12.8 cm FlaK 40

12.8 cm Flak 40 German 12.8 cm Flak 40 - static mount.jpg 300 A static mounted 12.8 cm Flak 40 Nazi Germany Anti-aircraft gun yes yes 1942–45 Nazi Germany World War II Rheinmetall-Borsig 1936 Rheinmetall-Borsig 12,000 man-hours 1942 1,125 12.8 cm Flak 4012.8 cm Flak 40 Zwilling 17,000 kg lb on 7.835 m ftin on 1 7.8 m ftin on 61 calibersAnti-aircraft guns Chamberlain Peter 1975 23 Arco Pub. Co Gander, Terry 0668038187 New York 2000222 128 x 958mm Rhttp://www.quarryhs.co.uk/ammotable12.html 106 www.quarryhs.co.uk 2017-09-11 2019-04-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20190403100017/http://www.quarryhs.co.uk/ammotable12.html dead 26 kg lboz on 128 mm (5.03 in) 10 to 12 rounds per minute 880 m/s ft/s on 14,800 m ft on Power rammer Horizontal sliding-block Hydro-pneumatic Static or railcar mounted. -3 to +88 degrees 360 degrees The 12.8 cm Flak 40 was a German anti-aircraft gun used in World War II. Although it was not produced in great numbers, it was reportedly one of the most effective heavy AA guns of its era.Müller 2016 51 History Development of the 12.8 cm Flak 40 began in 1936, with the contract being awarded to Rheinmetall Borsig. The first prototype gun was delivered for testing in late 1937 and completed testing successfully. The gun weighed nearly 12 tonnes in its firing position, with the result that its barrel had to be removed for transport. Limited service testing showed this was impractical, so in 1938 other solutions were considered. Ultimately the firing platform was simplified, based on the assumption it would always be securely bolted into concrete.This passage is not congruent. If platform modification was the "solution" the gun would have become properly portable; instead, we are told, first, that guns would instead be bolted solidly in place in concrete, and, second, that guns were paired in twin mounts with a combined weight of over 26 tonnes, making them practically impossible to tow. None of this is congruent with the claim the problem with the gun's size and weight was solved. July 2021 Approximately 200 guns were also mounted on railcars, providing limited mobilityAugust 2022. The total weight of the Flakzwilling twin-gun mount system reached 26.5 tonnes,Hogg Ian V. https://books.google.com/books?id=EeYDDQAAQBAJ&dq=Flakzwilling+weight&pg=PT264 German Artillery of World War Two 2013-10-12 Frontline Books 978-1-4738-9693-2 en making it practically impossible to tow cross-country. In the end, this mattered little since by the time the gun entered production in 1942, it was used in primarily static, defensive applications.Nijboer Donald https://books.google.com/books?id=A0KUDwAAQBAJ&dq=Flakzwilling+entered+production+in+1942&pg=PA25 German Flak Defences vs Allied Heavy Bombers: 1942–45 2019-10-31 Bloomsbury Publishing 978-1-4728-3672-4 en There were four twin mounts on the fortified anti-aircraft Zoo Tower, and they were also on other flak towers protecting Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna. It is claimed that during the Battle of Berlin the guns on the Zoo Tower were used successfully to support ground forcesAugust 2022. The rush to capture the Reichstag led to dozens of tanks being destroyed. The gun fired a 27.9 kg lb on shell at 880 m/s ft/s on to a maximum ceiling of 14,800 m ft on. Compared with the 88 mm Flak 18 & 36, the Flak 40 used a powder charge four times as great. The Bundeswehr Museum of German Defense Technology in Koblenz has one of these cannons in its collection. Variants 12.8 cm Flakzwilling 40/2 The 12.8 cm Flak 40 ordnance on a static dual mounting with a total weight of 26 tonnes, capable of firing 20 rounds per minute. Used mainly on flak towers. Production started in 1942 with 10 tandems produced,Westermann, Edward B. Flak: German Anti-aircraft Defenses 1914–1945 (2005); pp. 108, 128–129. another eight in 1943, and in February 1945 a total of 34 were available.http://www.ww2technik.de/sites/dflak/12,8%20cm%20Flakzwilling.htm 12,8 cm Flakzwilling 12.8 cm PaK 40Wynn Stephen https://books.google.com/books?id=kOJIEAAAQBAJ&dq=12.8+cm+PaK+40&pg=PT20 Hitler's Air Defences 2021-11-30 Pen and Sword Military 978-1-5267-4027-4 en A derivative anti-tank gun, though rejected in favour of the Krupp 12.8 cm Pak 44 for mass production, but two pieces used to arm the Sturer Emil prototypes.June 2023 Gallery 150 Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-656-6103-09, Reichsgebiet.- Flak-Turm mit schwerer Flak.jpg 12.8-cm-Flak on a flak tower Image:128mm Flak 40 Anti-Aircraft railcars at Ploiești cropped.jpg Railcar-mounted Flak 40 at Ploiești, Romania in 1944 Image:12.8 cm Flakzwilling 40 1.jpg Flakzwilling 40 at US Army Ordnance Museum Image:Flak 12,8 cm 40-1 in Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung Koblenz.jpg Flak 40/1 at the Bundeswehr Museum of German Defense Technology See also Weapons of comparable role, performance and era 120 mm M1 gun, a US gun of almost identical performance. QF 4.5-inch gun: British 113 mm heavy anti-aircraft gun firing a slightly lighter shell. QF 5.25-inch gun: British 133 mm heavy anti-aircraft gun firing a heavier shell. 5"/38 caliber gun: US Navy single/dual purpose shipboard 127 mm heavy anti-aircraft gun firing a slightly lighter shell, used on many U.S. Navy ships built during World War II References Sources Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945. New York: Doubleday, 1979 0-385-15090-3 Hogg, Ian V. German Artillery of World War Two. 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997 1-85367-480-X Hogg Ian V. Ian V. Hogg 2002 Anti-aircraft artillery Crowood Press 1-86126-502-6 Müller Rolf-Dieter Rolf-Dieter Müller Hitler's Wehrmacht, 1935–1945 2016 Lexington University Press of Kentucky 978-0-81316-738-1 External links German Flak Category:Anti-aircraft guns of Germany Category:World War II anti-aircraft guns Category:128 mm artillery Category:Rheinmetall Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1942