Rate of fire of modern machine guns. The most formidable multi-barreled weapon in Russia and the USA
7.62 mm aviation rapid-fire machine gun
For the first time ShKAS on Soviet fighters were used in air battles in November 1936 over Madrid (at the same time SB bombers, also carrying ShKAS, fought in the skies of Spain). A year later, I-15 and I-16 armed with them fought with Japanese aircraft over China. ShKAS proved themselves both in the battles at Khalkhin Gol and in the Soviet-Finnish war.
The machine gun design was developed by designer Boris Gavriilovich Shpitalny with the help of Irinarkh Andreevich Komaritsky. I.A. took part in its revision. Pastukhov, P.K. Morozenko, A.A. Tronenko, M.A. Mamontov, G.I. Nikitin, K.N. Rudnev, I.P. Somov. The machine gun was put into service on October 11, 1932, but then another two years were spent on technological refinement and some simplification of the design, so that mass production began only at the beginning of 1934. As a result, the weapon was given the designation “7.62 mm aviation rapid-fire machine gun systems of Shpitalny and Komaritsky arr. 1934 (ShKAS)." Its fine-tuning continued even after the start of production in Tula. A lot of work was carried out by a group of specialists under the leadership of a major gunsmith P.I. Maina. I.V. honed his design skills at ShKAS. Savin, A.K. Norov, S.A. Yartsev, N.F. Tokarev.
The automatic machine gun operated by removing powder gases; power was supplied from a loose metal link belt. The design consisted of a barrel with a casing, receiver with a cover, bolt frame with rod and piston, bolt, gears, gear housing, feed lever and its cover, coupling with loading handle, reflector, sleeve catcher, trigger mechanism, butt plate.
The barrel was fastened in the casing with a crack joint. The barrel chamber is of a floating type, that is, with longitudinal grooves on the walls extending beyond the front cut of the sleeve (Revelli grooves). After the shot, part of the powder gases rushed into the grooves, reducing the pressure difference on the walls of the cartridge case and the force of its adhesion to the walls of the chamber. This facilitated extraction and prevented case rupture at high bolt speeds. A transverse gas outlet hole was made in the barrel wall 180 mm from the muzzle. Gas chamber closed type was located above the barrel and was equipped with a plug - a gas regulator with three holes with diameters of 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 mm. The casing with the barrel was attached to the receiver with a coupling. The barrel was cooled by air, although in 1939 a water-cooled version was also tested.
The leading link of the automation was the bolt frame, rigidly connected to the piston rod. A three-core return spring was placed in the rod channel. The barrel bore was locked by skewing the bolt downwards, while the rear beveled section of the bolt stood on the combat stop of the receiver behind the receiving window. Locking and unlocking of the bolt was carried out by a figured vertical protrusion of the bolt frame. Total weight the moving system was 921 g, the backward movement speed was from 9.0 (with a 2.5 mm gas outlet) to 12.1 m/s (with a 3.5 mm hole).
The firing pin was mounted in the bolt. The shot was fired from the rear sear, which is natural for a machine gun with a high barrel heating. The combat platoon was located on the left side of the bolt frame. Trigger assembled in a separate housing; to increase survivability, a sear buffer spring was introduced into it. When the bolt frame came to its extreme forward position (that is, after the bolt was locked), its protrusion hit the firing pin.
The main “highlight” of the ShKAS was the power supply system, which, in fact, made it possible to achieve such a high rate of fire - 1800 rounds/min. The cartridge was fed by a gear (drum) with 10 slots, rotating on a longitudinal axis inside a stationary casing. A screw groove was made on the gear axis and the inner surface of the casing. When the piston rod moved backward, its curved ridge pressed on the drive roller of the feed lever, which swung in a horizontal plane, and turned it to the left. The lever turned the gear with its finger. The cartridge, picked up by the gear, entered the rim of the sleeve into the screw groove. In one automation cycle, the gear rotated 1/10 of a turn, while the cartridge slid along the screw groove, was removed from the loose belt link and moved back.
Thus, the removal of the cartridge from the belt and its feeding occurred smoothly - the cartridge approached the receiving window of the receiver in a full turn, i.e. 10 shots. Here it was picked up by a lever feeder and pressed against the receiving window, holding it raised upward. This made it possible to reduce the length of the shutter stroke. Continuous operation of the feed mechanism, reducing the speed of movement of the belt and cartridge when feeding it to the dispensing line prevented their damage, destruction or distortion (however, the strength of the cartridge case and the bullet fastening in it for aviation cartridges still had to be increased). In addition, the described system made it possible to reduce the length of the weapon, which is important for placement on an aircraft. When loading the machine gun, it was necessary to release the gear, bring the cartridge belt to it and, using the folding loading handle, turn the gear, inserting 8-9 rounds into it, then turn on the feeder.
The ejection mechanism was no less ingeniously designed. His work was divided into two stages. When moving backward, the bolt frame rotated the reflector in the transverse plane. He pushed the cartridge case out of the bolt legs into the side socket of the receiver, where it was held by a spring-loaded sleeve catcher. From here it was pushed through the sleeve outlet hole by the protrusion of the rod when moving forward.
Spring buffers for the bolt frame and bolt were mounted in the buttplate. They not only softened the impact of the moving system in the rear position, but also increased the initial speed of its return forward. In combination with the short shutter stroke and the timing of reloading operations, this reduced the duration of the automation cycle and increased the rate of fire.
ShKAS was a first in many respects. Preceding him were PV-1 A.V. Nadashkevich, DA and DA-2 by V.A-Degtyarev were a continuation of the experience of the First World War - infantry machine guns "Maxim" and DP adapted for aviation. ShKAS became the first specially aircraft machine gun, designed taking into account the requirements of its time. Continuous feed of the tape, multi-core return spring - this was implemented in ShKAS for the first time. It is also the first time that such a rate of fire has been achieved in single-barrel systems. In fact:
The 7.62-mm French belt-fed Darn aviation machine gun produced 1100-1200 rounds per minute, the English 7.7-mm Vickers-R (magazine-fed) - 1000, the American 7.62-mm Colt Browning" (tape) - 900, German 7.92-mm MG-17 (tape) - 1100.
ShKAS was used in three versions. The I-16 fighter was the first to receive this weapon - in the form of wing machine guns without sighting devices, with a cable reloading mechanism and a cable system for descent.
In the turret version, a front sight vane (or front sight) stand was attached to the muzzle of the barrel, a ring sight (rear sight) stand was attached to the casing, and a holding handle was attached to the butt plate. There was a control handle with trigger, connected to the sear through a transmission lever, the safety lever locked the sear. The reloading handle served to move the moving system to the rearmost position and remained motionless during firing. The barrel casing has changed. The turret installation was developed by N.F. Tokarev. For example, the TB-3-AM-34RN bomber had four Tur-8 installations. Later, with the creation of new aircraft, other options for turret (blister) installations were developed.
Finally, in 1936, a synchronous version was adopted (ShKAS model 1936), developed by K.N. Rudnev, V.P. Kotov, V.N. Salishchev. The synchronizer, allowing firing through the propeller, reduced its rate to 1650 rounds/min, but slightly lengthening the bullet acceleration path increased the initial speed to 800-850 m/s.
Development by N.M. Elizarov variants of a rifle cartridge with an armor-piercing incendiary, tracer, and incendiary bullet completed the formation of an aviation machine gun complex.
