flight, then after a short delay, it will explode into 5 more bullets. A great little gun that packs 10+1 rounds of 9mm and features a 3.4" barrel - perfect for our carry gun test. [9][33][34], In just two days, Diamond was able to come up with a new fuze design and managed to demonstrate its feasibility through extensive testing at the Naval Proving Ground at Dahlgren, Virginia. If the shells exude at 5k feet couldn't bombers fly safer at 3k? Definitions of flak . how does flak ammunition work. Flash Sale. The blast from the first bomb was used to trigger the fuze of the second bomb which would explode above ground and in this turn would detonate the third bomb with the process repeated all the way till the last bomb in the string. After so many seconds, the shell would detonate like a times bomb. Flak in World War II takes the reader from the invasion of Poland in 1939 right to the last Japanese aircraft shot down by AA fire in August 1945. Flak-damaged bombers were forced out of formation, making them easy prey (for both Allied and Axis fighter forces) for marauding fighters. Butement, W. A. S., and P. E. Pollard; "Coastal Defence Apparatus", Butement, W. A. S., et al. 2,4 or 10m (7,13 or 33ft)] above ground that are selected by gun crews. But an explosion ABOVE is often lethal since those kinds of cover don't have roofs. | Latest News India The old man was a Vietnam vet and happened to be a gunner of said Flak guns. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. If either is wrong, then even accurately aimed shells may explode harmlessly before reaching the target or after passing it. For production times check Crafting. This is due to the same effect. So the changing phase relationship between the oscillator signal and the reflected signal complicated the measurement of the amplitude of that small reflected signal. The units come from different Camps in Warpath. There are three types of player-loadable ammunition in World of Warships: high explosive (HE), armor piercing (AP), and semi-armor piercing (SAP). Soviet artillery and tanks weren't able to penetrate the huge concrete tower, allowing the Germans to keep shooting. In mid-November 1939, a German neon lamp tube and a design of a prototype proximity fuze based on capacitive effects was received by British Intelligence as part of the Oslo Report. The United States Navy accepted that failure rate. <br /> .. undamaged item (including handmade items). German WWII Luftwaffe Flak Artillery Badge. Well, it's been 5 years and the devs STILL haven't been able to match/list what ammunition fits which weapons in the constructor or on the description, so once again we need to rely on each other to do what they can . What is the black smoke coming out of the shells? Protective vests called flak jackets were first used in World War II; the word flak comes from the abbreviated form of the German word Flugabwehrkanone, a type of antiaircraft gun. Finally the shot would be grabbed by the "grabbing things" (the heck are they called) you see on the moving barrel. Regular $49.99 (Save $15.00) First large scale production of tubes for the new fuzes[9] was at a General Electric plant in Cleveland, Ohio formerly used for manufacture of Christmas-tree lamps. The result was a heterodyne beat frequency which corresponded to the velocity difference. One may use a timed fuse in the shell. The story of flak in World War II is one of those forgotten stories of World War II. Nevertheless, it did a good job of stopping shell blasts, rocket fragments, and slow speed bullets fired at a moderate range. Feb 19, 2014 Jack Beckett, Guest Author. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The different roles that artillery ammunition has had to fill on the battlefield has led to many different designs and types of ammunition, some of which are discussed here And while artillery has been used by armies for hundreds of years, this article focuses on "modern" ammunition (post-1870). Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Flak, or Fliegerabwehrkanone, works by arming artillery class cannons for the use of Anti-Air duties. [46] Captain S. R. Shumaker, Director of the Bureau of Ordnance's Research and Development Division, coined the term to be descriptive without hinting at the technology. The .308 is the most preferred caliber for snipers all over the world. Great story. Ammunition available: HE-T, HE-I, HEI-T, AP-T, Minengescho, Stielgranate I know that UT weapons aren't supposed to be something realistic, but if someone wanted to analyze for example the flak cannon, how would it do all the stuff it is supposed to do? The Germans and the Allies, to a certain extent, used the number of enemy aircraft shot down by fighters and those by flak as a measurement as to its effectiveness. Entering service in 1965, the Leopard 1 is one of the most famous