The most powerful machine guns in the world. Aviation machine gun shkas

ShKAS turret version

Description

The adoption of the 7.62-mm ShKAS aircraft machine gun into service in 1932 opened a new page in the history of development small arms not only in the USSR, but throughout the world. The ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire machine gun) was specially designed for use in aviation. It was not a conversion of any land model into an aircraft model, but was a completely independent design.

Vehicles equipped with these weapons

I-153 M-62, I-153-M62 Zhukovsky
Su-2 M-82, Su-2 MV-5, Su-2 TSS-1
and many other Soviet aircraft.

Main characteristics

In total, 3 types of ShKAS machine guns were adopted:

Name	Weight/rate of fire	Initial Speed bullets	Description
ShKAS (t) - turret	10.5 kg / 1800 shots/min	825-830 m/s	Turret, first modification.
ShKAS (k) - wing	9.8 kg / 1800 shots/min	825-830 m/s	The wing-mounted ShKAS machine gun was interchangeable with the turret machine gun and had only those differences that were dictated by ease of use. The charging handle in it was replaced by a cable mechanism.
ShKAS (s) - synchronous	11.1 kg / 1650 shots/min	850-870 m/s	A synchronized version of the ShKAS machine gun was created in 1936 by designers V.N. Salishchev, K.N. Rudnev and V.P. Kotov. Distinctive feature The design of the synchronous mechanism of this machine gun was to transfer all its main parts, with the exception of the firing pin and cocking lever, from the bolt to the receiver. Increasing the barrel length reduced the rate of fire, but increased initial speed bullets.

Composition of tapes

ShKAS (k) and ShKAS (s):

Title of the tape	Compound	Description
Standard	T-P-P-BZ-PZ	The standard belt, available immediately upon purchase of the aircraft, has a low armor-piercing and incendiary effect, which is somewhat compensated by the high rate of fire of the weapon. It contains tracer bullets, which allows for more accurate shooting, but unmasks you.
Universal option	T-BZ-PZ-BZT	Suitable for attacks on almost all targets. Excellently sets fire to enemies, both armored bombers and early biplanes with canvas covering.
Tracer	BZT	A tape consisting entirely of BZT rounds. Great for studying bullet flight ballistics. Effective against all types of targets.
Sneak Attack	BZ-BZ-BZ-PZ	The most effective tape, however, requires shooting skill and knowledge of weapon ballistics. Option for experienced players.

ShKAS (t):

Types of ammunition used:

1 - sighting bullet
2 - tracer bullet
3 - armor-piercing incendiary bullet
4 - sighting-incendiary bullet
5 - armor-piercing incendiary tracer bullet

P- a sighting bullet, as can be seen in the image - an all-metal bullet. In game conditions it has the least damaging effect.

T- a tracer bullet, a bullet with a tracer compound pressed into the bottom, and therefore has slightly worse ballistics, but allows for much more accurate firing, thanks to a noticeable smoke trail.

BZ- Armor-piercing incendiary bullet, a bullet that combines armor-piercing and incendiary action, the most effective bullet presented in the game, having good ballistics, allows you to penetrate lightly armored targets, including bomber tanks, engine nacelles and armored glass of the pilot's cockpit. At the same time, it does not have the unmasking effect of tracer bullets.

PZ- The sighting-incendiary bullet, without having an armor-piercing effect, perfectly sets fire to the canvas and plywood covering of early aircraft, but is ineffective against any type of armor.

BZT- An armor-piercing incendiary tracer bullet, actually the same BZ ammunition with an additional tracer effect, has slightly worse ballistics than conventional BZ bullets.

As can be seen from the comparison, the “slowest” ShKAS (s) fires faster than any of its competitors by at least 500 rounds per minute.

ShKAS also boasts good reliability, thanks to its drum mechanics, unique system of cartridge feeding and case extraction, however, shooting in long bursts was not recommended, because barrel wear increased significantly.

