8.8 "88" Flak 37 in action.

My father was sniper with the 2nd armored div 42 armored infantry.

One of his jobs was to go out in front of the tanks and find these 88s and pick off the gun crews to keep them from firing.

The first one he would pick off was the gun captain. Then his replacement.

Most of the time the rest of the gun crew did not have enough experience in the gun captains seat to be effective.

a reply to: ANNED

The 88 was always one of my favorite WW2 weapons. I can't believe that it started out as an AA gun. It would just shred any airplane it hit. Looks to be very accurate in anti tank role.

originally posted by: pteridine
a reply to: eNumbra The Sherman Firefly, which mounted a British 17 pound anti-tank gun, was a much greater threat to the German tanks and still maintained the speed and maneuverability of the Sherman. en.wikipedia.org...

Yes, it was also an English development at a later point in the war and had nothing to do with the initial design purposes of the Sherman Tank.

The M4 Sherman had a lot of upgraded designs well after its initial deployment.

originally posted by: PickledOnion
Kind of looks odd though when you see a fat American with a baseball cap on shouting 'fire in the hole!' using it. (No offense to baseball cap wearing fat Americans).

>.<

We don't all wear "Baseball caps"

I wonder why 'fire in the hold' morphed into 'fire in the hole' ? what hole ? where ?

originally posted by: pikestaff
I wonder why 'fire in the hold' morphed into 'fire in the hole' ? what hole ? where ?

"Fire in the hole" is a warning that an explosive detonation in a confined space is imminent. It originated with miners, who needed to warn their fellows that a charge had been set.

Fire in the Hole
Then there is this, which I think is accurate historically:

The first cannons developed were discharged, shot or exploded by placing a flaming torch to a small hole packed with gunpowder and leading to the main powder charge. This caused the main charge to explode, propelling the cannon ball to the enemy, or sometimes, blowing up the cannon and all standing nearby. Hence, fire in the hole was both a command to the torch man, and a warning to all around. Over time cannons improved; they became safer, with no hole or fire needed. The command was reduced to fire, while the full phrase fire in the hole became a general warning for the use of explosive weapons.

Definitions.net

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: IanFleming

Cool.

That was the most dreaded anti-tank weapon of the Second world war. Bar none.

When it was mounted on the Tiger, and King Tiger tanks? It would have been a world beater had the Germans had more of them... Thank goodness they didn't.

Great all around weapon system.

Not really, the Maybach engine was underpowered there was not enough hard metals for gear trains, slow moving, no bridges at that time could take them, bl==dy expensive in time and materials/labour.

The famous '88' I hope the owners when making their solid shot fit driving bands to them, such as copper or sintered steel, dont want the rifling wearing down too quickly, the barrel could 'kink' and jam the shot, and therefore blow the breach out, or split the barrel, both 'catastrophic' .

Doing some research. Empty brass shells for the gun are going around $400 each.

A refurbished 1942 M1 57mm anti-tank gun is going around $70,000, so I guess a working Flak 37 would be much more.


They are very rare:

PAUL ALLEN IS STARING UP AT THE BARREL of an enormous gun–more like a cannon and more than twice his height. In the newly opened second hangar of his Flying Heritage Collection, the billionaire Microsoft cofounder points at an 88mm Flak 37, Nazi Germany’s most feared piece of artillery during World War II. Allen owns three of the estimated two dozen left in the world, and his are all in full working order.

[url=http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/06/04/inside-microsoft-mogul-paul-allens-multi-million-dollar-wwii-airplane-collection/]Forbes[/url ]