The production of ShKAS vehicles was constantly increasing: if in 1933 365 pieces of them were assembled in a semi-handicraft way, and in 1934 - 2476, then in 1937 - 13,005, in 1940 - 34,233. True, more interest By the beginning of the war, aircraft weapons of larger calibers were called for - for 1941, only 3,500 ShKAS machine guns and 30,000 spare barrels for them were planned to be produced. Let us list the types of aircraft on which the ShKAS were mounted: fighters I-16, I-153, Yak-1, Yak-7, LaGG-3, MiG-3, attack aircraft Il-2, bombers TB-3, TB-7, SB, Su-2, He-2, Tu-2, Il-4, Er-2, U-2 (Po-2), reconnaissance aircraft R5-SSS, P-Z, Be-2 (ship), military versions of Li-2. ShKASs were also installed instead of DShKs on the G-5 and D-3 torpedo boats.
Turret mounting of a ShKAS machine gun on an SB bomber
In 1939 it was accepted and graduated in small quantity“super-fast-firing” Ultra-ShKAS - the automation cycle time in it was reduced, giving the barrel a forward movement after unlocking. The SB was equipped with bow installations with twin ShKAS. In 1935 - 1937 K.N. Rudnev, V.N. Polyubin, A.A. Tropenkov worked on the so-called mechanical twin ShKAS (MSSh) - organically twin ShKAS with a rate of fire of up to 6000-6400 rounds/min. The machine gun rods were equipped with gear racks and connected by a gear - the automation cycle included two shot cycles, and the maximum recoil force did not exceed its value with one shot. But it is significant that further work in this direction was interrupted due to the planned transition to heavy machine guns.
ShKAS brought Shpitalny fame. Had a fast career typical occurrence in the early 30s. Having first appeared among weapons designers around 1930, Boris Gavriilovich already in 1934 received the Special Design Bureau (OKB-15), which he led until 1953. Great support for the OKB was provided by Ordzhonikidze and Tukhachevsky. A kind of “star system” was in effect, when in any area one “best”, most favored by the authorities, was elected. Shpitalny became such in the field of artillery and small arms of aviation. He also came into the sight of Stalin. In 1940, he, along with other designers, received the Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor and the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences. Stalin Prizes 1941 and 1942, two Orders of Lenin, Order of Suvorov 3rd degree, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, Order of the Red Star... Alas, he was unable to avoid the “star sickness”. In any case, B.L. Vannikov, who did a lot for the establishment and development of the production of ShKAS, who closely communicated with Shpitalny before the war, when he was People's Commissar of Armaments, and V.N. Novikov, Deputy People's Commissar of Armaments during the war, left not the most unpleasant memories of Shpitalny.
The designer failed to repeat the success of ShKAS. True, S.V. Vladimirov created on its basis first a 12.7 mm machine gun, and then a 20 mm automatic gun SHVAK (by the way, one of the first production samples of bicaliber weapons). By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the 20-mm ShVAK and 7.62-mm ShKAS were the main and most massive weapons aircraft of the Red Army Air Force. The ShVAK even became a tank gun (TNSh-20). But the war, as the cruelest examiner, buried Shpitalny’s hopes for a “monopoly.” ShKAS began to be replaced on aircraft by the 12.7 mm UB system M.E. Berezina. The ShVAK was first partially replaced by the 23-mm VYA-23 A.A. Volkova and S.A. Yartsev, and since 1944 - B-20 Berezina. OKB-15 of Shpitalny began to regularly lose to OKB-16 of A.E. Nudelman - 37-mm Sh-37 cannon, at the suggestion of the People's Commissar of Armaments D.F. Ustinov, from the end of 1942 they were replaced in production by the NS-37. Shpitalny failed to hand over the 37-mm gun as an anti-aircraft or tank gun. The Nudelman Design Bureau bypassed Shpitalny and in work on the 45-mm, a new 20-mm cannon, after the war - on the 23- and 30-mm, he lost the competition for the new 12.7-mm machine gun to A.M. Afanasyev. Not reached great success and in competitions for submachine guns and anti-tank rifles.
Performance characteristics:
Caliber, mm - 7.62
Weight (turret), kg - 10.5
Rate of fire, shots/min - 1800
Initial speed, m/s - 825
The invention of the machine gun completely changed the military industry.
On turn of the 19th century and the 20th century, European pacifists more than once came out with a demand for a complete ban on the use of new weapons, which gave an undeniable advantage during the battle. Some models of machine guns are still used in the army arsenal around the world, having established themselves as a standard.
The largest caliber machine gun
Few truly successful models of heavy machine guns have been created throughout history. One of them is the KPVT - a large-caliber Vladimirov tank machine gun with a caliber of 14.5 mm. It is recognized as the largest-caliber serial machine gun. The KPVT fires up to 600 bullets per minute, penetrating 32mm armor from half a kilometer away.KPVT - the largest-caliber machine gun among serial ones
Most large caliber of the existing machine guns, it was recorded in the experimental Belgian model FN BRG-15 - 15.5 mm; this machine gun came close to small-caliber guns. In 1983, Fabrique Nationale presented an experimental prototype, which was subsequently improved. Final version could penetrate armor 10 mm thick at an angle of 30 o from a distance of 1.3 kilometers. However, the model never went into mass production: in 1991, due to financial difficulties, the company froze the project, switching efforts to creating the P90 submachine gun.
The fastest firing machine gun
To find out which machine gun is the fastest, let's first take a trip to the origins of this weapon.
The very first machine gun
People began to think about creating weapons that could fire a large number of bullets in a short period of time already in the Middle Ages. The first prototype of a machine gun was created back in 1512 by Spanish inventors: a row of loaded barrels was fixed along the deck, and a trail of gunpowder was poured in front of them. It turned out that the barrels fired almost simultaneously.
Later, the barrels began to be attached to a rotating shaft, each barrel had its own mechanism and a flint lock - this weapon was called the “Organ” or, as it was known in Russia, a card case.
One of the first machine guns was patented in 1862 by inventor Richard Gatling. This engineer invented a multi-barreled rapid-firing machine gun, which was adopted by the northern army during civil war in the USA.
The innovation of the Gatling gun was that the cartridges were fed freely from the bunker. This allowed even an inexperienced shooter to fire at a high rate: at least 400 rounds per minute. However, the barrels of the first Gatling guns had to be manually operated.
Improvement of the Gatling gun continued continuously. By the beginning of the 20th century. it was equipped with an electric drive, thanks to which the rate of fire increased to 3000 rounds per minute. Multi-barrel Gatling guns were gradually replaced by single-barrel machine guns, but were successfully used on ships as air defense systems.
In 1883, American Maxim Hiram announced the creation of the first automatic machine gun. The rate of fire was higher than that of Gatling's invention - 600 rounds per minute, and the cartridges were reloaded automatically. The model has undergone a huge number of modifications and became one of the progenitors of automatic firearms.
The fastest firing multi-barreled machine gun
In 1960, General Electric created an innovative machine gun prototype using a Gatling gun as a basis. The new product consisted of 6 barrels of 7.62 mm caliber, which were driven by an electric motor. Thanks to the unique design of the machine gun belt, it could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute, and was immediately adopted by US armored forces and helicopters.
The unsurpassed machine gun, which received the army index M134 Minigun (modifications for the navy and air force - GAU-2/A), still retains the lead in rate of fire among serial machine guns. Of course, this is not the most dangerous weapon in the world, but it is definitely one of the fastest.
M134 machine gun in action
The fastest firing single-barreled machine gun
In 1932, the innovative single-barrel machine gun ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire) was adopted by the Soviet army. The model with a caliber of 7.62 mm was developed specifically for the domestic Air Force, and its design was not based on existing samples, but was created from scratch. The aircraft machine gun was presented in three variations: turret, tail and synchronous. The turret and tail models could fire at speeds of up to 1,800 rounds per minute, while the synchronized model could fire up to 1,650 rounds.
