8 cm K. Flak Anti-Aircraft Gun: Australian Light Horse Regiment, AIF, Palestine Accession Number: RELAWM05078

Description

Krupp 8 cm Kraftwagen Flak anti-aircraft gun. The equipment consists of three main elements: the gun; the gun's firing table and ground supports; and the transportation carriage.

Gun: The gun is steel barreled, with a horizontal sliding block. The breech mechanism is corroded and does not operate. The gun has a hydro-pneumatic recoil system. The length of recoil varies in length according to the elevation and is limited by an oil buffer, while recuperation is archived by compressed air. The recoil cylinder shows evidence of active corrosion, possibly due to as-yet-unknown corrosive elements in the recoil liquid. Two equilibrators assist the elevation process. The gun has provision on the left-hand side for mounting a panoramic sight. The gun is elevated using a handwheel and traversed using a wheel on the left side of the saddle. The gun layers and loaders seats are both mounted on steel frames which fold horizontally against the side of the gun for travelling. The wooden seats have largely perished, with only small portions of timber surviving around the bolts which formerly held the seats in place.

Firing platform: The gun is mounted on a box steel pedestal, which is mounted upon a circular steel-plate platform roughly 1.9m in diameter. The two sides of the platform are hinged, with the sides folding up for transportation. The platform is constructed from 6mm steel, with a non-slip pattern stamped into the surface. The platform is supported by angle iron underneath. The gun's mounting allowed for a full circle of 360 degrees traverse, and elevation from horizontal to 85 degrees. The gun was operated from its four-wheeled transporter, with two support arms pivoting down to the ground to provide stability when firing. While travelling the weight of the equipment is transmitted to the axle through leaf springs.

Transportation carriage. The carriage comprises two axle units, fore and aft. Each axle mounts two steel wheels with steel tyres. Each wheel is protected with a thin sheet metal mud guard. The fore axle unit mounts two crew seats, one over each wheel. The rear axle unit mounts four crew seats, with two on each side of the gun. All crew seats face forward, and each crew position is fitted with a wooden backrest. Mounted between the two forward seats of the rear axle is a large circular hand wheel, which operates via a worm screw to set a brake on the rear wheels. The wheels and axle arrangement are not able to be detached from the gun carriage.

The entire gun is painted in a sand-pink enamel. The most recent coating was applied in November 1977 (see photographs 044085 and 044086). This coating is considerably worn, with large losses particularly evident on the crew seat positions. There does not appear to be any obvious evidence of original paint surviving. The gun does not appear to have sustained any battle damage. The gun weighs 2 1/4 tonnes, and the complete equipment mounted on its four-wheeled transporter, is 9 3/4 tonnes.

Contextual Description

The Krupp 8 cm anti-aircraft gun was the forerunner of the famous Second World War 88mm Flak 18/36, and at first glance appears very similar to it.

The gun was developed from research conducted by Krupp into improving anti-aircraft guns to take account of the greater speeds and altitudes being achieved by aircraft as the war progressed. This gun was captured by the Australian Light Horse in Palestine in 1918.

Details

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918

Places

• Palestine

Units

• German Army
• Turkish Army

Tags

• Artillery