tanks of the Cold War and Modern Era. The same is true of bombers. Ammunition. Flak ammunition is a shell filled with high explosive that is designed to explode at a certain time or position during its flight. A contact fuze would explode when it hit the ground; it would not be very effective at scattering shrapnel. . Flak detonation clouds Early on during the war, two kinds of flak rounds were used. Over the course of the German V-1 campaign, the proportion of flying bombs flying through the coastal gun belt that were destroyed rose from 17% to 74%, reaching 82% during one day. It was first tested as a part of a detonation device for bombs that were to be dropped over bomber aircraft, part of the UK's Air Ministry's "bombs on bombers" concept. Press J to jump to the feed. Some of these guns saw limited use. The US found that flak that was high generally caused some damage to bombers but was far less likely to shoot them down than flak that was low. Veteran rocker Rod Stewart has no doubt what outcome of the Ukraine-Russia war would most benefit humanity, telling an interviewer he's backing Ukraine because, "If the Ukrainians lose it's the end of civilization as we know it.". Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Work on the radio shell fuze was completed by Tuve's group, known as Section T, at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL). Time to blow. British tests were then carried out with "unrotated projectiles," in this case rockets. The huge flak towers Hitler had built got to actual military use finally. Thompson was sent to the British Air Defence Establishment based on the second of the two concepts. How doesit compare with fighter interceptors for effectiveness? This signal is sent through a band-pass filter, amplified, and triggers the detonation when it exceeds a given amplitude. Although it gave accurate ranges, it could not produce good azimuth indications or elevation figures. Answer (1 of 7): > how and why does a plane still go down if the flak missed? The Browning M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun, Heavy barrel is an automatic, recoil operated, air-cooled machine gun with adjustable headspace and is crew transportable with limited amounts of . (LogOut/ It was from the cannon shells and incendiary bullets that had hit my machineBullets were going between my legs, and I remember seeing a bright flash of an incendiary bullet going past my leg into the gas tankThen a little red tongue licked out inquiringly from under the gas tank in front of my feet and became a hot little bonfire in one corner of the cockpit.". In their place were hastily trained factory workers, schoolboys, prisoners of war, older men not fit for combat and by the end of the war they introduced the first batteries manned by women for the defence of Berlin. The 128mm FlaK 40 was one of the largest anti-aircraft weapon systems employed by the Germans in World War 2. Observers may not be practical in many situations, the ground may be uneven, and the practice is slow in any event. Proximity fuzes are also useful for producing air bursts against ground targets. The War Office proved uninterested in the concept and told the two to work on other issues. Luftwaffe flak batteries could be assigned to the army at any time and thousands were. Most of the official Allied histories downplayed its role. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Its interesting at how effective the flak was but still a gradual attrition and conversely how difficult it was for Allied Bombers ability to find and to destroy the targets they wanted ( which then evolved into area bombing) but they still threw enormous resources into strategic bombing. The British Mk VI bullet was copied by the United States in simplified form, for both their .30 and .50 aircraft bullets. Our aviation shop ishereand our Twitter account here@Hush_Kit. ", Oruzhiye Podvodnogo Udara (Underwater Weapons), "The Development of the Radio Proximity Fuze", Naval Historical Centre Radio Proximity (VT) Fuzes, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Proximity_fuze&oldid=1141413451, It was important in defense from Japanese, It was an important part of the radar-controlled anti-aircraft batteries that finally neutralized the German, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 23:27. But that number is misleading. Publicado el junio 1, 2022 por junio 1, 2022 por the ASRAAM and AA-12 Adder) use lasers to trigger detonation. unopened, unused, Kit: UPC: : Does not apply . " Therefore, firing a +1 arrow from a +1 shortbow results in a +2 to the attack and damage rolls. In 1944 the number of 128mm rounds per aircraft shootdown was 3,000, less than one-fifth the number expended by its 88mm counterpart. AA guns are actually rather effective against soft ground targets, too. It is used in mines and