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SURVIVING GUN FILE (# 197)
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Germany

7.62cm RheinMetall Flakwagen L/30 (russ.02)

AA Artillery

Contributor :
Bernard Plumier      http://www.passioncompassion1418.com
     
     
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Location :
Belgium
Brussels
Musée Royal de l'Armée
Coordinates : Lat : 50.84510 / Long : 4.39480
General comments on this surviving gun :


Identical items in the same location : 1
Items covered by this file : 1

Another ultra-rare item in this incredible MRA museum, since it seems only 4 such variants of the Rheinmetall gun have been built !

View on the compensating piston

The Russian fieldgun tube and recuperator are easily recognizable


Historic and technical information
Denomination :     7.62cm L/30 Wagenflak (russ.02) Origin :       ( Putilov)             ( RheinMetall )          

Historic context :

The German victory on Russian armies in Tannenberg in 1914 gave a very impressive loot, including numerous good Russian fieldguns 76.2mm Putilov M1902 and huge stocks of ammunitions. The idea came very quickly to convert these excellent weapons into anti-aircraft guns.

The very first such adaptation was made by Rheinmetall, using the Russian gun tube and hydro-mechanical recuperator on a specifically designed fork mounted on a rotating conical pivot. This adaptation needed to move the trunnions backwards in order to limit the recoil length and allow vertical firing. Therefore the desequilibrated tube had to be supported by a compensating piston.

This generic Rheinmetall design was used on different supports, such as the :

  • 7.62 cm Ortsfeste Flak generic and most common fabrication with the cone fixed permanently on a concrete base. 200 such guns were built.
  • 7.62 cm WagenFlak with the same conical base transported on a amovible horse-driven platform. The setting into firing position required to dismount the rear wheels carriage, and bury the front wheels carriage. Only 4 such guns were built.
  • 7.62 cm EisenbahnFlak, again with the same conical pivot, but mounted on railcar

Technical data :

  • Complete description : RheinMetall 7.62cm (russ.02) anti aircraft gun
  • Design year : 1915
  • Calibre : 76.20 mm
  • Weight in firing position : Unknown
  • Weight for transportation : Unknown
  • Tube length in calibres : 30.00 Rilfled part only
  • Grooves : 28 constant angle
  • Projectile weight : 6.58 à 7.45 kg
  • Initial speed : 593 à 588 m/s
  • Fire rate : 8 rounds / minute
  • Range : 5600 m vertical
  • Elevation range : 0 to +85 degrees
  • Direction range : 360 degrees range


Sources
  • German Artillery of World War One           Herbert Jager                   Crowood   2001  
  • La Flak 1914-1918 - Volume N°1       Bernard Delsert       Jean-Jacques Dubois       Christian Kowal       Editions La Plume du Temps   1999  
  • La Flak 1914-1918 - Volume N°2       Bernard Delsert       Jean-Jacques Dubois       Christian Kowal       Editions La Plume du Temps   1999