There are only the basic samples of mass produced aviation gunnery systems
in this review. The data were taken from Shavrov's vol.2. and other sources.
To 1930 it became clear that common machineguns are not effective agains the
aircrafts, whose survival capability has grown dramatically. The cannons were
needed, but the power of recoil made their use difficult. There was an idea to
use "dyna-jet" (DRP, recoilless, "bazooka") cannons, but they were big and heavy.
The works on DRPs were conducted until 1935 and ended in the complete refusal of
the idea. The works on conventional cannons yelded good result, however...
Antient - see [1].
DA (Degtyareva Aviatsionnyj) -
A modified handheld machinegun DP by Degtyarev with magazine (25 bullets) feed.
PV-1 (Puhlemet Vozdushnyj) -
by A.V.Nadashkevich, 1928. Remake of infantry machinegun «Maxim» to lower the
weight. Firing rate improved by 180 fpm. Chain feed. Both DA and PV-1 were in
general use until mid-30s.
ShKAS (Shpitalnyj, Komaritskij, Aviatsionnyj Skorostrelnyj) -
Created in 1932 by KB of B.G.Shpitalnyj. Record firing rate of the time!
ShVAK (Shpitalnyj, Vladimirov, Aviatsionnaya Krupnokalibernaya) -
The cannon created from the ShKAS machinegun in 1936. First used in the battle of
Khalkin-Gol in 1939.
VYa (Volkov and Yartsev) -
Armor penetration of up to 25mm.
NS-37/11P-37 (Nudelman and Suranov) -
Developed by the team of A.Nudelman, A.Suranov, G.Zhirnykh, V.Nemenov, S.Lunin,
and M.Bundin. "Oruzhie s otdachj stvola" (help in translation!)
Armor penetration of up to 40mm. State tests finished in March 1942.
Used on Yak-9T and Il-2.
Sh-37 (Shpitalnyj) -
No production - NS-37 preferred.
NS-45/OKB-16-45 -
NS-37 with new barrel. Used on Uak-9T. 57mm cannons were designed,
but never used.
B-20 (M.E.Berezin) -
Replacement for ShVAK. It was much more lighter and simpler. Synchro, turret and
wing-mounted versions were developed. Partial powder gas energy mechanics was used.
After the WWII it was used as a defence weapon of heavy bombers (PV-20 4-turret
system). Designed by the team of A.Suranov, V.Nemenov, L.Rihter, and P.Gribkov.
NS-23 -
Replacement for VYa of the same design team. Lightened and simplified at cost
of a bit less initial speed. Mass production as NS-23s. There were synchro and
turret versions. Used on MiG-9, MiG-15, and some other first Soviet jet fighters.
N-37 -
Replacement for NS-37. Firing rate improved at cost of lower initial speed.
Weight and dimensions were reduced.
NR-23 (Nudelman and Rihter) -
Replacement for B-20 in the program of heavy bombers' defence upgrade (20-to-23mm
change, NV-23 system). Ammo of NS-23 were used. The firing rate was improved by
use of "recoil accelerator". The cannon was the main weapon of russian a/c for
many years.
NR-30 -
The scheme of the cannon is similar to NR-23. The main armament of russian
fighters in the late 50s.
AM-23 (Afanasiev and Makarov) -
Partial powder gas energy use scheme. High firing rate was achieved by the use of
"rychazhnyj dosylatel" (help!), which was used to pop the ammo from the
chain and push it to the chamber. Gas buffer was used for the first time. Used
as a defence for bombers.
Shavrov believed that NR-30 and AM-23 exhausted all the opportunity of the
classical scheme of an aviation cannon. Making them "more perfect" will require
multi-barrel schemes or just another principles.
m·v² n
----- · ---
2·g 60
gun_quality = --------------
M
m - bullet mass, g
v - initial speed, m/s
n - firing rate, fires per minute
M - mass of the weapon, kg
g - Earth gravity constant, m/s²
Actually, gun quality is the fire-for-the-second mass to the weapon own mass ratio.
Из истории авиации и космонавтики. Изд. Сов. Нац. объединенных историков
естествознания и техники АН СССР. Вып. 10, 1970. No8. page 3-12; вып. 16,
1972. page 109-119.
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