Large-caliber anecdote, or samurai-style headache
In the middle of the 30 of the last century, Understanding came to Japan. Understanding the need to increase the caliber of small arms. And it concerned everything, and the means of air defense and in the first place.
Since Japan was a country where there were certain problems with the military industry, and with the design school and in general trouble, the Japanese, without further ado, went down the beaten path of those who could not develop any weapon.
That is, direct or indirect copying.
The imperial army of Japan became the pioneer on this way and got the first large-caliber machine gun. It was used both on land and at sea, and was a copy of the French “Hotchiss” model 1930, caliber 13,2 mm.
It was called the “Anti-aircraft Type 93”, and on this in the army and on navy in terms of air defense came peace and balance.
But there were still the Air Force. Given that in Japan between aviation land and navy was viewed, speaking culturally, antagonism, and uncultured - stupid and causeless hatred with contempt, it is clear that the "Type 93" was not even considered as the starting point for an aircraft machine gun. Each of the two waders wanted to look exclusively at its swamp.
The start of the war with China, despite the weakness of the Chinese army, showed the Japanese military frank weakness of rifle caliber machine guns. It was in China that the Japanese pilots received the first lessons of American-made large-caliber machine guns. The Curtiss Hawk P-36 were not modern aircraft, but their 12,7-mm Browns made the Japanese think.
The ground pilots were the first to think, since it was they who first began to rake away from their Chinese colleagues. And they went to the allies along the axis "Berlin-Rome-Tokyo", that is, to the Germans. Which literally recently began to produce a new machine gun MG-131.
The Germans of the Japanese allies, to put it mildly, broke off. Say, a new machine gun, all so secret, and you are fighting with the USSR, and even unsuccessfully (Khalkhin Goal). You guys are good, but we will not give you a machine gun, in short.
The meaning of such a bummer, of course, was. The strategic materials flowed from the Soviet Union to the Germans, and pragmatic Europeans didn’t want to spoil such warm relations because of some kind of machine gun there. Because the Japanese were left without a license, and the Germans with materials from the USSR.
It is clear that the Japanese military was not at all satisfied with this situation, and they began to look at who has what to do in the plan.
Italians immediately got into the sight, who, with the development, also had more or less everything and also seemed to be allies.
When the technical department of the headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Aviation voiced their demands, the designers were probably startled. Because the decision was more than strange on the one hand, but logical on the other.
The famous Japanese designer of small arms, Kijiro Nambu, did not bother at all and simply copied the American Browning machine gun of the 1921 model of the year. The machine gun, as it were, was far from new; it came into the hands of Namba from China, where there were a sufficient number of them. So the showdown for copyright could not wait.
But they decided to put the cartridge is not native. The cartridge decided to use Italian, 12,7x81 SR from Brad. Apparently, the weaker Italian cartridge, but having in the line of explosive ammunition, to some extent had to replace a cannon shell.
A rather peculiar decision, to be honest. The Italian chuck was inferior in power to both the American .50 BMG 12,7 × 99 mm and the French 13,2х99 mm. But that's how the cards lay in samurai hands and heads.
As a result, the second Japanese large-caliber machine gun turned out to be a copy of the American under the Italian cartridge.
In general, the machine gun was very good, affected by the potential inherent in the product by the inventor. Lightweight, compact, reliable and rapid-fire, the machine gun was adopted by the Imperial Army Aviation as the No-103 or Type 1 in the fall of the year 1941.
There were drawbacks, like everything invented by Browning on earth, he hardly endured synchronization, losing much the rate of fire (up to 50%). On individual modes of operation of the Ki-43 fighter motor (the first to receive the new No-103 machine gun), the rate of fire dropped from the declared 900 shots per minute to the frankly pitiful 400. True, over time, the pilots got used to it and tried to fight on revolutions that did not reduce the rate of fire.
It is clear that this was not always possible, but all the same, it became clear that two large-caliber machine guns and two rifle caliber are still two huge differences.
But in general, if we add to this a weak Italian cartridge, it came out very mediocre.
And what about marine colleagues?
And sea pilots had everything in accordance with the canons of the genre! That is, it was very bad for the logic of the European.
The offensive part of the A6M naval fighters (2 20-mm guns and 2-7,7-mm machine guns) of the military absolutely suited the military, which could not be said of the defensive. The war in China showed that the old American fighters with large-caliber "Browning" normally had time to pick open any Japanese bomber or torpedo bomber before he could at least slightly scratch the enemy.
In the Japanese naval deck dive bombers and torpedo bombers, the only turret machine gun, the 92 Type, was generally a weapon of psychological influence.
