Trumpeter 01585 German 8.8cm Flak 18 Selbstfahrlafette

A German WWII cannon, commonly known as the "eighty-eight". It is probably the most famous department from this period. Several versions of the 8.8 cm Flak 18-Flak36 and 37 guns were produced, as well as modernized models such as the Flak 41 and Flak 43. The roots of the Flak18 are the 7.5Flak / L60 cannon, which served as the basis for the development of a new anti-aircraft gun. Despite this, the design of the new gun had to be started practically from the beginning, but the first prototypes of the "Eighty-Eight" were produced as early as 1928. The first Flak 18 models had a one-piece barrel of 56 calibers and were often called 88 / L56. The Flak 18 gun was mounted on a trailer with an "X" -shaped base, which allowed fire in all directions. The two "legs" of the tow truck were foldable, which allowed for quick lifting of the gun on the wheeled chassis. Due to its heavy weight, the Flak 18 gun had to be towed only by large vehicles, a frequent partner of this gun was the Sd.Kfz.7 semi-truck. This gun used a simple, "semi-automatic" loading system that ejected empty shells from the slide, which allowed for quick and easy loading of the gun. The rate of fire was between 15 and 20 rounds per minute, half the rate of fire of most other guns from this period. Technical data: range: horizontal-14860m, vertical-10600m caliber: 88mm, combat weight: 5000kg, rate of fire: 15-20 spins / min, projectile initial speed: 930m / s (anti-tank missile), 820 m / s (high-explosive projectile) disruptive).