It is worth noting that ShKAS was developed specifically as an aviation one, while the main analogues were an adaptation infantry machine guns for installation on aircraft.

Use in combat

Most effective this type weapons against light enemy fighters, at a firing distance of no more than 350 (maximum 400) meters, when firing at long distances indicated - the bullet loses energy, and therefore its destructive effect. Also, the tactics of use depend on the type and location of installation of machine guns:

ShKAS (c), i.e. synchronous, installed on the nose of the aircraft, which ensures high accuracy of shooting at extreme distances, without worrying about the aiming distance, as the main weapon is installed only on early USSR aircraft, the most prominent representatives of which are the I-16 “Ishak” and the I-153 “Chaika”. It is recommended to fire at fighters in bursts of 1-2 seconds. When attacking bombers, it is worth targeting vulnerable points such as engines, crew, tanks. Even despite the high rate of fire, attacks on the bomber's body are ineffective, which is typical for all rifle-caliber machine guns.

ShKAS (k)- wing. Similar to the above described ShKAS (c), only adjusted for the convergence distance.

ShKAS (t)- turret. Thanks to its high rate of fire, it is a good defensive weapon in the early stages of the game. It is recommended to open fire at a distance of no more than 600m; it is better to fire at the engine, wings and pilot of the enemy vehicle.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

High rate of fire;
High reliability;
Low recoil;
Good accuracy of fire;
Large ammunition capacity;
Fast reloading of turret machine guns;
Good selection of tapes.

Flaws:

Low efficiency at a distance of more than 400 meters;
Low effectiveness against later aircraft;
Low flatness of the bullet flight path.

Historical reference

For the first time ShKAS were used on Soviet fighters in air battles in November 1936 over Madrid (at the same time SB bombers, also carrying ShKAS, fought in the skies of Spain). A year later, I-15 and I-16 armed with them fought with Japanese aircraft over China. ShKAS proved themselves both in the battles at Khalkhin Gol and in the Soviet-Finnish war. However, by the beginning of the 40s, the increase in passive protection of aircraft (reservation of crew seats, protection of gas tanks) led to the fact that the effectiveness of rifle-caliber machine guns, including ShKAS, in the fight against enemy aircraft sharply decreased; they could destroy the enemy aircraft only with very large number hits.

After the war, B. G. Shpitalny wrote: “When our valiant troops, who took Berlin by storm, burst into the office of the Third Reich, among the numerous trophies captured in the office there was, at first glance, an unusual-looking sample of a weapon, carefully covered with a glass cover, and a piece of paper with Hitler's personal signature. Experts who arrived to inspect this sample were surprised to find a Tula ShKAS-7.62 aircraft machine gun under glass, and Hitler’s personal order with it, stating that the Tula machine gun would be in the office until German specialists created the same machine gun for fascist aviation. As we know, the Nazis never managed to do this. German specialists were unable to reveal all the secrets of the Tula machine gun.” For the ShKAS machine gun, under the leadership of N. M. Elizarov, cartridges were developed that had tracer, incendiary and combined action armor-piercing incendiary bullets capable of igniting gasoline tanks protected by armor. In these cartridges, to prevent the cartridge from being dismantled (dismantled) at a huge rate of fire of 30-50 rounds per second, the walls of the cartridge case are thickened, the fastening of the primer in the socket is strengthened, and a double ring crimp of the bullet is introduced in the barrel of the cartridge case. At the bottom of the cartridge case for ShKAS machine guns, in addition to the standard designations, the letter “Ш” was placed. The capsule is painted red. Otherwise, the coloring is standard for the corresponding types of bullets. Cartridges intended for infantry weapons could not be used in ShKAS machine guns. The cartridges for the ShKAS machine gun were the world's first aviation cartridges, just as the ShKAS itself was the world's first aviation ion machine gun.