Five years later, Shpitalny and Komaritsky presented a modification of the UltraShkas, the rate of fire of which reached 3000 rounds per minute, but due to the low reliability of the model, it was discontinued after the Soviet-Finnish War.
The fastest firing light machine gun
In 1963, American designer Eugene Stoner completed development modular system small arms Stoner 63. Based on his invention, a light machine gun Stoner 63A Command, capable of firing up to 1000 rounds per minute. During army tests, the model showed high demands, so it was not adopted for service. Of course, there can be no question of an unambiguous assessment, because every experienced shooter has his own preferences. But the majority of domestic and foreign experts agree that the best heavy machine gun in the aggregate technical characteristics is a serial heavy machine gun "KORD" ( Large Weapons Degtyarevtsev).Demonstration of the power of the KORD machine gun
In the armed forces, the KORD is called a “sniper machine gun” for its amazing accuracy and mobility, which is unusual for this type of weapon. With a caliber of 12.7 mm, its weight is only 25.5 kilograms (body). Also, “KORD” is highly valued for its ability to fire both from a bipod and from the hands at a speed of up to 750 rounds per minute.
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All people experience the same feelings: pain, grief, joy, envy. Some people have more feelings, others less. Or, in general, a person becomes a slave to one thing and often not the best. It may not seem quite right, but this is life. And this must be well understood, especially the motives of the actions of people involved in the creation of weapons...
Such people, capable of not only organizing a business, but also achieving practical results, becoming first among equals, can with full confidence include the outstanding Soviet designer Boris Gavrilovich Shpitalny.
B.G. Shpitalny.
Boris Gavrilovich Shpitalny was born in Rostov-on-Don into the family of a mechanic on August 8, 1902. In 1908, he and his family moved to Moscow. The inquisitive boy was always drawn to new machines and mechanisms. Boris developed a passion for invention with teenage years. A natural interest in everything unusual, surprising, sometimes bordering on fantasy, left a unique imprint on his entire life and determined his future fate. After school in 1919, he began working as an assistant driver on the Northern Railway, then in 1921-1922. - a mechanic at the Mytishchi Carriage Works, and in 1923 he moved to the laboratory of hydraulic installations at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. Simultaneously with work from 1923 to 1927. Boris studies at the Moscow Mechanical Institute named after M.V. Lomonosov at the Department of Aviation Engineering (!). Already at this time, Shpitalny set out to create a high-speed machine gun. But at that time he did not have the necessary experience for this, he did not have enough knowledge.
After graduating from the institute in 1927, the young specialist was sent to work at the Scientific Automotive Institute (NAMI) in Moscow, and soon he was transferred to the design bureau of the Tula Arms Plant. It was here that Shpitalny was able to begin implementing his long-standing plan.
Already at the end of the 20s, the military and politicians of the leading world powers clearly realized the advantages that a belligerent side equipped with modern combat aircraft, both fighter, bomber and transport, would have. Moreover, air defense systems of that time were often in their infancy. Modern aircraft probable opponents and a quadruple of the “Maxims” machine-gun anti-aircraft installations - this is approximately the ratio of combat aviation and air defense systems of that time.
Achievements in the field of aircraft construction in the early 30s and the transition to high-speed aircraft caused an urgent need to increase the fire power of airborne weapons capable of successfully resisting the latest cars potential opponents. Since adapted for aviation infantry machine guns"Maxim" or the systems unified with these weapons did not fully satisfy all the specific requirements of the Air Force (aircraft weapons needed to have a higher rate of fire and the effectiveness of the ammunition on the target, low recoil, small weight and dimensions), Soviet weapons designers faced a The task is to develop special types of aviation small arms and machine guns with a rate of fire of at least 1200 rounds per minute.
At that time, the creation of such a machine gun in our country was complicated by objective reasons. Already at the end of the 20s, it became clear that the design of the 7.62-mm standard rifle-machine-gun cartridge mod. 1908, which had a flanged sleeve (with a rim) was unsuitable for aircraft machine guns. Its use in automatic weapons with a high rate of fire complicated the operation of the automation, often leading to the dismantling of the cartridge.
Engineer Shpitalniy managed to resolve all these issues. The first sample of his aviation rapid-firing machine gun, in the creation of which the most experienced Tula engineer Irinarh Komaritsky took a direct part, was manufactured already at the end of 1930. The machine gun was classified.
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Komaritsky Irinarkh Andreevich
ShKAS machine gun
However, despite the obvious promise of this model, it turned out to be very complex and required significant efforts by designers and technologists aimed at optimizing technical solutions and increasing the survivability of the weapon.
It is not enough to create a product in drawings; you need to breathe “life” into it.
An entire engineering and design team was involved in fine-tuning the system: I. Pastukhov, P. Morozenko, I. Somov, S. Yartsev, M. Mamontov, K. Rudnev, G. Nikitin, A. Tronenkov and others (About many of these great we will try to tell).
The automatic machine gun of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky system worked on the principle of removing part of the powder gases from the barrel through a special hole; locking was carried out by tilting the bolt down. The trigger mechanism allowed only continuous fire. Flag type fuse. Belt feeding, made of metal loose belt of link type. The mechanism for feeding the tape to the drum-type receiver was driven by the bolt frame. The high rate of fire - 1200-1800 rounds per minute - was achieved due to the high speeds of the moving parts of the automation (the machine gun was equipped with buffer springs for the bolt and bolt frame), as well as by combining a number of reloading operations. The original cartridge feeding system, due to high-temperature fire, occurred over 10 cycles of automatic operation, using a curved groove on the casing of the feed mechanism gear, thereby ensuring smooth removal of the cartridge from the metal link belt and moving it to the line of the barrel bore by the time it was chambered.
ShKAS machine gun
For reliable operation of the automatic machine gun, another Tula designer N. Elizarov developed on the basis of a 7.62-mm standard rifle-machine-gun cartridge mod. 1908 his special aviation version. To solve the diverse problems facing aviation machine guns Shpitalny-Komaritsky, their ammunition included cartridges with tracer, incendiary bullets and combined-action armor-piercing incendiary bullets, which significantly increased the efficiency of using these weapons, since conventional rifle-machine-gun cartridges did not pose a serious danger to the aircraft and could not ignite gasoline tanks protected armor
The Shpitalny-Komaritsky machine gun became the world's first special type of aircraft machine gun weaponry, which immediately allowed the Soviet Union to gain priority in this area.
At the beginning of 1932, Shpitalny, together with Komaritsky, completed the final debugging of the design, and in June of the same year, the new machine gun was presented to the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR K. Voroshilov.
The representative of Ruzhtrest, I. Glotov, who was present, subsequently recalled:
“At the demonstration of the machine gun, explanations were given by Shpitalny and Komaritsky, as well as by Air Force representative Ponomarev. At the end of the demonstration of the machine gun, by prior agreement with the inventors, I was offered to test it at a local shooting range, to which Voroshilov gave his consent. With some understandable excitement, Komaritsky stood behind the machine gun, and the shooting, opened at the command of the People's Commissar of Defense, seemed to merge into one powerful barrage of shots... All the mechanisms of the ShKAS machine gun operated flawlessly when firing... This result of an unscheduled test of the machine gun aroused Voroshilov's approval. He congratulated the inventors on their success..."
On October 11, 1932, the Revolutionary Military Council, having approved the results of field tests of the machine gun, adopted it for service under the name “7.62-mm aviation rapid-fire machine gun of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky system.” 1932 ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire)", which marked the beginning of the rapid development of aviation small arms and cannon weapons as one of the independent types of military equipment.
It must be said that, as is almost always the case, the designer’s thought is ahead production capacity.
