Hi! My name is Joh and I am a Finnish Scholar and Historian, I graduated from University of Jyväskylä with a BA in Modern History in 2008 and I write blog posts about interesting equipment used during the interwar and wartime period from 1918-45.
MG FF 20mm Cannon
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The 20mm MG FF cannon
The MG FF was a drum-fed, blowback-operated, 20 mm aircraft autocannon, developed in 1936 by Ikaria Werke Berlin of Germany. It was a derivative of the Swiss Oerlikon FF F cannon (its FF suffix indicating Flügel Fest, for a fixed-mount, wing location from the Swiss original), with the Oerlikon FF design itself a development of the Imperial German World War I Becker 20 mm cannon, and was designed to be used in space-limited, fixed mountings such as inside aircraft wings, although it saw use as both an offensive and a defensive weapon, in both fixed and flexible format. It saw widespread use in those roles by the German Luftwaffe, particularly during the early stages of World War II, although from 1941 onwards it was gradually replaced by the Mauser firm's 20 mm MG 151/20, which was lighter, and had both a higher rate of fire and muzzle velocity.
The MG FF did see some service in early WW2 such as in the Bf 109 E-3 and E-7, Bf 110 C to F, Fw 190 A1 to A5, Arado Ar 196 A-2 to A-4, Do 217, Ju 88, He 111 and others. With a lower fire rate, damage output and higher weight than the MG 151/20 it was phased out and replaced, though the improved MG FF/M (A version retrofitted to fire the Minengeschoß round) did see service later into the war when the MG 151/20 was at full production capacity and the MG FF was easier to get a hold of from early war weapon stockpiles, notably with the Arado Ar 196 A-5 model. The Minengeschoß was lighter and thus had a higher muzzle velocity than the previous ammunition; this also entailed that it generated less recoil than earlier projectiles requiring a modification of the recoil mechanism. With this modification it could fire the new mine shell, but accidentally using the heavier MG FF ammo could damage the gun, meaning that once the conversion from MG FF to MG FF/M was complete the cannon could no longer fire MG FF ammunition. The conversion also had the added advantage of being able to fit more rounds in the area previously occupied by the MG FF - and so extensions from 60 to 90 round magazines were fairly normal when retrofitting MG FFs
A group of Arado Ar 196 A-5s retrofitted to carry the MG FF/M cannon
In the interest of avoiding such errors, the weapon was redesignated the MG FF/M. It was introduced with the Bf 109 E-4 and Bf 110 C-4 in summer 1940 though as previously stated saw service all throughout the war when the superior MG 151/20 was not available. The MG FF fired a 134 g projectile with a muzzle velocity of some 600 m/s and a rate of fire of about 530 rounds per minute. The MG FF/M fired a 90 g HE/M (high explosive mine shell) projectile with a muzzle velocity of c. 700 m/s and a rate of fire of c. 540 rounds per minute. AP, HE and incendiary projectiles were also available (115 to 117 g projectiles, 585 m/s, c. 520 rpm) because the mine-shot was not capable of holding incendiary or tracer parts. There were also different types of high-explosive mine shell fillings with either standard Pentrit A (PETN + Aluminium) , a mixture called HA 41 (RDX + Aluminium powder) (the latter had a 40 percent increased high explosive and incendiary effect).
Arado Ar 196 An A-3 model conducting a maritime patrol mission The Arado Ar 196 was the principle reconnaissance seaplane used by the Kriegsmarine during Second World War. A single engined aircraft with a low wing monoplane. It's two crew sat tandem with the pilot in front and the observer controlling the radio equipment and manning the rear facing machine gun. For its time in the late 1930s, the Arado Ar 196 was an advanced modern aircraft. The radial 9 cylinders BMW 132 engine was capable of producing 970HP under full power. The airframe structure of the Arado was optimized for operations from Germans vessels and cruisers. It could be catapulted directly from vessels with its fuselage-wing hinges backwards folding wings system. Despite being designed in the lead up to the Second World War, the Arado 196 was a mainstay of several airforces including the Bulgarian, Finnish and Romanian Air Forces. Beginning production after completing the prototype stage in December 1938, the fir
Probably the most efficient German flying-boat produced during World War 2 was the Dornier Do 24. It was both `a pilot’s aeroplane’ in the air and at sea could cope with all but the roughest weather. This resulted in the type being assigned the air-sea rescue role and continuing in that humanitarian task in Spain until 1970, becoming the last original Luftwaffe aircraft to fly regularly 25 years after the end of the conflict. Dornier Do 24 conducting a test flight in 1938 The Dornier Do 24, originally designed in 1936 to meet a Royal Netherlands naval air service requirement for a flying-boat to operate in the East Indies. The Do 24 was a large parasol-wing monoplane with three engines on the wing and with Flossentummeln (sponsons) for stability on the water, The first flight by a prototype Do 24, powered by three 890-hp (664-kW) Wright R-1820 Cyclone radials, was made on 3 July 1937, this aircraft being delivered to The Netherlands that year and followed by the export of 11 similar
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