torpedoes. Flak as used in the second world war is a larger shell that when fired, travels to the target area and explodes within its general area, hoping to score a hit by As the shell approaches a reflecting object, an interference pattern is created. It also left a characteristic black cloud hanging in the sky. Stewart pledged his support for Ukraine while visiting a hospital in Essex, England, adding more fighter . What is the meaning of the word swappable? Though deadly, the effective range of these bullets was only 350 yards (320 m), as the phosphorus charge burned quickly. In his words, "The one outstanding characteristic in this situation is the fact that success of this type of fuze is not dependent on a basic technical idea all of the ideas are simple and well known everywhere. Is Wolfram|Alpha just an online equation solver. Wide vertical pin back with a c-catch. Any analysis that does not examine all components of the system, and acknowledge that interference with any part of it can sharply reduce its effectiveness, is incomplete. These are enough to make up for its cons. [54], Vannevar Bush, head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) during the war, credited the proximity fuze with three significant effects. Flak, or Fliegerabwehrkanone, works by arming artillery class cannons for the use of Anti-Air duties. So Shrapnel is designed to explode BEFORE it hits the ground, using a timed fuse or a proximity fuse. The shell bursts at the appropriate height above ground. A proximity fuze (or fuse) is a fuze that detonates an explosive device automatically when the distance to the target becomes smaller than a predetermined value. [6] How does flak work? The one on your picture is either 2 or 3. A Fearsome Feline. https://www.quora.com/Why-cant-A-A-missiles-be-used-against-ground-targets-and-A-G-missiles-against-air-targets. When the target was far away, little of the oscillator's transmitted energy would be reflected to the fuze. However, as the bullet had to be made by hand rather than mass-produced, Major C. Aubrey Dixon of the British Royal Arsenal at Woolwich developed a greatly improved bullet with similar incendiary capabilities. There are 4 types of Flak Cannon ammunition: Explosive: Base ammo. Several ideas had been considered, including optical systems that shone a light, sometimes infrared, and triggered when the reflection reached a certain threshold, various ground-triggered means using radio signals, and capacitive or inductive methods similar to a metal detector. How effective was it in WW2? 31. The British shared a wide range of possible ideas for designing a fuze, including a photoelectric fuze and a radio fuze, with United States during the Tizard Mission in late 1940. In December 1940, Tuve invited Harry Diamond and Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr, of the United States National Bureau of Standards (NBS) to investigate Berkner's improved fuze and develop a proximity fuze for rockets and bombs to use against the German Luftwaffe. Image courtesy the German Federal Archive. In 1944 the battleship USS Missouri bristled with twenty 5 inch, eighty 40mm and over forty-nine 20mm cannon. [9], Some explosive projectiles, such as high-explosive incendiary bullets, contain an incendiary charge intended to ignite explosives within the shell.[9]. You are at a gateway to WWII discussion, research, exploration, & analysis. One of them was an anti-aircraft shell that had spring-loaded wings that would pop out and slice through enemy aircraft. [10], In September 1940, the Tizard Mission travelled to the US to introduce their researchers to a number of UK developments, and the topic of proximity fuses was raised. [65], Hydroacoustic influence is widely used as a detonation mechanism for naval mines and torpedoes. Most Allied bombers and fighters were armoured against fighter attack, but not flak. This film provides an in-depth look at the weapons and methods of Ger. It would have never been used in action. navigation search. The combination of these three inventions was successful in shooting down many V-1 flying bombs aimed at London and Antwerp, otherwise difficult targets for anti-aircraft guns due to their small size and high speed. How did flak guns work in WW2? Not surprised there is a lot of misinformation about the flak, is there is about how the bombing raids and their escorts worked. From left to right: 90 mm shrapnel shell, 120 mm pig iron incendiary . Wooden precise replica of the German 88mm anti-aircraft FlaK guns and Tiger-I ammunition - 8.8cm Sprgr.Patr. Some sectioned shells from the First World War. Flak can refer to criticism or worse, explosive shells from an antiaircraft weapon. And with all that jungle, he said nothing shredded them better than Flak fire and napalm fire. The return signal is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the distance. [25] Pye's research was transferred to the United States as part of the technology package delivered by the Tizard Mission when the United States entered the war. it's only used against airborne targets a cloud of tiny pellets "Shrapnel" shells, named for their inventor, are used to kill people with bits of metal even when those people are hiding behind walls, in a trench, etc. Click to subscribe! As the war progress and the manpower shortage increased thousands of able-bodied flak men were transferred to the army. [21][22], In 1936, the Air Ministry took over Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk to further develop their prototype radar systems that would emerge the next year as Chain Home. An HE-Frag shell with time fuse. I would say the Germans and the Allies had guns and systems that were equal in effectiveness. This process continued for the last 10 months of the war, robbing German cities of vital flak defences. It does not store any personal data. German flak defenses were responsible for more than half of all Allied aircraft losses. When a target was nearby, it would reflect a significant portion of the oscillator's signal. To shoot in flans mod you need your weapon and specific ammo (M249 SAW and M249 ammo) To load press R and the ammo should transfer to your gun. Acoustic proximity fuzes are actuated by the acoustic emissions from a target (example an aircraft's engine or ship's propeller). Why do I stay the same weight no matter what I do? They showered the Soviets with aa guns, keeping them in a position. For smaller artillery, anything except a direct hit often killed very few or nobody if the soldiers were in cover. It examines heavy flak defences, flak over the battlefield, the failure of ship AA defences early in the war; specifically the Bismarck and the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse in 1941, AA . UT 99 has a pickup animation for the flak cannon that shows how the round is loaded into the barrel. Incendiary projectiles, in particular those intended for armor penetration, are more effective if they explode after penetrating a surface layer, such that they explode inside the target. Both are surrounded by an oval oak leaf wreath. Allied AA guns were equally effective. Is paralegal higher than legal assistant? Notes. I'm glad that diagram depicted a goose, I hope it was Canadian. Darius has done some amazing work researching this vehicle and although he admits there are a few small areas that are still difficult to 100% accurately ascertain, dimensionally . [35][36] On 6 May 1941, the NBS team built six fuzes which were placed in air-dropped bombs and successfully tested over water. ). Why dont we use flak on people. In order to be used with gun projectiles, which experience extremely high acceleration and centrifugal forces, the fuze design also needed to utilize many shock hardening techniques. When the Allies began to use the term is not known. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. This permitted the purchase of over 22 million fuzes for approximately one billion dollars ($14.6 billion in 2021 USD[51]). Personal thoughts on it:Probably the cannon works with some sort of a pneumatic contraption. It was the invention of the VT radar proximity fuse. After the war, the British Bombing Survey Unit (BBSU) continued this line of thinking describing German AA defences as plentiful but not very lethal. At the same time the official RAF history of the air war estimated that German flak accounted for 37 percent of Bomber Commands losses between July 1942 and April 1945. Focused: Has a tighter spread for focusing far-away enemies or tight groups. Tracer bullets contain a substance that burns and gives off light, aiding the gunner in aiming. Incendiary ammunition is a type of ammunition that contains a chemical that, upon hitting a hard obstacle, has the characteristic of causing fire/setting flammable materials in the vicinity of the impact on fire. The anti-aircraft artillery range at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico was used as one of the test facilities for the proximity fuze, where almost 50,000 test firings were conducted from 1942 to 1945. Influence firing mechanisms often use a combination of acoustic and magnetic induction receivers. There was a variant of the Stielgranate 41 (hollowed charge, stick grenade) for the 3,7 cm Flak weapons (18, 36, 37, 43) to emergency fight back heavy armored vehicles. The Columbia survived, but 13 crew members were killed. Little priority was given to the project . Making the right shell for your gun's role and gauge can be difficult as the sheer number of options is staggering. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". As volume increased, efficiency came into play and the cost per fuze fell from $732 in 1942 to $18 in 1945. June 14, 2022; can you shoot someone stealing your car in florida . These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Measures 1 13/16 X 2 9/16 inches. It uses Advanced Sniper Bullet for ammo. It is estimated that it increases the lethality by 5 to 10 times, compared to these other fuzes.[4][5]. While smaller shells without fuzes will need to actually hit the aircraft to damage it, most all other AAA will have some type of fuzing. AA shrapnel also killed and wounded tens of thousands of aircrew, significantly reducing the overall efficiency and morale.. The idea of a proximity fuse had long been considered militarily useful. A particularly successful application was the 90mm shell with VT fuze with the SCR-584 automatic tracking radar and the M-9 electronic fire control computer. The same is true of bombers. The guns have a fire rate of 250 shots per minute each, which gives a shot per second value of about 4 per gun. The shell detonates and sends a flurry of ball bearings and shrapnel in all directions. (U.S. Navy) It even potentially saved the life of one of its creators, Dr. Van Allen. Please see ooredoo . This design was used in both the British No44 Pistol and the German Rheinmetall-Borsig BAZ 55A fuzes. The first bomb in the stick was fitted with an impact fuze while the other bombs were fitted with pressure sensitive diaphragm actuated detonators. Acting like a normal bullet in flight, then after a short delay, it will explode into 5 more bullets. Which aircraft type could withstand the most damage? The versatile 88mm cannon was Nazi Germany's main heavy anti-aircraft gun, also known as the Flugabwehrkanone (meaning "aircraft defense cannon"), which was soon shortened to "flak." When I say sheer firepower, in January 1944 20,625 flak guns were protecting the Reich, and even a German Flak officer estimated 4,000 x 88mm shells were needed to down one bomber. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. In response to OPs question, the answer involves the invention of Radar. Although flak jackets offered some basic protection against small caliber bullets and shell fragments (which was valued by their users), ultimately they proved to be less effective than hoped. Before you . [17], The fuze was later found to be able to detonate artillery shells in air bursts, greatly increasing their anti-personnel effects.[18]. However, the phase relationship between the oscillator's transmitted signal and the signal reflected from the target varied depended on the round trip distance between the fuze and the target. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. But this was a false metric. Spreader: Used against swarms in order to spread out the shots and damage as many as possible. They were widely used by Germany throughout the war. For security reasons, and to confuse the enemy, it was initially called 'de Wilde' ammunition, even though the design was almost entirely different from the original version. Models & Kits; Military; Dnepro Model DM3518-1/35 German 88mm FLAK 36 ammo ammo box scale model kit. Due to the increase of people asking what kind of shell they should use with their gun that has X and Y stats, here is a guide to help you pick. Regular $179.99 (Save $50.00) $129.99. Winchester USA 5.56 Nato Ammunition 200 Rounds 55 Grain Full Metal Jacket. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. In this video, you'll find out the percentages of where Allied bombers got hit the most. The gun pits were arranged to enable the high altitude flak guns ( probably British army 3.7 in guns) fire in unison to create a box pattern when the shells exploded at the preset height and would follow the track of the bombers That was the means a lethal zone was put where the bombers were expected to be. Not FLAK in particular but I wanted to clear up a bit about fragmentation shells in general. [notes 1] This reflected signal would affect the oscillator's plate current, thereby enabling detection. Flak proved a huge benefit to fighter pilots assigned to attack incoming raids. There are two basic ways to do that, make the shell explode at the time when it is near the target, or make it explode when the shell is simply near the target. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. or 7k? They never pooled their resources, instead each would go their own way, often siting individual radars in the same place., Two myths about flak: one it was not very effective, from an Allied point of view, and second the Allied bombing campaign against Germany created a second front siphoning off thousands of men to man the guns and robbing the German army of valuable men. Though the days of peasant armies wielding them may be over, these archaic weapons are still legal in parts of the U.S., although not in the states of New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts or Pennsylvania.