Media

ShKAS turret machine gun

ShKAS device (t)

Installation of a ShKAS (k) machine gun in the wing of an IL-2 attack aircraft

The shooter fires from ShKAS (t)

Appearance and short description ShKAS (t) machine gun on the spread of the magazine "Technique of Youth"

Links

· Aviation machine guns
America	7.62mm: Browning
	12.7 mm:

Since the advent of firearms, the military has been concerned with increasing their rate of fire. Since the 15th century, gunsmiths have tried to achieve this in the only way available at that time - by increasing the number of barrels.

Such multi-barreled guns were called organs or ribodeckens. However, the name “rapid-firing” did not suit such systems: although it was possible to simultaneously fire a salvo from large quantity barrels, further reloading required a lot of time. And with the advent of buckshot, multi-barreled guns completely lost their meaning. But in the 19th century they were revived again - thanks to a man who, with the best intentions, wanted to reduce combat losses

In the second half of the 19th century, the military was extremely puzzled by the decline in the effectiveness of artillery against infantry. For the usual shot with buckshot, it was necessary to bring the enemy within 500-700 m, and the new long range rifles, which entered service with the infantry, simply did not allow this to be done. However, the invention of the unitary cartridge marked a new direction in the development of firearms: increasing the rate of fire. As a result, several options for solving the problem appeared almost simultaneously. The French gunsmith de Reffy designed a mitrailleuse, consisting of 25 fixed barrels of 13 mm caliber, capable of firing up to 5-6 salvoes per minute. In 1869, the Belgian inventor Montigny improved this system, increasing the number of barrels to 37. But mitrailleuses were very bulky and were not particularly widespread. A fundamentally different solution was required.

Good Doctor

Richard Gatling was born on September 12, 1818 in Hartford County (Connecticut) into a farmer's family. Since childhood, he was interested in inventing, helping his father repair agricultural equipment. Richard received his first patent (for a seeder) at the age of 19. But, despite his hobby, he decided to become a doctor and in 1850 he graduated Medical College in Cincinnati. However, the passion for invention won out. In the 1850s, Gatling invented several mechanical seeders and a new propeller system, but most famous invention did it later. On November 4, 1862, he received patent number 36,836 for a design that forever inscribed his name in the history of weapons - the Revolving Battery Gun. Nevertheless, the author of the deadly invention, as befits a doctor, had the best feelings for humanity. Gatling himself wrote about it this way: “If I could create mechanical system shooting, which, thanks to its rate of fire, would allow one person to replace a hundred shooters on the battlefield, the need for large armies would be eliminated, which would lead to a significant reduction in human losses.” (After Gatling’s death, Scientific American published an obituary that included the following words: “This man had no equal in kindness and warmth. He believed that if the war became even more terrible, the people would finally lose the desire to resort to weapons.”)

Gatling's merit did not lie in the fact that he was the first to make a multi-barreled weapon - as already noted, multi-barreled systems were no longer a novelty by that time. And it’s not that he arranged the barrels “revolver-style” (this design was widely used in hand-held firearms). Gatling designed an original mechanism for feeding cartridges and ejecting cartridges. A block of several barrels was rotated around its axis, under the influence of gravity the cartridge from the tray entered the barrel at the top point, then a shot was fired using the firing pin, and with further rotation from the barrel at the bottom point, again under the influence of gravity, the cartridge case was extracted. The drive of this mechanism was manual; using a special handle, the shooter rotated the block of barrels and fired. Of course, such a scheme was not yet fully automatic, but it had a number of advantages. At first, mechanical reloading was more reliable than automatic reloading: weapons of early designs constantly jammed. But even this simple mechanics ensured a fairly high rate of fire for those times. The barrels overheated and became contaminated with soot (which was a significant problem since black powder was widely used at the time) much slower than single-barrel weapons.

