The First Anti-Aircraft Gun — The Krupp Balloon Gun,In 1870 France and Prussia went to war, a
The First Anti-Aircraft Gun — The Krupp Balloon Gun,In 1870 France and Prussia went to war, a war that would decide the fate of empires and a unified Germany. The war went badly for France, as the well organized and coordinated Prussian Army easily outmaneuvered the French, destroying the French Army and forcing the French Emperor Napoleon III to abdicate. By 1871 the Prussian Army had laid siege to Paris, surrounding the city and preventing all goods, personnel, and communications from entering or leaving the city.Cut off from the rest of France, the French came up with a brilliant way to maintain communications with the rest of the country. Using lighter than air hydrogen balloons the French began smuggling messages and goods to and from the city. Originally the Prussians tried to shoot down the balloons using conventional artillery, but the guns could not fire at an angle sufficient to fire at the aircraft. To counter the new use of balloons, Germany’s famous artillery company, Krupp, developed a new gun specially designed to shoot down the balloons.The Krupp balloon gun consisted of a 20mm cannon that was mounted on a traversing mechanism with the gun pointing skyward. The gun and mechanism was further mounted upon a cart for transportation. With the traversing mechanism a gunner was easily able to aim and fire at aircraft. The gun fired explosive shells, which would have easily ignited the highly combustible hydrogen gas in the balloon. Without any countermeasures to the gun, the slow moving balloons were terribly vulnerable to the Krupp balloon gun.The Krupp balloon gun continued to be used after the war up until World War I. By then the gun had been modified with many changes such as a new traversing mechanism, a caliber upgrade up to 37mm, and new transportation methods such as trucks and automobiles. The Krupp balloon gun would be replaced during World War I, as new more powerful and effective anti-aircraft weapons were developed. -- source link
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