Polsten 20 mm anti-aircraft gun
The Polsten 20 mm - automatic cannon was a Polish anti-aircraft gun .
history
At the time of the invasion of the German Wehrmacht in 1939, the Polish developers had created a prototype of this anti-aircraft weapon. The construction team fled to Great Britain from the defeat of Poland and took the construction documents with them. In Great Britain the gun continued to be built and was used on triple or single mounts for the army and navy as well as for home defense. The weapon proved itself and was produced until the end of the war.
technology
The 20 mm pad was originally a design by the Oerlikon-Bührle company . The design of the 20 mm Oerlikon cannon was too complex for the Polish engineers to produce. While the Oerlikon gun consisted of 250 parts, the upholstery could be completed with only 119 parts. The performance of the gun did not suffer as a result. While the triple mount was used by the navy, the single mount was operated as a traction gun in the army. A very simple construction with spoked wheels was used.
Technical specifications
- Caliber: 20 mm
- Weight: 54.9 kg (single gun)
- Elevation range: 0 ° to + 90 °
- Muzzle velocity: 831 m / sec
- effective shot height: 2200 m
literature
- Ian Hogg : Artillery of the 20th Century , Gondromverlag, Bindlach , 2001, ISBN 3-8112-1878-6 .
