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2 cm FlaK 30
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The FlaK 30 (Fliegerabwehrkanone 30) and improved FlaK 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns widely used by various German forces throughout the Second World War. It was the primary German light anti-aircraft gun and was produced in a variety of models, notably the Flakvierling 38 which combined four FlaK 38's onto a single carriage.
Development
The original FlaK 30 design was developed from the Solothurn ST-5 as a project for the Kriegsmarine, which produced the 20 mm C/30.
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Encyclopedia
The FlaK 30 (Fliegerabwehrkanone 30) and improved FlaK 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns widely used by various German forces throughout the Second World War. It was the primary German light anti-aircraft gun and was produced in a variety of models, notably the Flakvierling 38 which combined four FlaK 38's onto a single carriage.
Development
The original FlaK 30 design was developed from the Solothurn ST-5 as a project for the Kriegsmarine, which produced the 20 mm C/30. The gun fired the "Long Solothurn", a 20 × 138 mm belted cartridge that had been developed for the ST-5 and was one of the most powerful 20 mm rounds in existence.
The C/30 featured a barrel of 65 calibers, firing a projectile of about 134 grams (4.72oz) at a rate of about 120 rounds per minute. The C/30 also proved to have feeding problems and would often jam. This was offset to some degree by its undersized magazine, which held only 20 rounds, which tended to make reloading a common requirement anyway. Nevertheless the C/30 became the primary shipborne light AA weapon, and equipped a large variety of German ships. The C/30 was also used experimentally as an aircraft weapon, notably on the Heinkel He 112, where its high power allowed it to penetrate armored cars and the light tanks of the era during the Spanish Civil War.
Rheinmetall then started an adaptation of the C/30 for Army use, producing the 2 cm FlaK 30. Generally similar to the C/30, the main areas of development were the mount, which was fairly compact. Set-up could be accomplished by dropping the gun to the ground off its two-wheeled carriage and leveling with hand cranks. The result was a triangular base that allowed fire in all directions.
The main problem with the design remained the fairly low rate of fire, which at 120 RPM (2 Hz) was not particularly fast for a weapon of this caliber. Rheinmetall responded with the 2 cm FlaK 38, which was otherwise similar but increased the rate of fire to 220 RPM (3.7 Hz) and slightly lowered overall weight to 420 kg. The FlaK 38 was accepted as the standard Army gun in 1939, and by the Kriegsmarine as the C/38.
In order to provide airborne and mountain troops with AA capabilities, Mauser was contracted to produce a lighter version of the FlaK 38, which they introduced as the 2 cm Gebirgsflak 38 (2 cm GebF 38). It featured a dramatically simplified mount lacking towing capability and using a tripod that raised the entire gun off the ground, which had the side-effect of allowing it to be set up on more uneven ground. These changes reduced the overall weight of the gun to a mere 276.0 kg. Production started in 1941 and entered service in 1942.
2 cm Flakvierling 38
Even as the FlaK 30 was entering service, the Luftwaffe and Army had doubts about its effectiveness, given the ever-increasing speeds of low-altitude fighter-bombers and attack aircraft. The Army in particular felt the proper solution was the introduction of the 37 mm caliber weapons they had been developing since the 1920s, which had a rate of fire about the same as the FlaK 38, but fired a round with almost eight times the volume. This not only made the rounds deadlier on impact, but their higher mass allowed them to travel to much longer distances, allowing the gun to engage targets at longer ranges and over longer periods of time.
The 20 mm weapons had always been something of a stop-gap measure, improving just enough to keep them useful. It was something of a surprise when Rheinmetall was able to "pull a fast one" again, introducing the 2 cm Flakvierling 38, which improved the weapon just enough to make it competitive once again.
The weapon consisted of quad-mounted 2 cm Flak 38 AA guns with collapsing seats, folding handles, and ammunition racks. The mount had a triangular base with a jack at each leg for leveling the gun. The tracker traversed and elevated the mount manually using two handwheels. The gun was fired by a set of two footpedals—each of which fired two diametrically opposite Flak 38s—and could be operated either automatically or semi-automatically. When raised, the weapon measured 307 cm (10 feet 1 inch) high.
Each of the four mounted guns fired from a 20-round magazine at a maximum combined rate of fire of 1,400 rounds per minute (reduced to 800 rounds per minute for combat use). The guns could be fired in pairs (diagonally opposite) or simultaneously, in either semi-automatic or fully automatic mode. Its effective vertical range was 2200 meters. It was also used just as effectively against ground targets as it was against low-flying aircraft.
The gun was normally transported on a Sd. Ah. 52 trailer, and could be towed behind a variety of half-tracks or trucks, such as the Opel Blitz, SdKfz 251 and SdKfz 11. It was also mounted onto half-tracks and tank bodies to produce mobile anti-aircraft vehicles, such as the SdKfz 7/1 (based on the SdKfz 7 half-track) and the Möbelwagen and Wirbelwind (both based on the Panzer IV tank). In Kriegsmarine use, it was fitted to U-boats and ships to provide short-range anti-aircraft defense, and was also employed in fixed installations around ports, harbors and other strategic naval targets. The Flakvierling was also a common fixture on trains, where it was mounted on a flatbed car and then covered to make it look like a boxcar.
See also
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