As if the 20mm Becker wasn't enough...

[Hauksbee 103]

It seems our colleges over at ROF are delving into the more arcane weapons field mods attempted in WWI. I was much impressed with the attempt at putting a 20mm on the top wing of an Albatros, but a 57mm on the nose of a Felixstowe? Now there's firepower! Never mind that neither worked out too well in reality; it's the thought that counts. The sticking point with the 57mm Davis was the backblast. I don't know what I'd do with that much firepower, but I definitely want to try the Becker on my Albatri. What follows is patched together from Wikipedia and a few other sources.

 

 

 

The first recoilless gun was developed during WWI by Commander Cleland Davis of the US Navy. It consisted of two gun barrels pointing in opposite directions connected to a common chamber. One barrel was loaded with the projectile, the other with an equal mass of small lead shot encased in grease. The propellant cartridge was placed in the central chamber and when fired the projectile and the "countershot" shot out both ends at equal velocities, leaving the gun static with no imparted recoil. The lead shot and grease quickly dispersed and lost energy, while the service projectile proceeded on to the target. This concept was developed for use in aircraft armament for attacking submarines but never used in combat.

 

The concept continued to be explored and soon it was realized the countershot could be eliminated, substituting the gas from the propellant as long as it was of sufficient speed and mass.

 

The attraction of a recoilless weapon is that a much lighter light artillery piece of a given caliber can be created, as it eliminates the need for the massive recoil mechanisms required for conventional artillery. In the case of the 57mm anti-tank gun this was a huge difference. Recoilless weapons found a perfect application with airborne infantry.

 

The major drawback is these weapons use a huge amount of propellant, four-fifths of the charge is exhausted from the jet. The back blast is also a significant hazard as well as a bright illuminating source, which gives away the position of the gun.

 

Throughout the war years, the Royal Navy experimented extensively with the Davis gun, a recoilless rifle developed by a US Navy commander between 1911 and 1914. The Davis gun worked on the counter-shot principle, in which a mass equal to the shell is ejected to the rear upon firing. In essence, the weapon consisted of a pair of equal-length, light-weight gun tubes mounted breech to breech on a common chamber.

 

For loading, the rear-facing, counter shot barrel could be unlocked and pivoted around a rod parallel to the axis of the gun. The round consisted of the high-explosive shell and an equal weight of lead bird shot, with the propellant charge in between. Guns were available for aircraft use in a range of calibres: 2-pounder (~40-mm cal), 6-pounder (~57-mm), 12-pounder (~76-mm), and 50-pounder (~127-mm).

 

The guns had a muzzle-velocity of about 1200 ft/sec (370 m/sec) and an effective range of about 2000 yds (1846 m). The weapons were light, but bulky—10 ft (3.1 m) long. The 2-pounder weighed 70 lbs (32 kg), the 6-pounder 208 lbs, and the 12-pounder 208 lbs, all with mounting.