USAAF US Navy Guns since 1930.

[CharlesBronson]

Aparently the gun didnt withstand high G in other aircraft either, several accounts of argentine A--4 Skyhawks pilots in 1982 said the gun jammed after some maneouvres evading flak/ fighters.

 

[CharlesBronson]

MK 12 installation in Chance Vought F7U Cutlass. The sinchronyzation device is emplaced to cut off excessive vibration wich could affected the engines.

 

[CharlesBronson]

- MK 12 of the A-4AR ( argentine air force A-4M)

- 20x110m U.S.N TP-T ammo ( the 20/66 denomination comes form the 66 calibers lenght of the barrel)

 

[CharlesBronson]

General Electric M61 multibarreled 20mm Automatic Gun ( GAU-4)


In June 1946, the General Electric Company was awarded the contract for "Project Vulcan". In 1950, GE delivered ten initial model A .60 cal. T45 guns for evaluation. Thirty-three model C T45 guns were delivered in 1952 in three calibers: .60 cal., 20mm, and 27mm, for additional testing. After extensive testing, the T171 20mm gun was selected for further development. In 1956 the T171 20mm gun was standardized by the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force as the M61 20mm Vulcan aircraft gun.


The M61 20mm Vulcan is an externally powered, six-barrel, rotary-fire gun having a rate of fire of up to 7200 spm. The firing rate is selectible at 4,000 spm or 6,000 spm. The gun fires standard electrically primed 20mm ammunition. The M61A1 is hydraulically or ram-air driven, electrically controlled, and uses a linkless ammunition feed system.

Each of the gun's six barrels fires only once during each revolution of the barrel cluster. The six rotating barrels contribute to long weapon life by minimizing barrel erosion and heat generation. The gun's rate of fire, essentially 100 rounds per second, gives the pilot a shot density that will enable a "kill" when fired in one-second bursts.

The M61 20mm cannon is a proven gun, having been the US military's close-in weapon of choice dating back to the 1950s. The F-104, F-105, later models of the F-106 , F-111, F-4, B-58, all used the M61, as does the Air Force's F-15 , F-16 and F-22, and the Navy's F-14 and F/A-18. The internally mounted 20mm cannon system is common to all versions of the F-15. This system combines the widely used (F-4, F-16, F-18 ) M61 cannon with 940 rounds (A through D models) or 500 rounds (E model) of ammunition. The cannon can be loaded with target practice, armor piercing, or high explosive incendiary rounds. The primary use of the cannon is in the extremely short range (less than 2000 feet) air-to-air environment, where more sophistacated air-to-air missiles are ineffective. Alternately, the cannon has limited usefulness in a ground strafing role.

The M61A1 utilized by the F-14 and F/A-18 aircraft is a hydraulically driven, 6 barreled, rotary action, air cooled, electrically fired weapon, with selectable rates of fire of either 4000 or 6000 rounds per minute. The M61A2 20mm light weight gun is utilized in the F/A-18 aircraft only. The gun system is mated to a linkless ammunition storage and handling system. The F-14 has a capacity of 676 rounds while the F/A-18 has a capacity of 578 rounds of 20mm linkless M-50 or PGU series electrically primed ammunition. World War II fighters and bombers were commonly equipped with Browning M2 heavy barrel .50 cal. machine guns which had a maximum firing rate of 1,200 spm. The Gatling principle permitted a high rate of fire while reducing heat and barrel erosion.

More info to be aded soon...

 

[CharlesBronson]

Interesting 1942 video showing Bell P-39D Airacobra firing .30, .50 and 37mm guns.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Excellent post!!!

 

[Matt308]

Great video, CB.

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

CB


Wheels

 

[Matt308]

I can't imagine that the .60cal machiine gun at 3700ft/sec would last more than a couple of missions. Barrel erosion would be phenomenal.

 

[CharlesBronson]

That is why the quick change barrel was invented for, although I dont know if the T17 had it. I have to re-check my post.

Excellent post!!!

Great video, CB.

Thanks, you can found more video of the P-39 in here.

Internet Archive: Free Downloads: Moving Image Archive

 

[CharlesBronson]

Short video of M24 20mm cannon firing at target drones, the M24 was an modernized variant of the Hispano AN-M2 , it used eletric primed ammunition.

 

[CharlesBronson]

XM-301 the gun for the AH-66 Comanche.

It was developed to become the main armament of the 1960s new generation of attack helicopters, the gun used a sophisticated electrical assisted recoil operation and fires at open bolt with the entire barrel and breechblok ( not only the bolt) advancing and firing the cartrigde when the trigeer is depressed. This had the advantage of reducing recoil on the mounting, but crippled the rate of fire.

It caliber was 30mm and the cartrigde case had an overral lenght of 100mm, a shortened variant of the 30x113 french DEFA ammunition.

 

[CharlesBronson]

The concept behind the XM-140 was one for a high speed grenade launcher, eventually that became a low velocity gun firing hollow charge projectiles.

The Philco Ford XM-140 being tested on a UH-1 Iroquois

 

[vikingBerserker]

Wow, that's pretty interesting.

 

[CharlesBronson]

It is, some photos of the Belly XM 51 turret containing the XM-140 in the Cheyenne ( AH-56 Cheyenne, the lost tribe R. Hewson)

 

[CharlesBronson]

Vulcan prototype video.

The T-171 gun, M61 vulcan prototype doing some test firing.

 

[Southron]

The .30 caliber U.S. cartridge was adopted in 1906 for the U.S. Model 1903 Springfield Rifle and it remained the standard U.S. service round until 1957 when the M-14 Rifle was adopted in 7.62 NATO caliber.

The civilian designation for the .30 caliber U.S. cartridge is the: "30-06" and it still remains as one of the most popular cartridges in the world for rifles.

Interestingly enough, ALL the .50 BMG CARTRIDGE IS, IS JUST A .30 CALIBER U.S. CARTRIDGE SCALED UP to .50 CALIBER!

 

[CharlesBronson]

Testing the .50 caliber AN-M2, 1943.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMsWZTooPB0

 

[vikingBerserker]

That is such a manly gun!

 

[stug3]