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The Flak 30 (''Flugabwehrkanone 30'') and improved Flak 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout World War II. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun, but by far the most numerously produced German artillery piece throughout the war.〔 It was produced in a variety of models, notably the Flakvierling 38 which combined four Flak 38 autocannons onto a single carriage. ==Development== The Germans fielded the unrelated early 2 cm Flak 28 just after World War I, but the Treaty of Versailles outlawed these weapons and they were sold to Switzerland. The original Flak 30 design was developed from the Solothurn ST-5 as a project for the Kriegsmarine, which produced the 20 mm C/30. The gun fired the "Long Solothurn", a 20 × 138 mm belted cartridge that had been developed for the ST-5 and was one of the most powerful 20 mm rounds in existence.〔(An introduction to collecting 20 mm cannon cartridges )〕 The C/30, featuring a barrel length of 65 calibers, had a rate of about 120 rounds per minute. Disappointingly, it proved to have feeding problems and would often jam, which was offset to some degree by its undersized magazine, holding only 20 rounds, which tended to make reloading a frequent necessity anyway. Nevertheless, the C/30 became the primary shipborne light AA weapon, and equipped a large variety of German ships. The C/30 was also used experimentally as an aircraft weapon, notably on the Heinkel He 112, where its high power allowed it to penetrate armored cars and the light tanks of the era during the Spanish Civil War. Rheinmetall then started an adaptation of the C/30 for Army use, producing the 2 cm Flak 30. Generally similar to the C/30, the main areas of development were the mount, which was fairly compact. Set-up could be accomplished by dropping the gun to the ground off its two-wheeled carriage and leveling with hand cranks. The result was a triangular base that allowed fire in all directions. The main problem with the design remained the fairly low rate of fire which, at 120 rpm was not particularly fast for a weapon of this caliber. Rheinmetall〔The original source articles used to produce this single combined version state different companies for the manufacture of the various models. It suggested that Mauser produced all of the Flak 38 and later variants.〕 responded with the 2 cm Flak 38, which was otherwise similar but increased the rate of fire to 220 rpm and slightly lowered overall weight to 420 kg. The Flak 38 was accepted as the standard Army gun in 1939, and by the Kriegsmarine as the C/38. In order to provide airborne and mountain troops with AA capabilities, Mauser was contracted to produce a lighter version of the Flak 38, which they introduced as the 2 cm Gebirgsflak 38 (2 cm GebFlak 38). It featured a dramatically simplified mount using a tripod that raised the entire gun off the ground, which had the side benefit of allowing it to be set up on uneven surface. These changes reduced the overall weight of the gun to a mere 276.0 kg. Production started in 1941 and entered service in 1942. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2 cm Flak 30/38/Flakvierling」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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