The Best Single Air-to-Air Weapon of the War?

[Anonymous]

The 30mm tests were done with the shell suspended inside the fuselage of the test subjects. No firing from the weapon.

LOL - which entirely negates the possiblity of a dud and the possiblity of the round bouncing off, an ensure unrealistic penetration!

Suspend a .303 DeWilde round in the fuel tank of an He111 above the fuel level and ignite it and the plane will expolde - but it's not very meaningful is it?

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Lunatic

 

[CharlesBronson]

To be honest, I was convinced of that too.

A continuation all the Mauser MK-214 stuff you can get.

Caliber 50mm
Weight 490kg
Length (without loading device) 4160mm
Length of pipe 2825mm
Weight of pipe 201kg
Installation Weight 718kg
Rate of fire 150 rounds/minute
Muzzle Velocity550 to 930 m/sec
Fired Projectile inertia 8,850kg/sec
Fired Explosive 0,675kg/sec
Performance figure 4.5PS/kg

Development:

The Mauser Mk214 project was instituted by Mausers Director, E. Linder, in the July of 1943 on the strength of an RLM request. The favour of the anti-tank gun, the KWK 39/1 project meant that this project fell behind schedule.

Loading with a standar Pak 38 round ( 50x420R):

The ammunition cartridges were supplied to the weapon via a belt, from the left of the weapon. the cartridge was released by the ejector, which opened a wedge catch. This catch locked into place whilst the loading platform ran back into it`s resting position, ready to load the next shell. At this point, the firing sequence for the first shell could take place. Two electrical contacts could now be closed in preparation for shell ejection, and these were activated by the interlocking of the wedge, and also by the loading platform being in it`s stationary default position. These switches operated the electric ignition of the cartridge, which in turn fired the weapon. At this stage, the ejector opened, and moved the wedge catch, allowing the ejection of the used cartridge. The 2400kg recoil of the weapon was alleviated by a hydraulic damper. The renewed introduction of the loading procedure took place pneumatically.

Initially, 2 Me262`s (Wk/nr 111899 170083) were modified to carry this new weapon, being flown and tested from Lager-Lechfeld during March and April of 1945. This newly modified machine was designated the Me262A-1/U4.This machine was known as the Pulkzerstörer, or `Group Bomber. To accommodate the new gun, the nose wheel arrangement had to be modified. This modification resulted in a mechanism which rotated the nose wheel 90° during retraction, enabling the wheel to lie flat as opposed to its usual configuration. A new, split wheel well door arrangement was also used to deal with the new layout. Incredibly, the colossal weight of the new gun didn't have much effect on the flight characteristics of the jet. The latter of the 2 jets modified to receive the Mauser, Wk/nr170083, was the subject of an abortive attempt, by Messerschmitt`s Test Pilot Ludwig Hoffman (on the orders of Watson's Whizzers Col. Watson) to move her to the US for trials and valuation. She crashed in Jersey during the flight.

 

[Anonymous]

But if you are going to consider a weapon from that late in the war, the German revlover cannon were comming right beind this. And those would have been truely devistating to all target types!

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Lunatic