And the command of naval pilots also set out to strengthen the defense of their aircraft. Bomb carriers are required to reach the target and unload there, regardless of whether they have fighter cover or not. Well, at least a minimum.
And in 1941, the Japanese naval command turned out to be ... right, in Germany! Where, like their land colleagues two years earlier, they asked for MG-131!
The most interesting thing is that the Germans ... agreed! Shel 1941 year, priorities were set, the attack on the USSR agreed, so that it was possible to help an ally.
Moreover, together with the license for MG-131, the Germans generously sold the 13x64B cartridge factory!
MG-131 received the designation "Type 2", was adopted in 1942 year. But here it was not without oddities.
While the ancestor of the “Type 2” successfully stood under the hood of the “Messerschmitt” and “Focke-Wulf”, its licensed copy was used exclusively as a turret machine gun!
The approach is more than funny: the German machine gun was equipped with an electric descent system, which the Japanese naval experts considered completely unacceptable. Perhaps, they say, in the harsh maritime climate, where salt and water are everywhere, close with all the consequences.
The logic, of course, is strange, but having the right to life.
In general, the machine gun never gave reason to doubt its reliability, but nevertheless, the entire war "Type 2" was produced only in the turret version.
However, the further the war went on, the more obvious it became that the Japanese fighter in naval aviation urgently needed both new cannons and new machine guns. The ancient "Lewis" 7,7-mm caliber was no longer a cake, more precisely, not tofu.
Yes, there was an attempt to re-equip the Zero with two more guns, like the Focke-Wulf 190, but alas, the extremely lightweight thin wing of the Japanese fighter did not pull two guns. Moreover, it did not work to place the rather massive guns of the “Type 99” under the hood.
In general, it was urgently necessary to do something, since well-booked and survivable American fighters clearly outpaced Zero in all fights. And by the beginning of 1943, the Japanese naval command realized that something had to change. Or machine guns and cannons, or they will be replaced already.
The problem was that at the disposal of the Japanese designers was no longer the most important thing - time. This was especially shown by the air battles near the Solomon Islands, when the superiority of the Americans was simply complete, and the Japanese fleet began to lose the initiative, losing the sky.
So the last participant of our show, the 3 Type machine gun, appeared.
Since the Japanese had neither time nor potential developments, it was decided that it was amazing in its simplicity: to copy the very machine gun that the Americans beat their opponents. That is, the "Browning" AN-M2.
Quite a large number of these machine guns were seized by Japanese troops during the occupation of the Philippines, so there was something to work on.
And here the Japanese designers can be said to have shown prudence by copying an American machine gun for a cartridge that was already in production. They became the French ammunition from the "Hotchkiss", 13,2x99 mm.
The logic of this act is completely incomprehensible, because it turned out more than strange. TWO different machine guns under TWO different cartridges in the same Navy Air Force.
But the French patron was more powerful than the German one, the bullet was heavier, which means it was almost twice as stable, and the French patron was still produced and was in service. True, air defense, but not the essence.
It is difficult to understand why it was impossible to bring to mind the "Type 2", he is MG-131, it is clear that the bullet was lighter than the French, but the machine gun itself was simply luxurious, as proved by the use of both the Eastern and Western fronts. And most importantly, it is unlikely that the revision of the “Type 2” to the wing and synchronous versions would take more time than the development of a new machine gun from an American under the French cartridge.
Obviously, the "Type 96", which was removed from service, left behind a warehouse full of ammunition. Which can and should have been used.
So what is the result of this crazy show?
Anti-aircraft gun "Type 96" ("Hotchkiss") under the French cartridge 13,2x99 mm.
Wing, synchronous, turret machine gun "Type 1" / But-103 ("Browning") under the Italian cartridge 12,7x81 SR.
Marine gun turret "Type 2" ("Rheinmetall") under the German cartridge 13х64В.
Machine gun synchronous sea "Type 3" ("Browning") under the French cartridge 13,2x99 mm.
Total we get FOUR large-caliber machine guns for THREE different and non-interchangeable (of course) cartridge.
It is clear that the logistics of the Japanese army and navy just went crazy, trying to provide all the parts and bases with the proper amount of appropriate ammunition.
It came to stupidity: French cartridges for fighter machine guns could arrive, but there could be no German cartridges for bombers or torpedo bombers. Or there have been cases of elementary replacement of one with another. That in any case did not affect properly the combat capability of Japanese aviation and air defense.
However, the result of the war is known to us, surprisingly another: one of the few cases in which the army and navy tried their best to make their lives difficult.
It is difficult to understand the logic of a samurai sometimes ...