The production of the ShKAS machine gun, mastered by the Tula Arms Plant, was carried out using semi-handicraft methods due to the overly complex design of the weapon. The transition of the Soviet arms industry to the production of aviation automatic weapons with a high rate of fire required an increase in production culture, great accuracy in drawings, tolerance calculations, the use of especially high-quality steels and heat treatment of parts that determined the survivability and reliability of the automation. Domestic arms production, although they were at a fairly high technical level, still turned out to be unprepared for the manufacture of weapons of this class. The greatest difficulties arose in the selection of high-strength special steels for the most stressed parts and springs, as well as in the creation of a technology for their heat treatment. This explains the very low survivability of the first ShKAS machine guns. Only the creative, active work of both gunsmith designers and production workers made it possible in a short time to achieve an increase in the required survivability of the moving parts of the automation, as well as to significantly simplify the design of the machine gun.
In 1934 in mass production We sent turret and wing variants of the ShKAS machine gun.
ShKAS turret machine gun
Some changes were made to the design of individual parts of the wing machine gun in relation to its prototype.
Gunner-radio operator 367 BAP senior sergeant Nikolai Sergeevich Korolev behind the turret of the ShKAS machine gun of the S. B. bomber. Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle in 1941.
Died on February 4, 1942 - did not return from a combat mission.
In 1936, design engineer K. Rudnev, in collaboration with V. Kotov, V. Galkin and V. Salishchev, created another version of the ShKAS - synchronous, designed for firing through a propeller. To protect the rotating propeller blades from damage from their own bullets, a special synchronous device was mounted on the machine gun’s trigger mechanism, connected to the crankshaft of the aircraft engine and regulating the firing process.
People's Commissar of Defense Industry G. Ordzhonikidze paid exceptional attention to organizing the mass production of ShKAS aircraft machine guns. He initiated the creation in Tula of a special design bureau of aviation small arms No. 15, equipped with last word technology. In 1934 - 1953 Shpitalny, being the chief designer of the experimental design bureau No. 15 (OKB-15), headed it.
Stalin also favored the designer.
In those days, issues about the development of the aviation industry and the production of aircraft were often decided directly by the Politburo. During discussions, production workers criticized designers for the difficulty of manufacturing products using existing equipment. Well, the designers, naturally, blamed everything on the inability and even reluctance of the production workers. In this situation, I.V. Stalin, as a rule, was on the side of the designers - after all, he needed the best aircraft in the world. The ambitious Boris Gavrilovich Shpitalny, enjoying the favor of I.V. Stalin, who considered his decisions infallible, managed to quarrel with almost all production workers, seeking preferences. Decades later this will come back to haunt him.
From the memoirs of Deputy People's Commissar of Armaments Vladimir Nikolaevich Novikov:
V.N. Novikov
Having become Deputy People's Commissar of Armaments, I, on duty, met with all the designers involved in aviation armaments. And the first person I saw in my office was Boris Gavrilovich Shpitalny. Getting to know him happened in a rather peculiar way. One day in July 1941, when I was holding a meeting with representatives of the factories, the secretary came in and reported that designer B. G. Shpitalny was in the reception room and asked to see him.
“Ask me to wait two or three minutes,” I said, “now I’ll finish with my comrades and invite him.”
Less than two minutes had passed before I, having finished the conversation, went out to the reception area. The secretary shrugged his shoulders in bewilderment:
- The hospital has already left.
- Why did you come?
- Don't know.
— Didn’t say anything?
- Nothing. When I asked him to wait, he got up and left.
Without attaching any importance to this fact (I only thought that B. G. Shpitalny didn’t really need me), I was soon discouraged by a call from Stalin’s reception room. Poskrebyshev spoke to me. This is what I heard:
- Comrade Novikov, how is it that you have just been appointed to this post, and you are already showing bureaucracy - you did not accept the designer Shpitalny.
Having explained how the matter happened, I said that I was ready to meet with Shpitalny at any time.
“Comrade Shpitalny must be seen immediately,” Poskrebyshev emphasized and hung up.
Later I learned that Boris Gavrilovich enjoyed Stalin’s special favor. Almost all combat aircraft had machine guns and cannons of his design. Stalin took care of creating all conditions for Shpitalny to work, although, as I will say later, he did not always live up to the hopes placed on him.
In general, they made me understand that I need to work with this designer in special contact.
Of great importance in increasing the production of new aircraft machine guns was the decision of the Defense Committee of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated May 26, 1937 on the production of ShKAS machine guns and on increasing production capacity for their manufacture. In accordance with this decision, the production of ShKAS machine guns, starting in 1937, increased sharply, meeting the needs fast increase Air Force. The production of ShKAS machine guns by 1940 reached 34,233 units. In total, in 1933-1940. Soviet air force received more than 110,000 ShKAS aircraft machine guns of all modifications, which were installed on almost all models of Soviet fighter aircraft, bombers and attack aircraft of the pre-war years.
The stern shooting point is rotated to maximum angle. In this position, it is possible to leave the aircraft with a parachute.
By the mid-thirties, the speed of military aircraft increased significantly and their survivability increased. Improving aviation technology also required increasing the power of on-board weapons.
In 1937, Shpitalny and Komaritsky proposed new model his machine gun, designated “ultraShKAS”. It developed a rate of fire of up to 3000 rounds/min, working on the principle of a moving barrel as it moved forward. After two years of testing, these weapons are also being adopted. Its small-scale production was mastered by the Tula Arms Plant in 1939. UltraShKAS machine guns found some use on fighter aircraft during the Soviet-Finnish War and in the first battles of the Great Patriotic War.
UltraShKAS machine gun
The mechanical connection of two ShKAS machine guns turned out to be much simpler and more effective in creating new types of weapons. In 1935 - 1936 designers of PKB TOZ K. Rudnev, V. Polyubin and A. Tronenkov created the so-called. mechanical twin of ShKAS machine guns. The design of this installation ensured simultaneous firing from both machine guns, which achieved a rate of fire of up to 3600-4000 rds/min. The operating principle of the new system was to use the energy of powder gases generated during a shot in one machine gun to accelerate the return movement of parts of another machine gun. Soon, talented gunsmiths were able to increase the firing rate of the twin to 6000-6400 rounds/min. The mechanical twinning of ShKAS machine guns successfully passed field tests.
In September 1936, twin ShKAS machine guns were installed on a production SB aircraft and tested in the air. Based on these tests, in June 1937 the new system was given the name “mechanical twin ShKAS (MSSh)”, and the People's Commissariat of Defense Industry undertook to produce a series of 20 pieces. To conduct military tests, mechanical twin ShKAS guns were installed as a bow machine gun mount on SB and AR-2 bomber aircraft.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Tula arms factories were evacuated to the east, where the production of ShKAS aircraft machine guns continued on a large scale.
The merit of Soviet designers, and primarily Shpitalny, was not only that they managed to develop and manufacture the world's first high-speed machine guns, but also that they were the first to scientifically substantiate the possibility of obtaining a high rate of fire, showed the power of domestic science and the ability of our industry to create weapons superior in quality foreign samples. The high rate of fire achieved in the designs of Soviet aircraft machine guns made it possible to do without a significant increase in the number of barrels on fighters and not to switch to wing installations, which had greater dispersion.
When in the early 1930s. It became clearly clear that machine gun fire was becoming less and less effective against modern enemy combat aircraft; intensive work began in the Soviet Union to create a large-caliber aircraft machine gun.