Machine guns

The Gatling system usually consisted of 4 to 10 barrels of 12-40 mm caliber and allowed firing at a distance of up to 1 km with a rate of fire of about 200 rounds per minute. In terms of firing range and rate of fire, it was superior to conventional artillery pieces. In addition, the Gatling system was quite cumbersome and was usually placed on carriages from light guns, so it was considered artillery weapons, and it was often not entirely correctly called a “shotgun” (in fact, this weapon is correctly called a machine gun). Before the adoption of the Petersburg Convention of 1868, which prohibited the use of explosive projectiles weighing less than 1 pound, there were Gatling guns and large caliber, firing explosive shells and shrapnel.

There was a Civil War in America, and Gatling offered his weapons to the northerners. However, the Ordnance Department was inundated with proposals for the use of new types of weapons from various inventors, so despite the successful demonstration, Gatling failed to receive an order. True, some copies of the Gatling machine gun did see a little battle at the end of the war, proving themselves to be quite good. After the war, in 1866, the American government nevertheless placed an order for 100 copies of the Gatling gun, which were produced by Colt under the Model 1866 label. Such guns were installed on ships, and they were also adopted by the armies of other countries. British troops used Gatling guns in 1883 to quell a rebellion in Port Said, Egypt, where the weapon earned a fearsome reputation. Russia also became interested in it: the Gatling gun was adapted here by Gorlov and Baranovsky for the Berdanov cartridge and put into service. Later, the Gatling system was repeatedly improved and modified by the Swede Nordenfeld, the American Gardner, and the British Fitzgerald. Moreover, we were talking not only about machine guns, but also about small-caliber cannons - a typical example is the 37-mm five-barreled Hotchkiss gun, adopted by the Russian fleet in 1881 (a 47-mm version was also produced).

But the monopoly on rate of fire did not last long - soon the name “machine gun” was assigned to automatic weapons that worked on the principles of using powder gases and recoil for reloading. The first such weapon was the Hiram Maxim machine gun, which used smokeless powder. This invention pushed the Gatlings into the background, and then completely forced them out of the armies. The new single-barrel machine guns had a significantly higher rate of fire, were easier to manufacture and less bulky.

Eruption"

Ironically, the revenge of the Gatlings over single-barreled automatic guns took place more than half a century later, after the Korean War, which became a real testing ground for jet aircraft. Despite their fierceness, the battles between the F-86 and MiG-15 showed the low effectiveness of the artillery weapons of the new jet fighters, which migrated from their piston ancestors. Aircraft of that time were armed with entire batteries of several barrels with calibers ranging from 12.7 to 37 mm. All this was done in order to increase the second salvo: after all, a continuously maneuvering enemy aircraft was kept in sight for only a fraction of a second and to defeat it it was necessary to create a short time enormous density of fire. At the same time, single-barrel guns almost reached the “design” limit of rate of fire - the barrel overheated too quickly. An unexpected solution came naturally: the American corporation General Electric began experiments with... old guns Gatling, taken from museums. The block of barrels was spun by an electric motor, and the 70-year-old gun immediately produced a rate of fire of more than 2000 rounds per minute (interestingly, there is evidence of the installation of an electric drive on Gatling guns back in late XIX century; this made it possible to achieve a rate of fire of several thousand rounds per minute - but at that time such an indicator was not in demand). The development of the idea was the creation of a gun that opened an entire era in the arms industry - the M61A1 Vulcan.

