Why the Germans called MG151/20 and not MK151/20 - Aircraft of World War II

seesul · 10-22-2009, 10:53 AM

Why did Germans use the name MG151/20 for a cannon and not MK?
Thx!

seesul · 10-22-2009, 03:26 PM

Guess I got it. The reason probably was that they developed the 20 mm cannon from the machine gun (MG151/15) so they kept the same type name (MG) for the cannon as well.

tomo pauk · 10-28-2009, 04:22 PM

Wasn't the main task of the MG 151(/15) to fire explosive projectiles? That makes it cannon in my eyes.
The MG/FF also was caled MG, yet the projectiles were of the explosive kind.

However, Germans called the 45-ton tank a medium tank back in WWII, so anything goes as far as names ase issue...

-echo- · 10-28-2009, 05:08 PM

Germans just designate ALL weapon 20mm and under as MG . That`s all .

Civettone · 10-28-2009, 07:17 PM

Also goes for the MG 213.

Kris

seesul · 10-29-2009, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -echo-

Germans just designate ALL weapon 20mm and under as MG . That`s all .

Correct. That´s why I wondered why did they call MG 151/20 as MG...

CharlesBronson · 10-29-2009, 11:08 PM

I think because is a derivate of the a heavy maschinegun wich was MG 151.

Quote:

Wasn't the main task of the MG 151(/15) to fire explosive projectiles? That makes it cannon in my eyes

I ve seen pictures of the belt used in Bf-109 and Hs-129 and the combination in more or less 1 to 1, that mean 50% of armor piercing and the other half of high explosives.

The capacity of firing high explosives does not defines ( by itself) a cannon, remember that rifle calibre several machineguns, including the Vickers water cooled .303 could fire explosive ammunition.

10-22-2009, 10:53 AM	#1
seesul Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Zlin, Czech Republic Posts: 2,489	Why the Germans called MG151/20 and not MK151/20 Why did Germans use the name MG151/20 for a cannon and not MK? Thx! __________________ Roman Susil Zlin, Czech Republic ...a friend of Joe Owsianik,So. Plainfield, NJ, a former left waist gunner from B-17G ''Tail End Charlie" from 2ndBG,20th Sqdn who was forced to bail out on Aug. 29th, 1944 over my country.

10-22-2009, 03:26 PM	#2
seesul Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Zlin, Czech Republic Posts: 2,489	Guess I got it. The reason probably was that they developed the 20 mm cannon from the machine gun (MG151/15) so they kept the same type name (MG) for the cannon as well. __________________ Roman Susil Zlin, Czech Republic ...a friend of Joe Owsianik,So. Plainfield, NJ, a former left waist gunner from B-17G ''Tail End Charlie" from 2ndBG,20th Sqdn who was forced to bail out on Aug. 29th, 1944 over my country.

10-28-2009, 04:22 PM	#3
tomo pauk Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 576	Wasn't the main task of the MG 151(/15) to fire explosive projectiles? That makes it cannon in my eyes. The MG/FF also was caled MG, yet the projectiles were of the explosive kind. However, Germans called the 45-ton tank a medium tank back in WWII, so anything goes as far as names ase issue... __________________ Last edited by tomo pauk; 10-28-2009 at 04:25 PM.

10-28-2009, 07:17 PM	#5
Civettone Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Limburg Posts: 1,219	Also goes for the MG 213. Kris __________________

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10-28-2009, 05:08 PM	#4
-echo- Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 5	Germans just designate ALL weapon 20mm and under as MG . That`s all .