From: Ryan Gill (rmgill@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Dec 14 2004 - 18:30:27 PST
At 5:41 PM -0500 12/14/04, Bjorn Brandstedt wrote:
>The "88" used on many German tanks was actually
>a Flak gun (an anti aircraft gun)./Bjorn
Actually, in the role it was called a PAK or KWK
(designation change based on role). In the case
of the use on AFVs (Panzer VI and Elefant) it was
a different mounting that changed the
designation. 8.8 cm Flak 18 or 36 vs 8.8cm Kw.K.
36. Both were 56 calibers long (L/56). There were
various versions of Flak 18, Flak 36 and Flak 37
with different features for battery control and
direct fire capabilities as well as multi-part
barrel construction in the later models.
Then there was the 8.8 cm Flak or Kw.K. L/71
(L/71 or 71 calibers long). There was a
conventional AA version (the Flak) and this was
used with the same L71 gun in ground roles. The
Elephant (AKA Ferdinand), King Tiger (aka Royal
Tiger) and Panzerjager Panther received the 8.8
cm Kw.K. 43 (L/71). There was also a conventional
towed AT gun carriage in the form of the PAK
43/41. The conventional towed PAK 43/41 was
cumbersome and didn't work too well. This
resulted in the PAK 43 that had a low profile
cruciform setup like the FLAK guns but with 360°
fire.
http://www.lonesentry.com/tm_tigertank/
http://www.lonesentry.com/new88mm/
Then of course there were the Grille Seires
vehicles that carried various Flak 88.s in a SP
role.
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz13.htm
Keep in mind that the 8.8 wasn't the ultimate
answer in anti-tank gunner nor AA gunnery in
WWII. Many espouse that the 8.8 was eclipsed by
the Vickers 3.7" AA gun, especially in it's later
versions whereby a 4.7" gun was barreled down to
3.7" with the larger chamber. This made for a
very high velocity gun, coupled with the
autoloader, battery control, VT fuses and later
radar control, this gun attained a fearsome rate
of fire, control and accuracy. Max altitude was
on the order of 40,000 feet. I've got video via a
friend that works for Lockheed Martin of a 3.7mm
Gun's autoloader in action. It sets the fuze for
timed air bursts and loads the round in less time
that it takes a crew to do it and attains a much
higher rate of fire than you'd ever want to have.
Apparently, the Germans never really felt the
fire save on two occasions, once in North Africa
and I think once in Italy. There the Tigers that
felt the pain were dealt with so quickly that it
was over too fast for them to react or even note
what hit them.
http://members.tripod.com/krh30/36reg/id28.htm
Amazingly enough, the 3.7's were used quite a bit
in normandy for conventional artillery missions
enabling some severe air burst missions to be
accomplished far beyond line of sight.
Here's Derek's post about it on the WWII online forums.
http://discussions.playnet.com/viewtopic.php?t=70550&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=64ad8538ac7f0622638ca0f43ae23929
Pak
Panzerabwehrkanone - anti-tank gun
Kw.K.
Kampfwagenkanone - tank gun
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