Materials used:
Yevgeny Aranov. Japan's 2 World War I air rifle armament.
Since Japan was a country where there were certain problems with the military industry, and with the design school and in general trouble, the Japanese, without further ado, went down the beaten path of those who could not develop any weapon.
That is, direct or indirect copying.
Frenchman
The imperial army of Japan became the pioneer on this way and got the first large-caliber machine gun. It was used both on land and at sea, and was a copy of the French “Hotchiss” model 1930, caliber 13,2 mm.
It was called the “Anti-aircraft Type 93”, and on this in the army and on navy in terms of air defense came peace and balance.
But there were still the Air Force. Given that in Japan between aviation land and navy was viewed, speaking culturally, antagonism, and uncultured - stupid and causeless hatred with contempt, it is clear that the "Type 93" was not even considered as the starting point for an aircraft machine gun. Each of the two waders wanted to look exclusively at its swamp.
The start of the war with China, despite the weakness of the Chinese army, showed the Japanese military frank weakness of rifle caliber machine guns. It was in China that the Japanese pilots received the first lessons of American-made large-caliber machine guns. The Curtiss Hawk P-36 were not modern aircraft, but their 12,7-mm Browns made the Japanese think.
American italian
The ground pilots were the first to think, since it was they who first began to rake away from their Chinese colleagues. And they went to the allies along the axis "Berlin-Rome-Tokyo", that is, to the Germans. Which literally recently began to produce a new machine gun MG-131.
The Germans of the Japanese allies, to put it mildly, broke off. Say, a new machine gun, all so secret, and you are fighting with the USSR, and even unsuccessfully (Khalkhin Goal). You guys are good, but we will not give you a machine gun, in short.
The meaning of such a bummer, of course, was. The strategic materials flowed from the Soviet Union to the Germans, and pragmatic Europeans didn’t want to spoil such warm relations because of some kind of machine gun there. Because the Japanese were left without a license, and the Germans with materials from the USSR.
It is clear that the Japanese military was not at all satisfied with this situation, and they began to look at who has what to do in the plan.
Italians immediately got into the sight, who, with the development, also had more or less everything and also seemed to be allies.
When the technical department of the headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Aviation voiced their demands, the designers were probably startled. Because the decision was more than strange on the one hand, but logical on the other.
The famous Japanese designer of small arms, Kijiro Nambu, did not bother at all and simply copied the American Browning machine gun of the 1921 model of the year. The machine gun, as it were, was far from new; it came into the hands of Namba from China, where there were a sufficient number of them. So the showdown for copyright could not wait.
But they decided to put the cartridge is not native. The cartridge decided to use Italian, 12,7x81 SR from Brad. Apparently, the weaker Italian cartridge, but having in the line of explosive ammunition, to some extent had to replace a cannon shell.
A rather peculiar decision, to be honest. The Italian chuck was inferior in power to both the American .50 BMG 12,7 × 99 mm and the French 13,2х99 mm. But that's how the cards lay in samurai hands and heads.
As a result, the second Japanese large-caliber machine gun turned out to be a copy of the American under the Italian cartridge.
In general, the machine gun was very good, affected by the potential inherent in the product by the inventor. Lightweight, compact, reliable and rapid-fire, the machine gun was adopted by the Imperial Army Aviation as the No-103 or Type 1 in the fall of the year 1941.
There were drawbacks, like everything invented by Browning on earth, he hardly endured synchronization, losing much the rate of fire (up to 50%). On individual modes of operation of the Ki-43 fighter motor (the first to receive the new No-103 machine gun), the rate of fire dropped from the declared 900 shots per minute to the frankly pitiful 400. True, over time, the pilots got used to it and tried to fight on revolutions that did not reduce the rate of fire.
It is clear that this was not always possible, but all the same, it became clear that two large-caliber machine guns and two rifle caliber are still two huge differences.
But in general, if we add to this a weak Italian cartridge, it came out very mediocre.
And what about marine colleagues?
And sea pilots had everything in accordance with the canons of the genre! That is, it was very bad for the logic of the European.
German
The offensive part of the A6M naval fighters (2 20-mm guns and 2-7,7-mm machine guns) of the military absolutely suited the military, which could not be said of the defensive. The war in China showed that the old American fighters with large-caliber "Browning" normally had time to pick open any Japanese bomber or torpedo bomber before he could at least slightly scratch the enemy.
In the Japanese naval deck dive bombers and torpedo bombers, the only turret machine gun, the 92 Type, was generally a weapon of psychological influence.
And the command of naval pilots also set out to strengthen the defense of their aircraft. Bomb carriers are required to reach the target and unload there, regardless of whether they have fighter cover or not. Well, at least a minimum.
