A question RE: Late War automatic AA weapons
 

I am curious as to what types of Automatic AA weapons the Western Allies used in Western Europe-particularly from 1944 onwards; I am familiar with the American 'quad Fifty' & the Bofors 40mm, used by nearly everyone in the AEF; However, I was wondering if there were other AA weapons used by the US, Britain & her Commonwealth Allies. I've read lots of accounts of LW combat & on numerous occasions I've run across pilots mentioning being shot down or damaged by 20mm AA guns. Now, other the the pintle mounted Orlikon 20mm used by the USN/RN I am not familiar with a 'land based' 20mm AA system used by the Allies...so it appears that there is a gap, not only between .50 caliber & 40mm but also in my working knowledge of these weapons systems.
So...am I missing something?

thank you, ahead of time;

NickM

British used 20mm Oerlikon and its simplified version, Polsten(I'm not sure if I remember the name absolutely correctly). For ex. Crusander AA tank was armed with a twin 20mm or a 40mm Bofors and haven't you see the old Airfix model on LVT Buffalo (+ a Jeep). It was armed with one 20mm Polsten and 2 .50s.

HTH
Juha

The US Army also had a 37mm AA gun, which was a 'substitute standard', the 40mm Bofors being preferred.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
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Thanks to all who replied...
 

I guess it stands to reason that there SHOULD be a AA weapon system that used 20 mm...to 'bridge' between .50 cal & 40mm...

Hello
not necessary, British, Germans, Finns etc. had LMG(7,62 - 8mm), 20mm, 40mm and then heavy AA (75mm and bigger) and US had HMG, 37/40mm and heavy AA (90mm, early in the war 3" (76,2mm)). HMG (12,7 - 14,5mm) cover more or less same role than the LMG plus 20mm combination.

Juha: thanks for the feedback...
 

I only meant that it would be 'logical' that there be some Light AA caliber to bridge the gap...it appears that's not always the case. I had the impression that there was a 'gap in coverage' between the effective ranges of the .50 HMG & 37mm/40mm---guess I was mistaken. Oh well, you live & learn--thank you for the info
OH, and you too, Tony!

NickM

Hello
how I see the thing is that first the troops had means to use some of their own mgs also as AA weapon, meaning some AA mountings, sometimes in their vehicles, British had these for their Brens, German for their MG 34/42 etc. but US had the .50s. Then there is army's AA troops or AA- arms troops which were armed with light, easily moveable weapon, which could follow the troops almost everywhere, these were usually 20mm weapons but US had the 4-barrel .50, then there was heavier AAA weapon, 37/40mm class for more hittingpower and range for protection of valuable target, these usually were manned by proper AA troops but not always.

The US Army did have a 'combination mount' consisting of one 37mm flanked by a pair of .50s. This was usually (if not always) mounted on a half-track.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
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