Like-minded people
The outstanding qualities of the ShKAS system made it possible to use it as the basis for the design of a large-caliber aircraft machine gun. Already in February 1931, the designers of the TOZ PKB were tasked with developing and manufacturing a 12.7-mm aircraft machine gun for firing both through the propeller and from the turret using the Shpitalny system. A sample of such a machine gun was developed by S. Vladimirov at the beginning of 1932. Three years later, the 12.7-mm heavy-caliber aviation machine gun ShVAK (Shpitalny-Vladimirov aviation heavy-caliber) was adopted by the Soviet Air Force.
20 mm ShVAK cannon
Vladimirov, using the most successful components and assemblies of the ShKAS, managed to achieve much greater efficiency of the new weapon. Many automatic components of the machine gun have undergone radical redesign.
The 12.7 mm ShVAK heavy machine gun was a powerful weapon for combating enemy aircraft. The armor-piercing and incendiary effect of the ShVAK machine gun bullets turned out to be very effective, however lethal effect his explosive bullets were insufficient. In this regard, the question arose about the need to additionally introduce the system into aviation arsenal. larger caliber. It was considered most appropriate to use the 12.7-mm ShVAK machine gun as a basis.
Field tests of the ShVAK machine gun have shown that, due to its large safety margin, its caliber can be increased to 20 mm without changing the dimensions of the moving system by replacing the barrel. Based on these tests, the design development of the 20-mm ShVAK gun was carried out.
Comprehensive tests of a new type of weapon carried out by V. Chkalov on the I-16 fighter finally decided its fate. In 1936, the first batch of 20-mm ShVAK cannons was produced - the first Soviet aviation cannon, which marked the beginning of the intensive development of this type of artillery.
Synchronized ShVAK cannons on the MiG-3 fighter.
Despite many positive qualities new gun, its design could not avoid certain shortcomings. And yet, despite all the imperfections of the weapon of the Shpitalny-Vladimirov system, the appearance of a bicaliber model - the 12.7/20 mm ShVAK aircraft machine gun (cannon) was a significant achievement, since it became the first Soviet aircraft gun.
A Japanese soldier examines a SHVAK pair in the Khalkhin Gol area. You can look at it, repeat it - but no way (the Japanese militarists did not have such weapons until the end of the war).
They were first used on I-16 fighters during battles with the Japanese in the area of the river. Khalkhin Gol in 1939, where they proved themselves to be powerful and reliable weapons. By the beginning of the war, ShVAK guns became the main weapon of Soviet fighters and attack aircraft.
The following fact shows how effective the use of aircraft guns was in air battles during the war: on the La-5 fighter aircraft armed with ShVAK guns, three times Hero Soviet Union I. Kozhedub shot down more than half of the 62 enemy aircraft he destroyed in air battles.
In addition, 20-mm ShVAK cannons were also installed on light tanks T-30 and T-60 in 1941, which made it possible to increase the power of their fire tens of times.
B.G. Shpitalny gets acquainted with the results of the work of “his brainchild”
Air combat tactics with high-speed fighters and the need effective fight with bombers, and also in the future with the flying fortresses of a potential enemy, already in 1943 - 1944. set extremely stringent requirements for Soviet aircraft weapons designers - with a low mass and a higher rate of fire, use a cartridge with powerful projectile, ensuring a reliable defeat of any enemy aircraft when hit. Most of these requirements were fully satisfied by several new aircraft guns created during these years by OKB-15 designers. The most powerful was the 57-mm aviation automatic cannon of the Shpitalny system (Sh-57) model 1944. It was intended for installation on fighter, attack and bomber aircraft.
For the Sh-57 gun, new ammunition was used - cartridges with high-power fragmentation-incendiary-tracer shells and high-power cumulative shells, which pierce armor 70-80 mm thick when they hit, regardless of the distance, which made this gun a formidable weapon not only in air combat, but also when used against targets such as tanks, armored vehicles, ships and vessels navy small tonnage.
The gun, simple in design, was easy to assemble and disassemble. The cannon could be fired in long, short bursts and single shots. The Sh-57 gun had continuous power, provided by a power box with an endless link belt. The rate of fire was 150 - 200 rounds/min.
However, the 57-mm Shpitalny Sh-57 aircraft gun remained in existence only in prototypes.
In 1953, OKB-15, headed by B. G. Shpitalny, was closed. Shpitalny was recalled for his independent behavior in the 30s and 40s, accused of “star sickness” and found that further work OKB-15 has no prospects.
After leaving the defense industry, Doctor of Technical Sciences Professor B. Shpitalny taught for a long time at the Moscow Institute of Geodesy, Aerial Photography and Cartography Engineers.
B.G. Shpitalny
For outstanding services in the creation of new types of weapons, Boris Gavrilovich Shpitalny was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, he was twice awarded the USSR State Prize, he was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of Suvorov 3rd degree, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Red Star, as well as numerous medals.
Boris Gavrilovich Shpitalny died on February 6, 1972. He was buried in the columbarium of the Novodevichy Cemetery.
Good memory to him from all the soldiers of the Red and Soviet Army, whose lives he saved!
How was it born and developed, what role did it play? In the year of the 65th anniversary of the Victory, it is worth remembering this.
Fundamentally new
Boris Gavrilovich Shpitalny (1902–1972) distinguished himself as an inventor already in the 20s. In 1927 he graduated from the Moscow Mechanical Institute. M.V. Lomonosov in the then new specialty of aviation engineering, he worked at the Scientific Automotive Institute. Among his early applications for invention were “An adaptation to the feed mechanism of a machine gun for removing cartridges from a belt” (1927), “Single high-speed tank” (1928), “Automatic weapon” (1929). Shpitalny proposed the “super-machine gun” design in 1926. The rapid development of aviation, the increase in speed and maneuverability of combat aircraft and the difficulty of placing entire “machine gun batteries” on it required sharp increase rate of fire of aircraft weapons.
However new system needed significant improvement - due to the author’s lack of experience working with weapons. Therefore, in 1928, to help Shpitalny, the Arms and Machine Gun Trust allocated Irinarkh Andreevich Komaritsky (1891–1971), an experienced Tula gunsmith, participant in the work on modernizing the “three-line”, who worked at that time in the Council military industry.
First, it was necessary to check the feasibility of the scheme itself, and in March 1930 the trust issued the corresponding task to the Design Bureau (PKB) of the Tula Arms Plant. To test the principle of operation of the machine gun under the code PPRPSH, Shpitalny and Komaritsky are sent to Tula. Already on May 10, 1930, at the TOZ shooting range, a full-scale sample of the “device of engineer Shpitalny’s system, mounted on a Degtyarev machine gun,” was tested. A prototype of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky machine gun was manufactured in Tula in October of the same year: interest in the new aviation weapons It was great and the work was carried out urgently.
February 13, 1932 Artillery Directorate The Red Army issued an order for the production of seven machine guns for testing. Already at the beginning of June 1932, Shpitalny, Komaritsky and Air Force representative Ponomarev demonstrated a machine gun to People's Commissar of Military Affairs K.E. Voroshilov. And on June 22, a resolution of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR “On the work of engineer Shpitalny” appeared, in which the head of the Red Army Automatic Administration was asked to: “...a) complete all tests of the machine gun within a month and submit it for service by 15/VII; b) immediately issue an order to industry for 100 machine guns of the Shpitalny system with their manufacture in 1932; c) within a month, together with the head of the Red Army Air Force, work out the issue of the plan for the introduction of Shpitalny machine guns on combat aircraft and submit it for approval by the RVSS.”
On October 7, the Revolutionary Military Council approved the results of field tests, and by a decree of October 11, 1932, it accepted the machine gun for service. However, another two years were spent on technological refinement and some simplification of the design. In addition, the survivability of the barrel at such a high rate of fire turned out to be in the range of 1500–2000 shots, so simultaneously with the issuance of an order for the first large batch of machine guns in March 1933, the designers were asked to increase the survivability to 5000 shots. In April 1933, a modified version of the machine gun was presented; it went into production in July. The transition from semi-handicraft to mass production occurred only at the beginning of 1934. Therefore, the machine gun is better known under the designation “7.62-mm aviation rapid-fire machine gun of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky system.” 1934 (ShKAS)." Finishing continued even after production began. A lot of work in this direction was carried out by a group of specialists under the leadership of the major gunsmith P.I. Main.
Machine gun and installations
ShKAS belonged to automatic weapon systems with a gas automatic engine and powered by cartridges from loose metal tape. The barrel bore was locked by tilting the bolt downwards and firing from the rear sear. An increase in the rate of fire was achieved high speed movement of the moving system (from 9 to 12 m/s) and a decrease in the length of its stroke. To do this, for example, the cartridge was held by the feeder at an upward angle before being fed into the chamber. The high rate of fire required a number of special solutions. Thus, the walls of the barrel chamber were equipped with longitudinal grooves extending beyond the front cut of the sleeve (“Reveli grooves”). When fired, part of the powder gases rushed into the grooves, reducing the adhesion force of the cartridge case to the walls of the chamber and thereby facilitating its extraction. The return spring is made of three cores. Spring buffers of the bolt frame and bolt softened the impact of the moving system in the rear position and increased the speed of its return forward. To increase survivability, a sear buffer spring was introduced into the trigger mechanism.
But the main highlight of ShKAS was the food system. At high speeds of the moving system, removing a cartridge from the belt and feeding it to the dispensing line in one automation cycle would inevitably lead to ruptured cartridges and bullets falling out. The cartridge was fed by a special gear (drum) with 10 slots, rotating inside a stationary casing. A screw groove was made on the gear axis and the inner surface of the casing. When the gear was turned, the cartridge of the rim sleeve slid along the screw groove so that it was removed from the belt and fed in 10 shots. The ejection mechanism was no less ingeniously designed, removing the cartridge case outside the weapon in two strokes.
ShKAS was a first in many respects. The aviation machine guns PV-1, DA and DA-2 that preceded it were ground-based Maxim and DP machine guns adapted for installation on aircraft, that is, they continued the experience of the First World War. Compared to the PV-1, for example, the ShKAS was shorter and 1.3 times lighter, more than doubling its rate of fire. The coaxial DA-2 ShKAS machine gun was 1.5 times faster in rate of fire, was twice as light and, again, more compact. Continuous feed of the belt made it possible to fully use the ammunition in flight without reloading for both fixed and mobile installations. Significantly increasing firepower aircraft, ShKAS simultaneously “saving” space and weight in it. ShKAS became one of the first specially designed aviation machine guns, taking into account the current development of aviation and its prospects. Of the foreign machine guns of those years, the French “Darn” and the German MG.15 can be classified as specifically “aviation” machine guns. But this is the first time such a rate of fire has been achieved in serial single-barrel systems. For comparison: the French Darn gave 1100–1200 rounds per minute, the American Colt-Browning - 900, the German MG.17 - 1100. The 7.92-mm German MG.81 model of 1938 came closest to the ShKAS - in in the single version it weighed 6.5 kg and had a rate of fire of 1600 rounds/min; in the twin version (81Z) it weighed 13 kg and 3200 rounds/min, respectively.
ShKAS was used in three versions. The wing and turret versions of its installation were submitted for approval to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on February 17, 1934 and received approval. The first of the production aircraft to acquire this weapon was the I-16 fighter - it was equipped with wing machine guns. An open turret, developed by N. F. Tokarev, was put into service in the spring of 1934. Later, with the creation of aircraft with improved speed characteristics, other versions of turret (blister) installations with a transparent screen were developed, for example, the upper turrets of the system of G. M. Mozharovsky and I. V. Venevidov MV-5 (installed on the Su-2 aircraft) and MV -3 (SB, TB-3 aircraft). For the SB and DB-3 bombers, Mozharovsky and Venevidov under ShKAS developed a retractable lower hatch installation MV-2 with a periscope sight. In 1937, a synchronous version was adopted, developed at the Tula TsKB-14 by K. N. Rudnev, V. I. Salishchev, V. A. Galkin, V. P. Kotov, and in 1938 - the installation of a synchronous ShKAS developed by G. G. . Kurenkov, M. I. Vladimirsky, V. A. Galkin. The synchronizer, allowing firing through the propeller, reduced its rate to 1650 rounds/min, but slightly lengthening the bullet’s acceleration path increased its initial speed to 800–850 m/s.
The formation of the aviation machine gun complex was logically completed by the development, under the leadership of N. M. Elizarov, of variants of the 7.62-mm cartridge with the B-30 armor-piercing bullet, the B-32 armor-piercing incendiary bullet (for hitting gas tanks protected by armor), the T-30 tracer (later T- 46), armor-piercing tracer BT, incendiary-targeting ZP or PZ. The cartridges for the aircraft machine gun looked almost no different from the “ground” ones, but their design had a number of differences associated with their use in high-speed weapons: the walls of the cartridge case and the fastening of the bullets were reinforced. To distinguish them, the ShKAS cartridges bore the letter “Ш” on the rim of the cartridge case. Cartridges marked with a red propeller profile were intended for firing from a synchronized machine gun and, accordingly, met more stringent requirements for the time from the puncture of the primer to the flight of the bullet through the plane of the propeller. When equipping belts for aircraft machine guns, cartridges with armor-piercing and armor-piercing incendiary bullets usually accounted for about half.
In production and service
Already on March 28, 1935, K. E. Voroshilov wrote to the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry G. K. Ordzhonikidze: “We are transferring pilot aircraft construction and mass production to ShKAS machine guns, and in 1936 all serial production aircraft will be produced only with these machine guns.” An interesting touch: if the badge introduced in 1936 for graduates of the military school of pilots and letnabs contained silhouettes of an aerial bomb and a DA machine gun, then the badge of graduates of the schools of letnabs and navigators in 1938 contained a bomb and a ShKAS machine gun. The production of ShKAS vehicles was continuously increasing: if in 1933 365 of them were assembled using a semi-handicraft method, and in 1934 – 2476, in 1935 – 3566, then in 1937 – 13,005, in 1938 – 19,687. When in July 1939, the Tula Machine-Tool Plant (plant No. 66 NKV, later the Tula Machine-Building Plant) was separated from the Tula Arms Plant and was given the production of the Maxim heavy machine gun and the aviation ShKAS. In 1940, the production of ShKAS vehicles amounted to 34,233 units. ShKAS also became one of the first-born in the production of domestic automatic weapons on the principle of mass, continuous production.
For the first time, ShKAS took part in air battles on Soviet fighters in November 1936 over Madrid. A year later, ShKAS-armed I-16s and I-15s fought Japanese aircraft over China. ShKAS proved themselves both in the battles at Khalkhin Gol and in the Soviet-Finnish War.
Performance characteristics of ShKAS
- 7.62x54R Cartridge
- 10.6 kg Machine gun body weight
- 935 mm Machine gun length
- 605 mm Length of the rifled part of the barrel
- 775-825 m/s Initial bullet speed
- 1800 rounds/min Rate of fire
- 0.29 kg Mass of a second salvo
- loose link tape Nutrition
In 1935–1937, K. N. Rudnev, V. N. Polyubin, A. A. Tropenkov worked on the so-called mechanical twin ShKAS (MSSh) - organically coupled ShKAS with a rate of fire of up to 6000–6400 rounds/min. The machine gun rods were equipped with gear racks and connected by a gear; as a result, the automation cycle included two shot cycles, and the maximum recoil force did not exceed its value with one shot. A. A. Mamontov, N. F. Tokarev, A. A. Volkov took part in finalizing the spark.
It must be said that during this period ShKAS had a very serious rival - in 1936 at the Kovrov plant No. 2 named after. Kirkizh created a machine gun of the I.V. Savin and A.K. Norov system with an oppositely moving barrel and bolt and a rate of fire of 2800–3000 rounds/min. On June 8, 1937, the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars decided to issue an order for mass production of the 7.62-mm Savin-Norov (SN) machine gun.
Meanwhile, on May 15, 1937, Shpitalny and Komaritsky completed development of the “super-fast-firing” Ultra-ShKAS - the automation cycle time was further reduced by giving the barrel a forward movement after unlocking. By a resolution of the Defense Committee of May 13, 1939, the Ultra-ShKAS turret was adopted by the Air Force. Ultra-ShKAS and SN machine guns were used on fighter aircraft during the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940.
Enlargement of caliber
Work on large-caliber aircraft machine guns began even before the ShKAS was put into service. In 1931, in Kovrov, based on the DK machine gun, an experimental 12.7-mm machine gun with an increased rate of fire was produced, and the Design Bureau of the Tula Arms Plant was tasked with developing a 12.7-mm aircraft machine gun modeled on the Shpitalny machine gun. By May 28, 1932, the Tula PKB produced a 12.7-mm machine gun, created on the basis of the ShKAS by Semyon Vladimirovich Vladimirov (1895–1956). The machine gun was not a mechanically “enlarged” ShKAS - during development, the automation system was reconfigured (the gas chamber and piston rod were moved under the barrel), the gear rotation mechanism and the bolt with automatic release of the firing pin were improved.
In 1934, the “12.7-mm aviation machine gun of the Shpitalny and Vladimirov system, ShVAK” (Shpitalny - Vladimirov - aviation - large-caliber) was adopted. The power supply system, similar to the ShKAS, required the release of a 12.7-mm cartridge specifically for the ShVAK with the same bullets and powder charge as the cartridge of the “ground” DK machine gun, but with a protruding rim of the cartridge case. In connection with the organization of production of ShVAKs at plant No. 2, Vladimirov moved to Kovrov. Here, by replacing the barrel, he created a 20-mm ShVAK automatic cannon - this is how one of the first production samples of a bicaliber gun appeared. aviation weapons.
In 1935, Plant No. 2 produced 92 ShVAK machine guns and 7 experimental ShVAK cannons, and in 1936, when the 20-mm ShVAK cannon was put into mass production, 159 ShVAK machine guns and 300 cannons were produced. The 12.7 mm ShVAK was soon discontinued.
Shots for the ShVAK gun were based on the same cartridge case, but since the cartridge case became cylindrical, the small powder charge limited the cartridge's power. True, it was sufficient for an aircraft cannon. The weight of the ShVAK was: in the wing version - 40 kg, in the turret version - 42 kg, and in the motor-gun version - 44.5 kg. ShVAK was installed on I-16, LaGG-3, Yak-1, Yak-7 fighters, Tu-2 and Pe-8 bombers, and MTB-2 patrol bomber aircraft. On the Pe-8 bomber, for example, two ShKAS were installed on the NEB-42 bow turret, ShVAK cannons on the KEB-42 aft turret and the TUM-5 top turret - and all these turrets had an electric drive. The ShVAK synchronous installation for the I-16 fighter was developed under the leadership of A. G. Rotenberg. The I-16 (I-16P) ShVAK received its first baptism of fire over Khalkhin Gol in 1939. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the 20-mm ShVAK and 7.62-mm ShKAS were the main and most popular weapons of the Red Army Air Force aircraft. In addition, ShKAS and ShVAK were installed on torpedo boats G-5 and D-3.
As for the large-caliber aircraft machine gun, in 1939 the 12.7-mm synchronous machine gun BS of the M.E. Berezin system was put into production, and already on April 22, 1941, its universal 12.7-mm UB was accepted.
In air and ground battles
Both ShKAS and ShVAK played their roles in air battles. Reserve Colonel N.I. Filippov, who served in the 171st Tula Aviation Fighter Regiment, recalled: “At the beginning of the war, our fighters were inferior in speed to the German ones, but still, thanks to the higher maneuverability of the vehicle itself and, most importantly, the high rate of fire of the ShKAS, we fought with dignity against the enemy... Of course, the 7.62-mm cartridge was rather weak - nothing can be said here, but the machine gun itself was well-made by the Tula people. But the ShVAKs - both the machine gun and the cannon, especially the cannon - with the same reliability as the ShKAS, had a more powerful cartridge... I shot down most of my opponents with them.”
A “ground” career was also planned for both ShVAKs and ShKASs in the 1930s. Thus, in Tula, the ShKAS motorcycle and automobile installations were developed, which remained experimental. In 1940, Plant No. 66 was ordered an experimental batch of Sokolov machine guns “with a universal head for ground firing from the ShKAS machine gun.” This was most likely an attempt to “recycle” aircraft machine guns normal caliber, which were soon to replace large-caliber ones - for example, for 1941, the ShKAS order plan was only 3,500 units. For 20-mm ShVAKs in Kovrov, at plant No. 2 in 1935, “universal” anti-aircraft anti-tank tripod installations were manufactured. But this work did not give a satisfactory result, especially since the 20-mm ShVAK cartridge was rather weak for an “anti-tank” cartridge. But in the first period of the Great Patriotic War, the ShVAK found use as a tank gun. The People's Commissariat of Armaments issued the order to modify the gun for installation on light tanks on July 5, 1941. The work was carried out by A.E. Nudelman at OKB-16, and the gun was completed at OKB-15 at Shpitalny. On December 5, 1941, the ShVAK-tank, based on the wing-mounted ShVAK, was put into service. It received the designation TNSh (“tank Nudelman-Shpitalny”) and was installed on the T-60, T-40S, T-38 tanks.
At the same time, aircraft machine guns found application in the air defense system. On July 8, 1941, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution “On machine guns for air defense of the city of Moscow”: “1. Allow the NKAP to take from its reserves at aircraft factories 150 BT and BK machine guns and 250 ShKAS machine guns and equip them to protect 10 aircraft factories from air attack at the direction of the air defense. 2. Oblige the Air Force - Comrade Zhigarev to immediately deliver 1000 pieces to Moscow (by plane). machine guns at the disposal of the Moscow air defense. 3. Oblige the NKAP - Comrade Shakhurin to allocate 100 pcs. from its reserves. BK machine guns and 250 pcs. ShKAS machine guns and transfer them to the air defense of Moscow." Anti-aircraft installations for 7.62 mm ShKAS and 12.7 mm UB machine guns with ring sights were developed in a week by Mozharovsky, Venevidov and Afanasyev. In the same 1941, ShVAK on pedestal installations were used as anti-aircraft weapons armored train "Kovrov Bolshevik".
In 1920, while working as a mechanic at one of the factories, Shpitalny set out to make a high-speed machine gun. But at that time he did not have the necessary experience and lacked knowledge. After graduating from the institute, the young engineer began to implement his plan and soon presented a project for such a machine gun, which attracted attention with the exceptional courage of a number of decisions complex issues designing automatic weapons. When the project was ready, experienced weapons designer I. A. Komaritsky was seconded to help Shpitalny in finalizing the sample and speeding its production.
1930 The first sample of a high-speed aircraft machine gun was manufactured, created by Shpitalny with the participation of Komaritsky. It was the first in the world aviation system, which immediately put the USSR in first place in this area of weapons.
The system used the principle of automation based on the removal of part of the powder gases. Gases passing through a closed chamber exert pressure on a piston connected directly to the rod, which sets the system in motion. This principle of automation was later used to create a number of successful designs.
