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SURVIVING GUN FILE (# 174)
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Germany

7.7cm FK 16 Flak

AA Artillery

Contributor :
Bernard Plumier      http://www.passioncompassion1418.com
     
     
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Location :
Belgium
Brussels
Musée Royal de l'Armée
Coordinates : Lat : 50.84360 / Long : 4.39230
General comments on this surviving gun :


Identical items in the same location : 1
Items covered by this file : 1

'Ludenddorff' type camouflage

See the unusual high position of the barrel over the carriage

This view puts in evidence the section of a French fieldgun tail adapted to the gun


Historic and technical information
Denomination :     7.7cm FK 16 Flak Origin :       ( Krupp)          

Historic context :

The length increase from 29 to 35 calibres of the new 7.7cm FK 16 German fieldgun compared to the former 7.7cm FK 96 n/A gun, and the use of more powerful charges allowed to increase the initial speed from 465 m/s to 545 m/s or up to 602 m/s. This fact could only attract the attention of the AA guns technicians : for this kind of weapon, the shell speed had to be high in order to reduce the time of flight to the moving target, therefore improving the precision and making the fire setting less difficult.

How the Heas Quarters allowed the derivation of some of the precious tubes of this new gun from the field artillery units is still a mistery, but in 1916 the 7.7cm FK 16 Flak appeared.

For this adaptation, a change of the recoil recuperation system design was needed in order to take into account the higher elevation angles and the shifting of the trunnions backwards, and a spring balancing mechanism was added. The carriage chosen for the 7.7cm FK16 fieldgun was the one of the 10.5 cm lFH 02 field howitzer that gave to the new gun an increased elevation angle of 38 degrees, still not satisfying for a Flak gun. The '7.7cm FK 16 Flak' was therefore mounted on an ingenious hybrid assembly composed of a cut section of a French 75 mm gun tail with its elevation system, placed with an angle on the classical 10.5cm lFH 02 howitzer carriage, giving a maximum elevation angle of 60 degrees.

The produced quantity of these AA guns is unknown, but the fact two survivors can be found nowadays in Brussels and in Bucarest testifies of a non negligible manufacturing.

Technical data :

  • Complete description : 7.7cm FK 16 anti-aircraft gun
  • Design year : 1916
  • Calibre : 77.00 mm
  • Weight in firing position : 1240 kg
  • Weight for transportation : 1240 kg
  • Tube length in calibres : 35.00
  • Grooves : 32 8 degrees 25 minutes constant angle
  • Projectile weight : 6.1 kg
  • Initial speed : 545 to 600 m/s
  • Fire rate : unknown
  • Range : 10300 m (mximum altitude unknown)
  • Elevation range : 60 degrees max
  • Direction range : 360 degrees range on a circular platform


Sources
  • German Artillery of World War One           Herbert Jager                   Crowood   2001  
  • La Flak 1914-1918 - Volume N°1       Bernard Delsert       Jean-Jacques Dubois       Christian Kowal       Editions La Plume du Temps   1999  
  • La Flak 1914-1918 - Volume N°2       Bernard Delsert       Jean-Jacques Dubois       Christian Kowal       Editions La Plume du Temps   1999  
  • Les canons de Flak de 8.8 cm - la naissance d'un mythe' (1ère partie) - Tank Zone Nr 4       Général Guy François                   Histoire et Collection   2009