The MK 115 (German: ''Maschinenkanone 115''—"machine cannon 115") was an

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bull ...

developed in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in late

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 opposin ...

Rheinmetall Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange. History Rheinmetall was founded in 1889. Banker and investor Lorenz Zuckermandel L ...

Borsig Borsig is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (1867–1897), German entrepreneur * August Borsig (1804–1854), German businessman * Conrad von Borsig (1873–1945), German mechanical engineer * Ernst Borsig Ernst August Pau ...

for use in

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

. It was an unusual development in that although it employed a locked breech, it also used a funnel to allow some of the propellant gases to escape out the rear in order to reduce recoil when firing, essentially being an automatic

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 propel ...

. The MK 115 was chambered for a 5.5 cm round (in common with a few other late-war German designs), but used a partially combustible cartridge, leaving only the base of the cartridge to eject. The MK 115 was a gas-operated, belt-fed weapon, and its

breechblock A breechblock (or breech block) is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a breech loading weapon (whether small arms or artillery) before or at the moment of firing. It seals the breech and contains the pressure generated by th ...

used a swinging lock mechanism. It had a rifled barrel with an 8°30′ twist. A single prototype in the late stages of development was captured by the Western allies.

George Chinn George Morgan Chinn (January 15, 1902September 4, 1987) was an American weapons expert and soldier. He attended Centre College, and played on the 1921 Centre Praying Colonels football team, which won the national championship. Chinn then opened a ...

1951, The Machine Gun: Development During World War II and Korean Conflict by the United States and their Allies of Full Automatic Machine Gun Systems and High Rate of Fire Power Driven Cannon, Volume III, Parts VIII and IX., p. 637

References

{{WWIIGermanAerialWeapons Autocannon Aircraft guns Rheinmetall Recoilless rifles Trial and research firearms of Germany

See also

References