Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

AERIAL GUNS.

THE DIFFERENT KINDS. French reports often refer to the sue cess of "special" guns, concerning which no precise information has been published. But accounts of the destruction of a Zeppelin a few weeks ago show that the "special" gun used on that occasion was a seventy-five, mounted on a motorcar. The Italian variation of the seventyfive, with its double trail, permits an unusual degree of high-angle fire, and this invention has been extensively applied in the manufacture of anti-aircraft guns by the Allies generally. But the Dupont principle is valuable only in cases where it is desired to convert a field gun hastily into an anti-aircraft gun, and the great development of the air services of all the belligerents has caused the general adoption of weapons designed particularly to attack aeroplanes and airships. As far as can be gathered the most successful anti-aircraft guns are converted naval guns. Before the war Krupps had already designed three serviceable weapons, a 12-pounder and 3.4-in and a 4.1-in, the larger gun being for stationary and coast work. The 3.4rin was the one commonly adopted for ships. It has a pedestal mounting, admitting of a high angle of 80 degrees, with a full circle sweep. Krupps claimed that this gun would Are from 20 to 25 shots a minute Armstrongs had a special field carriage for 18-pounders, with which some useful experiments were made early in the war. It is a little curious to read, however, that while Krupps were devoting great attention to the increase of the muzzlevelocity of their guns f,or use against aircraft, British makers were inclined to favor a rather low velocity, aiming rather at securing intense rapidity of fire. Vickers, however, in the course of their experiments produced a 3-in gun with a very high muzzle velocity, and it was stated some time ago that this gun had found high favor with the authorities. One of the Vickers' specialties is a 2-pounder~ capable of firing 200 rounds a minute.

Prior to the war the feature of the anti-aircraft giun that seemed to be receiving chief attention was the mounting. It was necessary to secure an elevation of 80 degrees, and at the same time to consider the facility of horizontal manipulation. Ranging was another of the difficult problems. 1 It is stated that satisfactory results had been obtained in these respects by all the great armament firms. When the war came the subject received less attention because of the pressure of more urgently necessary work, but Zeppelins and aeroplanes have been a prominent feature of the warfare that inevitably the gun problem had to be tackled in earnest. The projectile, too, has been the subject of endless experiments. One hears of "tracer" shells, which leave a trail of smoke behind as they fly, enabling the observfi); to watch the flight. Smoke shells are used for finding the range. The larger guns use both shrapnel and high explosive, and the smaller guns chiefly high explosive. The French have perfected an incendiary shell, which sets fire to any object it touches, as well as brilliant fire shells, which serve to illuminate the heavens as well as to.cause destruction. These types, of course, are in use also by the British.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19160516.2.52

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1916, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
540

AERIAL GUNS. Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1916, Page 7

AERIAL GUNS. Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1916, Page 7

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert