The fearsome Flack Cannon

We know that the two world wars, but especially the Second, were catastrophic events that had a fierce impact on the entire range of human life in the 20th century. THE Second World War, specifically, transformed the socioeconomic, cultural and behavioral structure of the entire world. But in addition to this universal meaning, World War II can also be understood from points of view particular, especially if we consider the rapid technological evolution of the military industry in this time course. This is the case of the development and application in the battlefield of anti-aircraft gunFlak, 88mm in caliber.

The Flak cannon line was developed in Germany under Nazi rule. The name is an abbreviation of the German term. Flugabwherkanone (Anti-aircraft gun). Flak models are forerunners of contemporary anti-aircraft batteries and had the ability to shoot down aircraft from ten miles up. The company that developed Flak was the Rheinmetal Defense, which began manufacturing the first prototypes in the 1930s, before the outbreak of World War II.

The most effective model of the line produced by Rheinmetal Defense was the Flak-41 L/74, 88mm, from 1941, which became famous for being able to fire 20 projectiles per minute and shoot down bomber planes from allied countries. The presence of this model on the battlefields imposed fear on the opponents, since a single high-precision shot would be enough to finish off a large aircraft. However, before reaching the 1941 model, tests were needed with three other models, the Flak-18, O Flak-36 it's the Flak-37.

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The Flak was usually transported to defense regions by heavy-duty vehicles and was fixed and armed there. Another German company, Krupp AG, managed to adapt the same model for the armament of armored tanks. It was the case of the armament of the Tiger II, one of the most powerful battle tanks in history. However, the caliber, which was 71 mm, the barrel length and the firing range were much smaller than those of the model used as an anti-aircraft weapon.

By Me. Cláudio Fernandes

Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:

FERNANDES, Claudio. "The Fearsome Flack Cannon"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/guerras/o-temivel-canhao-flack.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.