And in 1941, the Japanese naval command turned out to be ... right, in Germany! Where, like their land colleagues two years earlier, they asked for MG-131!
The most interesting thing is that the Germans ... agreed! Shel 1941 year, priorities were set, the attack on the USSR agreed, so that it was possible to help an ally.
Moreover, together with the license for MG-131, the Germans generously sold the 13x64B cartridge factory!
MG-131 received the designation "Type 2", was adopted in 1942 year. But here it was not without oddities.
While the ancestor of the “Type 2” successfully stood under the hood of the “Messerschmitt” and “Focke-Wulf”, its licensed copy was used exclusively as a turret machine gun!
The approach is more than funny: the German machine gun was equipped with an electric descent system, which the Japanese naval experts considered completely unacceptable. Perhaps, they say, in the harsh maritime climate, where salt and water are everywhere, close with all the consequences.
The logic, of course, is strange, but having the right to life.
In general, the machine gun never gave reason to doubt its reliability, but nevertheless, the entire war "Type 2" was produced only in the turret version.
However, the further the war went on, the more obvious it became that the Japanese fighter in naval aviation urgently needed both new cannons and new machine guns. The ancient "Lewis" 7,7-mm caliber was no longer a cake, more precisely, not tofu.
Yes, there was an attempt to re-equip the Zero with two more guns, like the Focke-Wulf 190, but alas, the extremely lightweight thin wing of the Japanese fighter did not pull two guns. Moreover, it did not work to place the rather massive guns of the “Type 99” under the hood.
In general, it was urgently necessary to do something, since well-booked and survivable American fighters clearly outpaced Zero in all fights. And by the beginning of 1943, the Japanese naval command realized that something had to change. Or machine guns and cannons, or they will be replaced already.
The problem was that at the disposal of the Japanese designers was no longer the most important thing - time. This was especially shown by the air battles near the Solomon Islands, when the superiority of the Americans was simply complete, and the Japanese fleet began to lose the initiative, losing the sky.
So the last participant of our show, the 3 Type machine gun, appeared.
American French
Since the Japanese had neither time nor potential developments, it was decided that it was amazing in its simplicity: to copy the very machine gun that the Americans beat their opponents. That is, the "Browning" AN-M2.
Quite a large number of these machine guns were seized by Japanese troops during the occupation of the Philippines, so there was something to work on.
And here the Japanese designers can be said to have shown prudence by copying an American machine gun for a cartridge that was already in production. They became the French ammunition from the "Hotchkiss", 13,2x99 mm.
The logic of this act is completely incomprehensible, because it turned out more than strange. TWO different machine guns under TWO different cartridges in the same Navy Air Force.
But the French patron was more powerful than the German one, the bullet was heavier, which means it was almost twice as stable, and the French patron was still produced and was in service. True, air defense, but not the essence.
It is difficult to understand why it was impossible to bring to mind the "Type 2", he is MG-131, it is clear that the bullet was lighter than the French, but the machine gun itself was simply luxurious, as proved by the use of both the Eastern and Western fronts. And most importantly, it is unlikely that the revision of the “Type 2” to the wing and synchronous versions would take more time than the development of a new machine gun from an American under the French cartridge.
Obviously, the "Type 96", which was removed from service, left behind a warehouse full of ammunition. Which can and should have been used.
So what is the result of this crazy show?
Anti-aircraft gun "Type 96" ("Hotchkiss") under the French cartridge 13,2x99 mm.
Wing, synchronous, turret machine gun "Type 1" / But-103 ("Browning") under the Italian cartridge 12,7x81 SR.
Marine gun turret "Type 2" ("Rheinmetall") under the German cartridge 13х64В.
Machine gun synchronous sea "Type 3" ("Browning") under the French cartridge 13,2x99 mm.
Total we get FOUR large-caliber machine guns for THREE different and non-interchangeable (of course) cartridge.
It is clear that the logistics of the Japanese army and navy just went crazy, trying to provide all the parts and bases with the proper amount of appropriate ammunition.
It came to stupidity: French cartridges for fighter machine guns could arrive, but there could be no German cartridges for bombers or torpedo bombers. Or there have been cases of elementary replacement of one with another. That in any case did not affect properly the combat capability of Japanese aviation and air defense.
However, the result of the war is known to us, surprisingly another: one of the few cases in which the army and navy tried their best to make their lives difficult.
It is difficult to understand the logic of a samurai sometimes ...
Materials used:
Yevgeny Aranov. Japan's 2 World War I air rifle armament.
Information