Landships II

..weapon system is a 3,7cm Machinen Flak.   By 1916 this was one of two main type 3,7cm Flak systems prefered by FLA commanders, and in use with the FesselBallonen;  the other being the 3,7cm RevolverKanone.    Brit flyers refered to their fire as "flaming onions".   They brought down more than a few aviators trying to fly through their "fire barriers"; to include Frank Luke.

n/t

-- Edited by 28juni14 on Thursday 27th of May 2010 08:33:12 PM

Hi 28juni14,

that must have been huge, a belt with 3,7cm shells! I can imagine that there were feeding problems. Yes, I would like to see your sketch, thank you!

Kieffer

On the Vickers 'S' cannon used in the Hurricane, that was a development of Vickers & the Coventry Ordanance Works. The S cannon was based several things - the cartridge from the 2pdr naval pompom AA cannon, the AT projectile from the 2pdr AT Gun & the  long recoil system that COW had also used in their pre WWI pompom 1pdr. However the S The Gun was not based on this earlier "pompom" COW gun used in WWI as an airborne weapon principlely for locamotive 'busting' after being considered less than effective as an AA chioce.  The 'S' gun was actually semi-auto & as few as 5 or 6 rounds per gun were carried frequently carried despite the drums being rated for 12 & later 15 rounds.

The COW gun in WWI  kept a number of pusher biplanes in service using it - though by 1917 almost always at night. The COW gun (in the very few photos I've seen) looks to be 'slung' under the body of the pusher & the comments are that the breech was actually behind the gunner / observer. The COW gun was only loaded with a few rounds & had to be reloaded between attacks - cocking it was a right @#$%^&* & sometimes attacks had to be ended as it could not be recocked after reloading.

It is interesting to note a comment from the only diary extract from one of these pilots - said it was easier to spot the locos at night as you got the rythmic flare as the fire box door was open and shut with stoking! The same extract also pointed out the perils - a shallow dive was pretty much required as too much dive & the massive reciol of firing several rounds would seriously strain / damage the aircraft, but too little dive & a stall was a major risk!

Basically the air & ground crews felt that the acronym was unfortunately entirely appropriate - it was considered a right COW at best!

Ah Brennan, thanks once more for your knowledge and insights. The pusher plane was, no doubt, the little FE2b - actually quite a nice little aircraft when viewed 'in the round'. On a hurried catch-up I find several mentions. This is said to show a 'Vickers 2HE' cannon in the front cockpit of a 2FEb - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r_m_g.varley/58sqd_RFC_RAF_FE2b_1918.JPG - the gunner is Rowland A Varley, Observer, of 58 Sqn, RFC, in the spring of 1918 (see http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r_m_g.varley/Family_page.html).

Train busting eh? I didn't know that before. Yes, it is easy for us moderns to forget just how strategic the railways were, as important as sea power in their way. I think I have mentioned elsewhere in these pages how Australian Herbert "Dyce" Murphy scouted out the continental railways pre-war for the British, disguised as a woman. "The past is a foreign country," as dear old LP Hartley would say, "they do things differently there."

I have seen somewhere, ages ago, a beautiful picture of a seaplane with a gunner in an open cockpit in the nose, engaged in anti-submarine work. The 1980 Jane's Encycopedia of Aviation I would have thought but review has so far failed to find it. The Cannon Pioneers is perhaps a useful summary of 'The early development and use of aircraft cannon' but necessarily incomplete.

Regards,

Steve

Thanks very much for posting these!

Kieffer

The 1 pdr Vickers auto cannon Mk III was the gun normally used by three FE2b fighters of No 100 squadron in 1917 for train busting. It fired a very short 37 x 69R mm case (300 m/s) loaded in belts of 25.

I have not been able to run down any combat use of the 1 1/2 pounder COW gun and would be most interested in any info on the combat use. I am now writing Vol II of my books on the 37 mm gun and ammunition and thought I had the basic data on the 1 1/2 pdr auto gun -  actuallly ORDNANCE Q.F. 1 1/2 POUNDER MK III (Coventry).  The gun had a bad habit of delivering all the recoil force to the aircraft frame with no warning. It used a  high power 37 x 189mm rimless case. (600 m/s) loaded in clips of 5.


-- Edited by saintlo990 on Thursday 30th of September 2010 11:51:49 PM

-- Edited by saintlo990 on Friday 1st of October 2010 12:10:25 AM