The Vulcan is a six-barreled gun weighing 190 kg (without ammunition), 1800 mm long, 20 mm caliber and 6000 rounds per minute. The Vulcan automation operates using an external electric drive with a power of 26 kW. Ammunition supply is linkless, carried out from a drum magazine with a capacity of 1000 shells along a special sleeve. Spent cartridges are returned to the magazine. This decision was made after an incident with the F-104 Starfighter, when spent cartridges ejected by the cannon were thrown back by the air flow and severely damaged the fuselage of the aircraft. The enormous rate of fire of the gun also led to unforeseen consequences: the vibrations that arose during firing forced a change in the rate of fire in order to eliminate resonance of the entire structure. The recoil of the gun also brought a surprise: in one of the test flights of the ill-fated F-104, during firing, the Vulcan fell off the carriage and, continuing to shoot, turned the entire nose of the aircraft with shells, while the pilot miraculously managed to eject. However, after correcting these shortcomings, the US military received a light and reliable weapon that has served faithfully for decades. M61 guns are used on many aircraft and in anti-aircraft complex Mk.15 Phalanx, designed to destroy low-flying aircraft and cruise missiles. Based on the M61A1, a six-barreled rapid-fire machine gun M134 Minigun with a caliber of 7.62 mm was developed, thanks to computer games and filming in numerous films, becoming the most famous among all “Gatlings”. The machine gun is designed for installation on helicopters and ships.

The most powerful gun with a rotating barrel block was the American GAU-8 Avenger, designed for installation on the A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft. The 30-mm seven-barreled cannon is designed to fire primarily at ground targets. It uses two types of ammunition: high-explosive fragmentation shells PGU-13/B and armor-piercing PGU-14/B with an increased initial speed with a depleted uranium core. Since the gun and the aircraft were originally designed specifically for each other, firing from the GAU-8 does not lead to severe disruption of the A-10's controllability. When designing the aircraft, it was also taken into account that powder gases from the gun should not enter the engines. aircraft(this may lead to their stopping) - special reflectors are installed for this. But during the operation of the A-10, it was noticed that unburned powder particles settle on the blades of engine turbochargers and reduce thrust, and also lead to increased corrosion. To prevent this effect, electric afterburners are built into the aircraft's engines. The ignition devices are switched on automatically when the fire is opened. At the same time, according to the instructions, after each ammunition fired, the A-10 engines must be washed to remove soot. Although the gun did not show high efficiency during combat use, the psychological effect of use was great - when a stream of fire literally pours from the sky, it is very, very scary...

Soviet response

In the USSR, work on rapid-fire guns began with the development of shipborne short-range air defense systems. The result was the creation of a family of anti-aircraft guns designed at the Tula Precision Instrumentation Design Bureau. 30-mm AK-630 cannons still form the basis of the air defense of our ships, and the modernized machine gun is part of the naval anti-aircraft missile and gun complex"Dirk".

Our country realized late the need to have an analogue of the Vulcan in service, so almost ten years passed between the tests of the GSh-6−23 cannon and the decision to adopt it for service. The rate of fire of the GSh-6−23, which is installed on the Su-24 and MiG-31 aircraft, is 9000 rounds per minute, and the initial rotation of the barrels is carried out by standard PPL squibs (and not electric or hydraulic drives, as in American analogues), which made it possible significantly increase the reliability of the system and simplify its design. After the squib is fired and the first projectile is fired, the barrel block spins up using the energy of the powder gases removed from the barrel channels. The cannon can be fed with shells either linkless or link-based.

The 30-mm GSh-6−30 gun was designed on the basis of the AK-630 shipborne anti-aircraft gun. With a rate of fire of 4,600 rounds per minute, it is capable of sending a 16-kilogram salvo at a target in 0.25 seconds. According to eyewitnesses, a 150-round burst from the GSh-6−30 resembled a clap of thunder more than a burst, and the plane was enveloped in a bright fiery glow. This gun, which had excellent accuracy, was installed on MiG-27 fighter-bombers instead of the standard GSh-23 double-barreled gun. The use of the GSh-6−30 against ground targets forced the pilots to exit the dive sideways in order to protect themselves from fragments of their own shells, which rose to a height of 200 m. The huge recoil force also caused criticism: unlike its American “colleague” A-10, the MiG- 27 was not originally designed for such powerful artillery. Therefore, due to vibrations and shocks, equipment failed, aircraft components were deformed, and in one of the flights, after a long line in the pilot’s cockpit, the instrument panel fell off - the pilot had to return to the airfield, holding it in his hands.

