first time creating a topic on the new forum so im not sure if i did it wrong
but as the title says, did britain in ww2 and after ever use any special ammunition for their 40mm guns? did they only use volume of fire for the 40mm guns (be it single, 4 or 8 barrel one) and have no special ammo, or did they have HE-TF/VT or even some sort of SAP, shrapnel or any other special bullet type?
I assume you mean the 40mm BOFORS ack ack gun, as far as I know there weren’t any timed fuse shells made for it however there were timed fuses made for the 3.7 inch Heavy ack ack gun. Its been a few years since I worked at an artillery museum and some things have slipped my mind since
i was curious if the QF 2-pounders the brits use had any HE-TF/VT shells for it, especially for naval use, i shouldve clarified which gun i was specifically talking about so that ones on me
Wikipedia only lists how they had a high velocity ammo for it, which raised their speed to 732m/s (curious if this is what we have in game now) but i dont see any other ammo type
40mm VT fuses did not enter production until 1975 and I from what I can find Bofors 40mmTFs where not considered worth it for several reasons, the small shell size (and burst mass) and the impracticality of manually setting fuses for a gun firing 2 rounds per second being 2 of the main issues.
from what I have seen the 2 lbers had TFs but where not particularly effective at hitting WW2 aircraft due to their speed, they where used due to the stocks being there, but where replaced with Bofors 40mm fairly quickly.
Here’s a couple of things I can find quickly on the topic that might interest you:
http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-075.php
Bofors 40mm fuze types - General Ammunition Collector Discussion - International Ammunition Association Web Forum
You know that VT (Variable Time) is just a code name for proximity fuzes?
Smaller VT fuzes simply didn’t exist at that time because of technology constrains.
You could put in a VT fuze in a large 76mm shell and bigger but for smaller shells it was either not possible or not feasible due to the high costs of the electronic parts.
Yes I am well aware that “variable time” was the WW2 era name for radio proximity fuses it was used for security reasons, but I’m lazy and don’t want to type radio proximity fuse over and over so it’s VT.
I think you misread what I was saying: the 40mm VT didn’t enter production until 1975. And the TIMED FUSES that where in use during WW2 where not considered worth using in the Bofors…". The bit you quote me on though is specifically referring to timed fuses that are manually set before firing which where far cheaper and simpler. The conversation about the TF rounds is in the international ammunition association forum discussion that I linked.
Well, sounds pretty legit.
If I remember correctly - in WWII, the smallest calibre with a radio fuse was 76mm (3 inches).
And that was in the Navy.
And it was mostly American.
And even then - in small numbers - they relied more on a combination of 127 (5 inch) universal guns + 20/40mm automatic cannons.
20/25/40mm rapid-fire guns relied more on the density of fire of 2/3/4/8 barrels from each point.
And there were a lot of points.
It was later, in the post-war period, when planes became fast, and anti-aircraft missiles were still more of a know-how than a full-fledged means, that they started to improve the effectiveness of anti-aircraft guns.
Well, like radars, FCS, shells with tricky fuzes.
No one had VT for anything less than 90mm guns in WW2 because the fuses were too big IIRC.
Right after WW2 they get miniaturised enough to fit into 3" - which is why the US and GB have 3" AA on ships.
40mm VT didn’t arrive until the 1970’s I think.
No one used time fuses on 40mm (other than end-of-flight-self destruct possibly) because the process of setting those fuses was impractical for fast firing guns, and that includes shrapnel.