American anti-aircraft defense during the Second World War. Part 2
At the beginning of World War II in the United States in service with the ground air defense units there were no modern medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The number of 807 units 76,2 mm 3 anti-aircraft guns did not meet modern requirements. Their characteristics were not high, the instrument was complex and metal-intensive in production.
76 mm M3 anti-aircraft gun
This anti-aircraft gun was created in 1930 on the basis of the 3-inch anti-aircraft gun M1918, which, in turn, traced its lineage back to the coastal defense gun. The M1918 anti-aircraft gun differed from the M3 in its semi-automatic breech, increased length and changed barrel rifling pitch. The gun frame was a plinth base with a number of long beams, on which a fine-mesh lathing for the gun crew was placed. The metal platform turned out to be very convenient for the crew to work on, but its assembly and disassembly when changing positions was complex and labor-intensive, required a lot of time and greatly limited mobility. artillery systems as a whole.
The gun for its caliber turned out quite heavy - 7620 kg. For comparison, the Soviet 76-mm anti-aircraft gun model 1931 of the year (3-K) was twice as light - 3750 kg, surpassing the American gun in efficiency and being much cheaper.
The initial velocity of the 5,8-kg projectile fired from the M3 barrel was 853 m / s. Anti-aircraft shooting range - about 9000 m.
By the time the United States entered the war in 1941, the old M3 participated in the defense of the Philippines against the Japanese. Some of these three-inch frames still lingered in other parts of the Pacific Ocean, remaining in service until the 1943 year.
76,2 mm M3 anti-aircraft gun in one of the parks in Chicago
After the M76,2 3-mm anti-aircraft guns were replaced in the army with more modern models, some of them participated in the propaganda campaign to increase the morale of the population. Guns fumbled around major cities in the continental United States and defiantly deployed in parks and squares.
With the outbreak of hostilities, when it turned out that the 3-inch anti-aircraft gun was ineffective, the 1942-mm M90 anti-aircraft gun came to replace it from the 1 of the year. The caliber of the new anti-aircraft gun was chosen based on the mass of the projectile, a projectile of this caliber was considered the limit of the weight with which an ordinary soldier could be controlled normally.
The gun had a fairly high performance, fragmentation projectile weighing 10,6 kg accelerated in the barrel length of 4,5 m to 823 m / s. That ensured the height of more than 10000 m. The weight of the gun in the combat position - 8618 kg.
90 mm M1 anti-aircraft gun
The M1 anti-aircraft gun made an excellent impression, but it was difficult to manufacture, and not the gun itself, but the frame of the same design as the 76,2-mm M3 guns. She towed on a single axle suspension with twin pneumatic tires on each side. In combat position was on the cross-shaped support, and the calculation was located around the gun on a folding platform. The process of folding all the elements of the frame and platform onto a uniaxial chassis was very difficult.
In May, the 1941 of the year appeared the basic serial modification of the M1А1, it had an electric servomotor and a sight with a calculator, and according to its signals the angle of horizontal pickup and elevation could be set automatically. In addition, the gun had a spring rammer to increase the rate of fire. But the construction of the rammer was not very successful, and gunners usually dismantled it.
In the middle of 1941, the development of the 90-mm anti-aircraft guns began, which, in addition to firing at air targets, was to serve as a coastal defense weapon. This meant a complete rework of the bed, because on the previous bed the trunk could not fall below 0 °. And this case was used for a radical review of the whole structure. The new model 90-mm anti-aircraft gun M2, released in 1942 year, was completely different, with a low firing table, based on the shooting of four support beams. Weight guns in a combat position fell to 6000 kg.
90 mm M2 anti-aircraft gun
With a new bed of calculation it became much easier to manage; its preparation for battle accelerated, and on some models a small armor shield appeared. However, the main changes were made to the design of the gun: the M2 model already had an automatic projectile feed with a fuze installer and rammer. Due to this, the installation of the fuse has become faster and more accurate, and the rate of fire has increased to 28 shots per minute. But the weapon became even more effective in 1944, with the adoption of a projectile with a radio fuse. 90-mm anti-aircraft guns were usually reduced to 6-gun batteries, radars were attached to them from the second half of the war.
The radar SCR-268 was used to adjust the fire of the anti-aircraft battery. The station could see the planes at a distance of up to 36 km, with an accuracy in the range of 180 m and in azimuth 1,1 °.
SCR-268 radar
The radar detected gaps in the air of medium caliber anti-aircraft artillery shells, adjusting the fire relative to the target. This was especially important at night. 90-mm anti-aircraft guns, guided by radar shells with a radio fuse, were regularly shot down by German V-1 unmanned aerial vehicles over South England. According to American documents, the Lend-Lease agreement sent 25 SCR-268 to the USSR, complete with anti-aircraft batteries.
The device of the gun made it possible to use it also for firing at ground mobile and stationary targets. The maximum firing range of the 19000 M made it an effective counter-battery weapon.