Firearms Gatling schemes are practically the limit of the rate of fire of mechanical weapon systems. Despite the fact that modern high-speed single-barrel guns use liquid barrel cooling, which significantly reduces its overheating, systems with a rotating barrel block are still more suitable for long-term firing.

The effectiveness of the Gatling scheme makes it possible to successfully carry out the tasks assigned to the weapon, and this weapon rightfully occupies a place in the arsenals of all armies of the world.

In addition, this is one of the most spectacular and cinematic types of weapons. Firing a Gatling gun in itself is an excellent special effect, and the menacing appearance of the barrels spinning before firing made these guns the most memorable weapon in Hollywood action films and computer games.

The page is not finished yet!

Main characteristics of the aviation machine gun of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky system (ShKAS)

Characteristic	Turret	Krylevoy	Synchronous
Caliber, mm	7.62
Automation operating principle	Removal of powder gases
Nutrition	Tape (loose metal strip)
Locking	Shutter skew
Initial bullet speed, m/s	775-825	775-825	800-850
Rate of fire, rds/min	1800	1800	Before 1650
Machine gun weight, kg	10.5	9.8	11.1
Muzzle energy, kgm	329	329	353.5
Muzzle power, kgm/s	329	329	353.5
On what types of aircraft was it installed?	Il-4, Pe-8, Er-2, SB, DB-3, U-2	I-16, Il-2	I-16, I-153, LaGG-3, Yak-1, Yak-7

Boris Gavriilovich Shpitalny (1902-1972) was born in Rostov-on-Don into the family of a mechanic. In 1908 he moved to Moscow, where he graduated from a technical school, and in 1927 he graduated from the Moscow Mechanical Institute named after M.V. Lomonosov, majoring in aviation engineering, after which he worked at the Scientific Automotive Institute (NAMI). In 1934-1953 Shpitalny is the head and chief designer of the Special Design Bureau, then a professor at the Moscow Institute of Geodesy, Aerial Photography and Cartography Engineers. Shpitalny began to engage in design activities immediately after graduating from the institute and soon created a 7.62-mm rapid-firing aircraft machine gun, which was put into service Air Force under the name ShKAS. Subsequently, the rate of fire of this machine gun was further increased in the UltraShKAS system. The ShKAS machine gun also served as the basis for the creation of the 12.7 mm ShVAK heavy machine gun. Shpitalny also made a valuable contribution to the design of aviation cannon armament. Shpitalny also owns some theoretical studies: “Rules for calculating the most advantageous size ratios in samples”, “The most rational design of the mechanisms of a large rapid-fire machine gun”, etc. The Soviet government highly appreciated Shpitalny’s services to the Motherland, awarding him the title of Hero of Socialist Labor , he was twice awarded the State Prize of the USSR, he was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of Suvorov, III degree, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Red Star, as well as medals. Od Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor. B. G. Shpitalny developed a desire for invention from teenage years. A natural interest in everything unusual, surprising, sometimes bordering on the fantastic, left a peculiar imprint on his entire life and determined future fate. Back in 1920, while working as a mechanic at one of the factories, Shpitalny set out to make a high-speed machine gun. But at that time he did not have the necessary experience and lacked knowledge. After graduating from the institute, the young engineer began to implement his plan and soon presented a project for such a machine gun, which attracted attention with its exceptional courage in solving a number of complex issues in the design of automatic weapons. When the project was ready, to assist Shpitalny in finalizing the sample and speedily manufacturing it, an experienced weapons designer I. A. Komaritsky was seconded to him (GATO, f. 230, op. 5, d. 824, l. 51.) Irinarkh Andreevich Komaritsky (1891-1971) was born in Tula. In 1908 he graduated from the Tula Trade School, where he remained to work as a foreman. In 1910 he entered the Tula Weapons Technical School and subsequently taught a course in hand firearms and bladed weapons there for five years. In 1918 he moved to the arms factory as deputy head of the workshop, and in 1920 he was sent to the Council military industry. Being on various leadership positions Komaritsky was actively involved in rationalization and invention. He made a significant contribution to the modernization of the 7.62 mm rifle mod. 1891 and in the creation of the 7.62-mm ShKAS machine gun. For participation in the creation of new types of weapons and improvement of existing models, I. A. Komaritsky was awarded the USSR State Prize and he was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, as well as medals. After the Great Patriotic War Komaritsky took part in the development of a new design of a prosthesis for war invalids, for which he was awarded the USSR State Prize for the second time. The first sample of a high-speed aircraft machine gun, created by Shpitalny with the participation of Komaritsky, was manufactured at the end of 1930. It was the world's first purely aviation system, which immediately put our country in first place in this field of weapons. At the beginning of 1932, the final debugging of the design was completed, and on February 13, 1932, the Artillery Department issued an order for the production of 7 machine guns. In early June 1932, the machine gun was presented to K. E. Voroshilov. A representative of Ruzhtrest, I.A. Glotov, who was present, writes in his memoirs: “At the demonstration of the machine gun, explanations were given

