Range finding with 88mm FlaK

[spherie]

Hi there,

though there´ve been tons of valuable information on how dangerous the 88 was when pressed into the ground role, I was not able to find information on the actual FlaK role. The point of interest here is the height/range measuring of the fired shells. How is the right "Hoehe" been computed and triggered? One idea was the usage of a time fuse which would explode after a preset time. Another idea is that the shell´s explosion could be set with a device which reacts on air pressure. So what was it like?

Thanx & bye,

spherie

BTW: Send me *anything* about the 20mm FlaK/38 to debugger@gmx.net !

[Mark IV]

You might be interested in this link, if you haven't already been there:

http://danshistory.com/ww2/flak.html

I don't think it directly answers your question, but includes: "A true proximity fuse or variable time fuse was never developed by Germany despite extensive efforts to do so. Allied planners estimated that German FLAK would be about three times more deadly if they had proximity fused shells."

Lots of other cool flak stuff here.

[:USERNAME:]

I believe the Germans used radar to get the height and all weapons fired int a "box" ahead of the bomber group so as to make them fly through it.

As for the timing mechanism on the 88 shells themselves I am not sure but its some time mech probably started by the firing (G force)or rotations.

I remember reading that after the war they figured out that it took 20,000 shells to get one bomber down! If true, it cant have been worth it. The amount of resources needed to produce all the guns, support equipment, ammo, etc hardly justifies that result. Of course, the effort had a big effect on the flight crews/light damage/maintenence and perhaps the aim of the bombs etc.

Lewis