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Ordnance, RCL, 3.45 In
The 3.45 inch RCL was an 88mm British recoilless rifle, recoilless weapon, designed by Dennistoun Burney, Sir Dennis Burney during the Second World War. Delayed by problems due to breach wear because of gas erosion upon firing, it did not see action, as was hoped, in the British Far East Command, Far East, particularly Burma Campaign, Burma. However, it did lead to the post-war Mobat and L6 Wombat, Wombat recoilless rifles. History Burney was privy to the design of the 20mm m/42, a recoilless rifle designed by the Swedish Bofors Carl Gustaf company during World War II, but it had little bearing on his work as the Carl Gustav was a large bore rifle design intended to remove the recoil experienced with anti-tank rifles such as the Boys anti-tank rifle or similar large calibre bolt-action rifles which required large cartridges to deliver high-velocity rounds. The usefulness of anti-tank rifles was lost as tanks were built with much thicker armour during the war. Although Burn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recoilless Rifle
A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propellant gas from the rear of the weapon at the moment of firing, creating forward thrust that counteracts most of the weapon's recoil. This allows for the elimination of much of the heavy and bulky recoil-counteracting equipment of a conventional cannon as well as a thinner-walled barrel, and thus the launch of a relatively large projectile from a platform that would not be capable of handling the weight or recoil of a conventional gun of the same size. Technically, only devices that use spin-stabilized projectiles fired from a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles, while smoothbore variants (which can be fin-stabilized or unstabilized) are recoilless guns. This distinction is often lost, and both are often called recoilless rifles. Though sim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L6 Wombat
The L2 BAT (Battalion, Anti-Tank) was a 120 mm calibre recoilless anti-tank rifle used by the British Army. It was also produced in the MOBAT version without a gun shield, and the ConBAT version with a new spotting rifle attachment. The L6 Wombat version was greatly lightened through the use of magnesium alloys. The Wombat was used by mobile units such as paratroopers and marines. BAT was developed from the wartime Ordnance, RCL, 3.45 in, replacing it and the Ordnance QF 17-pounder to become the standard anti-tank weapon of the Army in the post-World War II era. The BAT and MOBAT were used until anti-tank guided missiles, such as Vigilant and MILAN, took their place. WOMBAT remained in anti-tank platoons in Berlin to supplement MILAN until the late 1980s, due to the expected engagement ranges should the Warsaw Pact have ever attacked. The wire guidance of MILAN would also have been problematic in the built up areas of Berlin. It was envisioned that Wombat would be used in 's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance. These produce a subsonic deflagration wave rather than the supersonic detonation wave produced by brisants, or high explosives. The hot gases produced by burning gunpowder or cordite generate sufficient pressure to propel a bullet or shell to its target, but not so quickly as to routinely destroy the barrel of the gun. Cordite was used initially in the .303 British, Mark I and II, standard rifle cartridge between 1891 and 1915; shortages of cordite in World War I led to the creation of the "Devil's Porridge" munitions factory (HM Factory, Gretna) on the English-Scottish border, which produced 800 tonnes of cordite per annum. The UK also imported some United States–developed smokeless powders for us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venturi Effect
The Venturi effect is the reduction in fluid pressure that results when a fluid flows through a constricted section (or choke) of a pipe. The Venturi effect is named after its discoverer, the 18th century Italian physicist, Giovanni Battista Venturi. Background In inviscid fluid dynamics, an incompressible fluid's velocity must ''increase'' as it passes through a constriction in accord with the principle of mass continuity, while its static pressure must ''decrease'' in accord with the principle of conservation of mechanical energy (Bernoulli's principle). Thus, any gain in kinetic energy a fluid may attain by its increased velocity through a constriction is balanced by a drop in pressure. By measuring pressure, the flow rate can be determined, as in various flow measurement devices such as Venturi meters, Venturi nozzles and orifice plates. Referring to the adjacent diagram, using Bernoulli's equation in the special case of steady, incompressible, inviscid flows (such as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boys Anti-tank Rifle
The Boys anti-tank rifle (officially Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55in, Boys, and sometimes incorrectly spelled "Boyes"), is a British anti-tank rifle used during the Second World War. It was often nicknamed the "elephant gun" by its users due to its size and large bore. There were three main versions of the Boys: an early model (Mark I) which had a circular muzzle brake and T-shaped monopod, built primarily at BSA in England; a later model (Mk I*) built primarily at the John Inglis and Company in Toronto, Canada, that had a rectangular muzzle brake and a V shaped bipod; and a third model made for airborne forces with a 30-inch (762 mm) barrel and no muzzle brake. There were also different cartridges, with a later version offering better penetration. Although adequate against light tanks and tankettes in the early part of the war, the Boys was ineffective against heavier armour and was phased out in favour of the PIAT hollow charge weapon mid-war. Design and development The fire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-tank Rifle
An anti-tank rifle is an anti-materiel rifle designed to penetrate the vehicle armor, armor of armored fighting vehicles, most commonly tanks, armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles. The term is usually used for weapons that can be carried and used by one person, but is sometimes used for larger weapons. The usefulness of rifles for this purpose ran from the introduction of tanks in World War I until the Korean War. While medium and heavy tank armor became too thick to be penetrated by rigid projectiles from rifles that could be carried by a single soldier, anti-tank rifles continued to be used against other "soft" targets, though recoilless rifles and rocket-propelled grenades such as the bazooka were also introduced for infantry close-layer defense against tanks. History The tug of war between armour and projectiles had been developing for a long while among naval vessels, since the advent of the Ironclad warship, Ironclad. It wasn't until soldiers met armo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bofors Carl Gustaf
AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Located in Karlskoga, Sweden, the company originates from the hammer mill "Boofors", which was founded as a royal state-owned company in 1646. The modern corporate structure was created in 1873 with the foundation of Aktiebolaget (AB) Bofors-Gullspång. The Bofors Works was acquired by Johan Eberhard Geijer in 1762. It was then acquired by the latter's brother, Emanuel af Geijerstam. A leading Swedish steel producer by the early 1870s, when steel began to be used for gun manufacture in Sweden, Bofors initially sold cast and forged steel produced by the Siemens-Martin process to Finspång gun works, but soon started to expand into weapons manufacture. The company's first cannon workshop was opened in 1884. Bofors' most famous owner was Alfred Nobel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Far East Command
The Far East Command was a British military command which had 2 distinct periods. These were firstly, 18 November 1940 – 7 January 1942 succeeded by the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command ( ABDACOM), and secondly, 1963–1971 succeeded by Australia, New Zealand, and United Kingdom Force ( ANZUK Force) 1940–1942 The British had two commands with responsibilities for possessions in the Far East. GHQ India under General Sir Archibald Wavell the Commander-in-Chief, India and the Far East Command under Air Marshal Robert Brooke-Popham and from 23 December 1941 by Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Royds Pownall. The C-in-C Far East Command was responsible directly to the Chiefs of Staff for the operational control and general direction of training of all British land and air forces in Malaya, Burma, and Hong Kong, and for the co-ordination of plans for the defence of those territories. But the CinC exercised no command or control over any naval forces. It was intended that C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