#t V. G. Shpitalny and I. A. Komaritsky, as well as the representative of the Air Force comrade. Ponomarev. At the end of the demonstration of the machine gun, by prior agreement with the inventors, I proposed to test it by shooting at the local shooting range of the 1st House of the Revolutionary Military Council, to which K. E. Voroshilov gave his consent. With some understandable excitement, I. A. Komaritsky stood behind the machine gun, and the shooting, opened at the command of the People's Commissar of Defense, seemed to merge into one powerful barrage of shots... All the mechanisms of the ShKAS machine gun functioned flawlessly when firing... This is the result of an unscheduled test machine gun received approval from K.E. Voroshilov. He congratulated the inventors on achieved success..." On June 22, 1932, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR adopted a special resolution "On the work of engineer Shpitalny." The resolution stated: “1. Celebrate the successful completion of the development and construction of the 7.62 mm super-rapid-firing aircraft machine gun engineer. Spital, giving up to 2000 rounds per minute during trouble-free shooting. 2. Suggest to the head of the GAU of the Red Army: a) complete all tests of the machine gun within a month and submit it for service by 15/VII; b) immediately issue an order to industry for 100 machine guns of the Shpitalny system with their manufacture in 1932; c) within a month, together with the head of the Red Army Air Force, work out the issue of a plan for the introduction of Shpitalny machine guns on combat aircraft and proposals to be submitted for approval by the RVSS. 3. Attaching exceptional importance to the design of the engineer. Shditalny, to begin work on them in the shortest possible time” (VIMAIVS, SO, d. 675, l. 76.).

