Anti-aircraft gunnery 1939-style
Anti-aircraft gunnery 1939-style
Author
Discussion

Simpo Two

Original Poster:

92,658 posts

294 months

Wednesday 28th March 2012
quotequote all

Hooli

32,278 posts

229 months

Wednesday 28th March 2012
quotequote all
Excellent smile

mybrainhurts

90,809 posts

284 months

Wednesday 28th March 2012
quotequote all
The visitor is in for a hot time, Grayson...rofl

HarryW

16,011 posts

298 months

Wednesday 28th March 2012
quotequote all
It's just digital now, the principles haven't changed much.

DamienB

1,211 posts

248 months

Thursday 29th March 2012
quotequote all
And, more importantly, radar guided!

Have a look on youtube for "zsu-23-4" to see what 1950s technology was like in comparison.

Tango13

10,047 posts

205 months

Thursday 29th March 2012
quotequote all
DamienB said:
And, more importantly, radar guided!

Have a look on youtube for "zsu-23-4" to see what 1950s technology was like in comparison.
It was radar guided and proximity fused during the war which is why the AA gunners managed to shoot down so many V1 flying bombs.

The proximity fuses were shipped in boxes marked 'Rectal Speaders' from the Johns Hopkins hospital in the USA and the gunners were only allowed to shoot out across the English Channel to prevent any unexploded shells falling into the wrong hands.

Seight_Returns

1,640 posts

230 months

Thursday 29th March 2012
quotequote all
How do proximity fuses work ? How does the round know it's close to the target ?

tank slapper

7,949 posts

312 months

Thursday 29th March 2012
quotequote all
They have a miniaturised radio proximity detector in the nose - a very crude form of radar.



That gun director is a mechanical computer of similar type to those used aboard ships for gun laying, but obviously made much smaller. There is a pretty good series of videos on youtube that describes how they work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpkTHyfr0pM

Edited by tank slapper on Thursday 29th March 18:33