The barrel bore is locked by tilting the bolt downwards. The trigger mechanism operates from a recoil spring. The trigger mechanism ensures only continuous fire. It is equipped with a flag-type fuse that locks the sear. The cartridges are fed from a metal link detachable tape. The mechanism for feeding the tape to the drum-type receiver is driven by the bolt frame. Extraction of the spent cartridge case is carried out by the bolt legs, and its reflection is carried out by a movable reflector connected to the bolt frame rod. The machine gun is equipped with spring buffers for the bolt frame and bolt.
The high rate of fire in the ShKAS machine gun is achieved due to the short stroke of the moving parts of the automation and the combination of a number of reloading operations. To avoid dismantling the cartridge, its removal from the belt link is carried out in ten cycles of automatic operation, which is achieved through a screw groove on the gear casing. To soften the impacts of moving parts on the sear, during landing and after the end of the line, a buffer spring is installed.
For the ShKAS machine gun, under the leadership of N. M. Elizarov, cartridges were developed that had tracer, incendiary and combined action armor-piercing incendiary bullets capable of igniting gasoline tanks protected by armor. In these cartridges, to prevent the cartridge from being dismantled (dismantled) at a huge rate of fire of 30-50 rounds per second, the walls of the cartridge case are thickened, the fastening of the primer in the socket is strengthened, and a double ring crimp of the bullet is introduced in the barrel of the cartridge case. At the bottom of the cartridge case for ShKAS machine guns, in addition to the standard designations, the letter “Ш” was placed. The capsule is painted red. Otherwise, the coloring is standard for the corresponding types of bullets. Cartridges intended for infantry weapons ShKAS machine guns could not be used. Cartridges for the ShKAS machine gun were the world's first aviation cartridges.
With all the advantages of the ShKAS system machine guns, their first releases were made according to drawings prototype, had an insufficient resource - about 1500-2000 shots.
* In March 1933 soviet government, giving an order for the first large batch of machine guns, suggested that the designers increase their survivability, bringing it to 5000 rounds.
* In April 1933, Shpitalny and Komaritsky presented a model that differed from its predecessor not only in better survivability, but also in some changes that had a positive effect on the simplicity of the machine gun design. In the new model, its main part - the box - was significantly changed; five new parts were introduced instead of thirteen that were eliminated. These alterations entailed a significant number of changes in dimensions and tolerances of mating parts.
* In July 1933, production of machine guns began according to new drawings.
* On December 24, 1934, testing of the ShKAS machine gun with a twisted three-core return spring was completed. The previous recoil spring often failed, unable to withstand more than 2500-2800 rounds. We tried different types of steel, changed the diameter of the springs and the thickness of the wire, but nothing helped, and after a certain number of shots, the shooting had to be stopped to replace the spring. The original solution was found by Shpitalny, who proposed making the spring multi-core, twisted. Tests have shown that the survivability of a twisted three-core recoil spring is equal to 14,000 rounds.
* In 1935-1936 K.N. Rudnev, V.N. Polyubin and A.A. Tronenkov developed a mechanical pairing of ShKAS machine guns, in which the total rate of fire of the two machine guns was increased to 6000-6400 rounds per minute.
* On May 15, 1937, Shpitalny and Komaritsky completed the production of a prototype of the UltraShKAS machine gun. By using the principle of a moving barrel when moving forward, they achieved a rate of fire of 2800-3000 rounds per minute.
Installation options
The designers were tasked with adapting the ShKAS system machine gun for use in various points aircraft as a turret, synchronous and wing aircraft.
Turret and Wing variants
They were created at the beginning of 1934. The installation for the turret machine gun was developed by N.F. Tokarev, and in March 1934 it was put into service. Previous attempts to install ShKAS machine guns on old turrets intended for Degtyarev aircraft machine guns, a much weaker weapon, were unsuccessful due to the strong dispersion of bullets. The wing ShKAS machine gun was interchangeable with the turret one. The reloading handle in it is replaced by a cable mechanism, and the control handle is replaced by a feeder mechanism.
Synchronous option
The synchronization of the machine gun was carried out in 1936 by designers V.N. Salishchev, K.N. Rudnev and V.P. Kotov. Distinctive feature The design of the synchronous mechanism of this machine gun is to transfer all its main parts, with the exception of the firing pin and cocking lever, from the bolt to the receiver.
By 1936, machine guns of the ShKAS system occupied a dominant position in the weapon system of Soviet aviation.
Country: USSR, Russia
Type: Aviation machine gun
Designer: Shpitalny, Boris Gavriilovich, Komaritsky, Irinarkh Andreevich
Date of issue: 1930
In service: October 11, 1932-1945
Cartridge: 7.62 mm
Operating principle: Removal of powder gases
Rate of fire: 1800/1800/1650 rounds per minute
Initial bullet speed: 775-825/775-825/800-850 m/s
Weight (without magazine): 10.5/9.8/11.1 kg
Length: n/a
Barrel: n/a
Charging system: belt
Sight: n/a
Types: SHVAK
Issued: approximately 151,127
Cartridges for the ShKAS machine gun
Cartridge for the ShKAS machine gun with an ordinary light bullet produced by TPZ. The characteristic double crimp of the bullet along the height of the cartridge case neck is visible. | There are two known types of loose metal belts for the ShKAS machine gun: with and without stiffening ribs. |
Sections of 7.62 mm cartridges. The cartridge case for the ShKAS machine gun (on the left), in contrast to the usual one (on the right), has thicker walls and a bottom partition. | Scheme of fastening a bullet in cartridges produced by Podolsk (1) and Tula (2) cartridge factories |
Bullets for 7.62 mm ShKAS cartridges 1 - L, light; 2 - D, heavy long-range; 3 - B-30, armor-piercing; 4 - B-32, armor-piercing incendiary; 5 -T-30 (T-46), tracer; 6 - BT, armor-piercing-tracer, 7 - BZT, armor-piercing-incendiary-tracer; 8 - modernized BZT (ZB-46); 9 - ZP (PZ), sighting and incendiary | Samples of marking (stamping) of ShKAS cartridge cases Plant No. 46 was located in Kuntsevo (Moscow region). With the outbreak of the war, it was partially evacuated to the city of Novaya Lyalya, where it was later merged with plant No. 529 |
Main weight-dimensions and ballistic parameters cartridges for the ShKAS machine gun correspond to the parameters of land rifle cartridges with the same types of bullets
Characteristics of 7.62 mm cartridges for the ShKAS machine gun | |||||
Characteristic | Ammo type | ||||
L | B-32 | PZ | BZT | T-30 (T-46) | |
Cartridge weight, g | 21,75 | 21,75 | 22,2 | 21,23 | 21,7 |
Bullet weight, g | 9,6 | 9,5...10,0 | 9,7...10,4 | 9,0...9,2 | 9,4...9,6 |
Charge mass, g | 2,25 | 3,25 | 3,25 | 3,25 | 3,25 |
Weight of the sleeve, g* | 18,7 | 18,7 | 18,7 | 18,7 | 18,7 |
Beginning bullet speed, m/s** | 860 | 860 | 820 | 855 | 850 |
Chuck length, mm*** | 75,2 | 77,2 | 77,2 | 77,2 | 77,2 |
Sleeve length, mm | 53,7 | 53,7 | 53,7 | 53,7 | 53,7 |
Bullet length, mm | 28,4 | 37,8 | 38,5 | 40,1 | 37,8 |
* The weight of the steel bimetallic sleeve ShKAS is given | |||||
** Bullet speed when shooting from a rifle | |||||
*** Length of the ShKAS cartridge with a mod. 1908 produced by TPZ |
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