By August 1945, American industry had produced 7831 90-mm anti-aircraft guns of various modifications. Some of them were installed on stationary positions in special armored towers, mainly in areas of naval bases. It was even proposed to equip them with automatic devices for loading and supplying ammunition, as a result of which there was no need for gun crews, since aiming and shooting could be controlled remotely. 90-mm guns were also used to create the tank destroyer M36 on the medium chassis tank "Sherman." This self-propelled gun was actively used in battles in northwestern Europe from August 1944 until the very end of the war. Thanks to the powerful long-barreled 36 mm cannon, the M90 tank destroyer was the only American land vehicle capable of effectively fighting heavy Wehrmacht tanks, since the M26 Pershing tank, armed with the same cannon, entered the army much later than the M36 - almost to the very end of the war.
In 1928, the 105-mm M3 anti-aircraft gun, created on the basis of the maritime universal weapon, is adopted. It could fire 15 kg with projectiles with air targets flying at heights up to 13000 m. The rate of fire of the 10 guns per rpm.
105 mm M3 anti-aircraft gun
By the time of adoption of the aircraft, flying at such an altitude, was not there. These guns have not lost their relevance, and by the time the Second World War began. But due to the lack of interest of the American military in anti-aircraft artillery systems, they were released in extremely small numbers, only 15 guns. All of them are installed in the Panama Canal area.
Shortly before the start of the war, work began on the creation of an 120-mm anti-aircraft gun in the United States. This gun was the heaviest in the line of American anti-aircraft guns of the Second World War and was designed to complement the family of lighter and mobile 90-mm anti-aircraft M1 / M2.
120 mm M1 anti-aircraft gun
The 120-mm M1 anti-aircraft gun was already ready in 1940, but it began to enter the troops only in 1943. A total of 550 guns were produced. The M1 had excellent ballistic characteristics and could hit 21 kg air targets with a projectile at heights up to 18 000 m, producing up to 12 shots / min. For such high characteristics it was called the "stratospheric cannon."
The weight of the gun was impressive too - 22000 kg. The gun was transported on a cart with twin wheels. Served his calculation of the 13 people. When firing a weapon hung out on three powerful supports, which were lowered and raised by a hydraulic drive. After lowering the supports, the tire pressure was released for greater stability. As a rule, four-arm batteries were located near vital objects.
Radar scr-xnumx
Radar SCR-584 was used to target and control anti-aircraft fire. This radar station operating in the 10-cm radio frequency range could detect targets at a distance of 40 km. And to adjust the anti-aircraft fire at a distance of 15 km. The use of radar in combination with an analog computing device and projectiles with radio-fuses made it possible to conduct sufficiently accurate anti-aircraft fire on aircraft flying at medium and high altitudes even at night.
But with all their virtues, these anti-aircraft guns were very limited in mobility. For their transportation required special tractors. The transport speed on paved roads did not exceed 25 km / h. Off-road transportation was extremely difficult even for the most powerful tracked tractors. In this regard, the use of 120-mm anti-aircraft guns in the Pacific theater was extremely limited.
As a result, most of these weapons remained within the borders of the United States. They were located along the American West Coast to protect against the expected Japanese air attacks, which never took place. About fifteen M1 guns were sent to the Panama Canal zone and several batteries were placed in and around London to assist in the protection of the V-1.
Evaluating the American anti-aircraft artillery as a whole, one can note rather high characteristics of anti-aircraft systems produced in wartime. The American engineers were able to create a whole line of anti-aircraft guns, from small-caliber rapid-fire to “stratospheric” heavy anti-aircraft guns, from scratch for a short time. The US industry fully met the needs of the armed forces in anti-aircraft guns. Moreover, anti-aircraft guns, especially small-caliber ones, were supplied in significant quantities to the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. So, in the USSR 7944 anti-aircraft guns were supplied. Of them: 90-mm guns M1 - 251 pcs., 90-mm guns М2 - 4 pcs., 120-mm guns М1 - 4 pcs. All the others are Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm. Supplies to the UK were even more ambitious.
At the same time, anti-aircraft guns in the US military played a significant role only in the Pacific theater of operations. But even there, the fire on Japanese planes was most often conducted by naval anti-aircraft guns.
The naval universal anti-aircraft artillery of medium caliber and small-caliber anti-aircraft guns were the last barrier on the way of attacking transports and warships of Japanese aircraft.
If at the beginning of the war a threat to the American fleet represented by dive bombers and torpedo bombers, at the final stage it was aircraft equipped for flying in one direction with a suicide pilot in the cockpit.
In Europe, after the landing of the Allied forces in Normandy, the German military aviation It was mainly aimed at counteracting the destructive attacks of American and British bombers. And in conditions of complete dominance in the air of the Allied fighters, it did not pose a great threat to land units. More often than not, American anti-aircraft crews accompanying the advancing troops had occasion to maintain fire on their infantry and tanks than to repel the attacks of German attack aircraft.
Based on:
http://www.waronline.org
http://militarymashup.com
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