The Berezin UB (russian: УБ - Универсальный Березина) (''Berezin's Universal'') was a 12.7 mm caliber

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

aircraft

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

widely used during

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 ...

Development

In 1937, Mikhail Yevgenyevich Berezin began designing a new large-caliber aircraft machine gun chambered to the 12.7 mm round used by infantry machine guns. The new design passed factory trials in 1938 and was accepted into service in 1939 under the designation BS (Березин Синхронный, Berezin Sinkhronniy, Berezin Synchronized). The rate of fire made it well suited for use as defensive armament in aircraft. While a successful design, BS was not without its faults, the biggest being its cable-operated charging which required considerable physical strength. Continued development resulted in the improved UB which came in three versions: UBK (Крыльевой, Krylyevoi, for the wings), UBS (Синхронный, Sinkhronniy, Synchronized), and UBT (Турельный, Turelniy, for the turret), with UBS and UBK charged by compressed air. The UB was accepted into service on April 22, 1941, just two months before the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

Description

The Berezin UB is a

gas-operated Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent ...

air-cooled

chambered for the Soviet 12.7×108mm infantry machine gun round. Ammunition is supplied via a disintegrating link belt with a unique system in which each new round helps to extract the spent cartridge. Another unusual feature is that the belt is advanced during the return of the moving portion of the gun and not during the recoil. Turret installations were charged manually, while wing and synchronized versions utilized pneumatic charging. The UB in all variants was used by the vast majority of Soviet military aircraft of

. A declassified 1952 US intelligence report notes that: "The

Shkas The ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritski Aviatsionny Skorostrelny, Shpitalny-Komaritski rapid fire for aircraft; Russian: ШКАС - Шпитального-Комарицкого Авиационный Скорострельный) is a 7.62 mm calibre ...

was a comparatively intricate and well finished gun, the cost of which necessitated that it be kept in operating condition as long as possible by repair and replacement of parts. In contrast to the Shkas, the Beresin was deliberately expendable, that is, the Soviets' plan was to discard the entire gun after a short period of use during which one or another of the principal operating mechanisms became worn or broken." The same report notes that: "The design of the Beresin machine gun was greatly influenced by a captured

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

20-mm machine cannon; many features of the Finnish gun appear in all models of the Beresin."

Production

The following production numbers could be found in the Soviet archives:Shirokograd, p. 118; no number given for 1942 * 1941 — 6,300 * 1943 — 43,690 * 1944 — 38,340 * 1945 — 42,952

Influences

The

Berezin B-20 The Berezin B-20 (Березин Б-20) was a 20 mm caliber autocannon used by Soviet aircraft in World War II. Development The B-20 was created by Mikhail Yevgenyevich Berezin in 1944 by converting his 12.7 mm Berezin UB machine gun to u ...

autocannon used an upscaled version of the UB mechanism. The

Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 The Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 (Волков-Ярцев ВЯ-23) is a autocannon, used on Soviet aircraft during World War II. Development In 1940, A.A. Volkov and S.A. Yartsev created an autocannon, called TKB-201 for the new 23 mm round. I ...

autocannon used an upscaled version of the UB mechanism.Chinn, p. 96

Notes

References

* Широкоград А.Б. (2001) ''История авиационного вооружения'' Харвест (Shirokograd A.B. (2001) ''Istorya aviatsionnogo vooruzhenia'' Harvest. ) (''History of aircraft armament'') * * Chinn, George M. The Machine Gun, Vol II, Part VII. US Department of the Navy, 1952

External links

{{Russian and Soviet Aircraft Ordnance 12.7×108 mm machine guns Aircraft guns of the Soviet Union Machine guns of the Soviet Union Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1939 KBP Instrument Design Bureau products