Similar to Meroka weapons, The SaMaKa or “Salvenmaschinenkanonen”, was a German ‘Flak Gun’ mount using multiple MG81 7.92mm GPMG’s for rapid fire purposes.
That is firepower ¡¡ :shock:
Any images of the MG81?
Not really similar to the Meroka, except in having lots of barrels. The Meroka is a volley gun and does not consist of many separate MGs.
Any images of the MG81?
Sure are, check the first page of this topic.
Use of the BK 3,7 cm in the Me-110G:
In the late 1943 the Messerschmitt Me-110 was also choosen to carry the 37mm gun. In order to acomodate the large cannon and his dampening system it was turned 90 degrees to the right to lay flat in a underbelly pod.
This emplacemente allowed th rear gunner to feed the gun with 6 rounds clips. about 10 clips were carried (60 rounds) wich ensure a large autonomy of fire.
An stainless steel plate was placed below the aircrafts nose to counter the big muzzle flash and exhaust gases wich might affect the duraluminium skin.
This emplacemente was not completely satisfactory since the gun was not centered in the fuselage and caused some stability troubles when fired. That affected accuracy. Also the large bulge download the speed and rate of climb. Despite this odds several bomber were destroyed .
This gun-aircraft pair was used almost exclusively in the western front by the ZG 76 heavy fighter group. The increasing pressure of the single engine allied escort fighter made very difficult the operation of this overload Messers and by early 1944 they were replaced by Me-410s and Fw-190s.
Quite a piercing gaze you have my dear,
O thanks, Is just that I love this topic.
37x263B ammunition for BK-3,7.
The ammo for the BK was completely interchangeable with the army ground guns. The cartrigde was comprised by a long slightly bottlenecked steel case with percussion primer.
Hartkern panzergranate L-spur.
The most efficient agaist armor was onbiously the reputed hard-core with tracer. The projectile had a 16mm tugsten rod encased in a aluminum-magnesium envelope and a base tracer element.
Hartkern squematic:
The weigh was 405 grams and the muzzle spped enormous…1170 m/s . This allowed the bullet go trough 130 mm steel plate at 100 meters according to Rechlin Test, obviously this amazing penetration was reduced a bit in field conditions but still the cannon was more than a macht for the T-34, Sherman, and KV armor. The energy was the same at 400 meters that the MK-103 in the muzzle.
Mine-panzergranate 3,7cm.
Base fused 720 grams projectile. This was a mine ammo with a thick nose to allowed some armor penetration before exploding. His payload was 220 grams of Nitropenta. Muzzle speed 783 meters per second.
many pardons, but I just could not resist a little joke, I do like the 37mm gun! that would be fun to shoot.Though I am glad I wasnt the pilot, or ground target it was aimed at… did it have a primary use, (air to air, close ground support, anti armor.) or was it a general use weapon? It does remind me of the A-10 Warthog. - Raspenau -
For every use, but it was most succesful in the antiarmor role.
37 mm tugsten ammo box, it seems like some presentation wines box :D:
Loading.
A fine vintage indeed! quite effervescent when uncorked I bet.
Bordkanone Rheinmetall BK-5:
This gun is the result of the adaptation of the tank gun Kwk 39/1 to aeronautical use.
Teorically the BK 5 could be used towards any aerial or ground target but his main reason to development was that the five centimeter shell promise the definately destruction of a 4 engined bomber with a single shot in that way it was the “Final solution” against the B-17 and B-24.
The Kwk 39 was used in the Panzer III ausf J, L, M, and the heavy armored car “Puma”, also was projected to mount in the recce tank “Leopard” wich never saw service.
The gun was a single shot, 60 calibres long recoil operated hydro pneumatic recuperation system and semiautomatic breech, that means in every shot the entire barrel recoil togheter , in the last mm of the travel back the chamber is opened and extract the used cartrigde cocking the action and leaving this ready to insert the next round. Once the new round is inserted the breech is automatically close and the gun is ready to fire.
The modification suffered to became the BK 5 were:
A) Barrel lenght , the tube was shortened about 0.5 m and provided with a single chamber multiple perforations muzzle brake.
B) Loading; to improve the rate of fire the manual loading was deleted, and a pneumatically assisted system used. The barrel in the recoil movement engaged a series of electric switches and mechanichal levers.
Those were in charge to command a rammer, a extractor and the mechanism to turn closed belt.
This mechanism was in charge to insert the used round back in the belt and to introduce a fresh cartrigde, the gun was fired just a moment after the breech was closed. The 2400kg recoil of the weapon was alleviated by a hydraulic damper.
Compressed air circuits in BK 5.
The feeding was provided by a closed belt of 22 rounds, the rate of fire was 45-50 rpm. Pneumatic power came from 2 big compressed air bottles.
Rammer pushing a shell into the chamber.
The BK 5 was installed in the Me-410, some variants of the JU-88, JU-288 and He-177.
Characteristics:
Operation system: Pneumatically assisted long recoil.
Barrel lenght :2700 mm.
Total lenght :3790 mm.
Weight: 520 kg.
Rate of fire: 45-50 dpm
Ammunition: 50mm x 420R ( KwK 39, Pak 38)
In Junkers Ju-88P-4 from VII/Kampfgruppe 1, sometimes this gun is mixed up with the larger BK of 75 mm.
This photo of Luftwaffe AP ammunition (from the Ammunition Photo Gallery on my website) shows how the different sizes of aircraft gun ammo compare.
There’s also an article on my site about the airborne tankbuster guns and ammo HERE
Nice, to be honest with you I stole that picture a month ago to post in another forum, I give you the credit off course.
I don’t mind people using stuff from my forum, as long as they mention me and provide a link 
Thanks Tony.
By the way, you know if the ammo used in the BK 5 was electrically primed, because I read somewhere that the KwK 39 was shot “By electric means”
Yes, electric priming was standard in the larger tank guns - but not in towed artillery. So, for instance, the ammunition for the 88mm L/56 was not interchangeable between the KwK and FlaK guns, despite being physically identical.
Thanks again, I was aware of the mechanical detonation in the field guns since there was no electrical supply. The tank guns was my doubt.
Me-410A-1/U4 from ZG 26 heavy fighter group, 5 killmarks are displayed in the barrel of the BK 5.