On July 14, 1932, the machine gun was approved by the government, which decided to speed up its development and submit it for state testing. On October 7, 1932, the Revolutionary Military Council approved the results of field testing of the machine gun and on October 11, 1932, adopted a resolution on its adoption under the name “7.62-mm aviation rapid-fire machine gun of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky system.” 1932 ShKAS (Shpitalny - Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire) "(VIMAIVS, f. 6r, op. 1, d. 56, l. 9.). In their system, the designers used new principle construction of automation based on the removal of part of the powder gases. Gases passing through the chamber closed type, exert pressure on the piston connected directly to the rod, which sets the system in motion. This principle of automation was later used to create a number of successful designs. The barrel bore is locked by tilting the bolt downwards. The trigger mechanism operates from a recoil spring. The trigger mechanism ensures only continuous fire. It is equipped with a flag-type fuse that locks the sear. The cartridges are fed from a metal link detachable tape. The mechanism for feeding the tape to the drum-type receiver is driven by the bolt frame. Extraction of the spent cartridge case is carried out by the bolt legs, and its reflection is carried out by a movable reflector connected to the bolt frame rod. The machine gun is equipped with spring buffers for the bolt frame and bolt. The high rate of fire in the ShKAS machine gun is achieved due to the short stroke of the moving parts of the automation and the combination of a number of reloading operations. To avoid dismantling the cartridge, its removal from the belt link is carried out in ten cycles of automatic operation, which is achieved through a screw groove on the gear casing. To soften shocks when moving parts are seated on the sear after the end of the line, the sear has a buffer spring. Shpitalny and Komaritsky managed to create an original design, in which, for the first time in world weapons practice, a number of bold solutions were implemented: continuous power supply of a special device, a multi-core return spring of high survivability, etc. Despite its low weight and compactness, the machine gun had exceptional at a fast pace firing rate - 1800 rounds/min, which has not been achieved in any foreign model of automatic weapon. Thus, the American Colt-Browning MZ machine gun, the English Vickers machine gun, the French Darna machine gun, the German MG-15 machine gun and others, having approximately the same mass and caliber as the Soviet model, and an equal or lower muzzle velocity, gave a rate of fire 900-1100 shots/min. For the ShKAS machine gun, under the leadership of N. M. Elizarov, cartridges were developed that had tracer, incendiary and combined action armor-piercing incendiary bullets capable of igniting gasoline tanks protected by armor. Nikolai Mikhailovich Elizarov (1895-1955) was born in Kronstadt into the family of a military official. Graduated cadet corps in St. Petersburg, after which he continued his studies at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. After graduating from college with the rank of ensign, he was sent as a combat commander to an artillery division in the city of Dvinsk. At the beginning of the First World War, he was a platoon commander of a light battery at the front. In 1918 he joined the ranks of the Red Army, participated in battles first as an artillery division commander, and then as an assistant division artillery chief until graduation. civil war. From 1922 he worked at the headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District. In 1926 he entered the Artillery Academy named after F. E. Dzerzhinsky, after which from 1930 to 1935 he worked in the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Main Artillery Directorate. In 1935, he was transferred to the reserve and sent to work in industry; he worked as a technologist and head of a pilot plant workshop. In 1941 he was appointed head of the technical control department, and in 1947 - chief designer of the research institute. For the development of a number of new types of ammunition, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree, the Red Star and medals. He was awarded the USSR State Prize. Cartridges for the ShKAS machine gun greatly increased its effectiveness. They were the world's first aviation cartridges.

#t With all the advantages of the ShKAS system machine guns, their first releases were made according to drawings prototype, had insufficient survivability - about 1500-2000 shots. The Soviet government, giving an order for the first large batch of machine guns in March 1933, proposed that the designers increase their survivability, bringing it to 5,000 rounds.

The government's task was completed in a short time, and in April 1933, Shpitalny and Komaritsky presented a model that differed from its predecessor not only in better survivability, but also in some changes that had a positive effect on the simplicity of the machine gun design. In the new model, its main part - the box - was significantly changed; five new parts were introduced instead of thirteen that were eliminated. These alterations entailed a significant number of changes in dimensions and tolerances of mating parts. The production of machine guns according to new drawings began in July 1933. By the end of the year, the production of machine guns was established and moved from the stage of semi-handicraft production to serial production. Now the designers were tasked with adapting the ShKAS system machine gun for use at various points on the aircraft as a turret, synchronized and wing-mounted. Turret and wing versions of the machine gun were created at the beginning of 1934 and on February 17, 1934 they were submitted for approval to the Central Committee of the Party, which approved them and proposed to immediately begin mass production. The installation for the turret machine gun was developed by N. F. Tokarev and presented in February 1934. After successful tests in March 1934 it was put into service. Previous attempts to install ShKAS machine guns on old turrets intended for Degtyarev aircraft machine guns, a much weaker weapon, were unsuccessful due to the strong dispersion of bullets. The wing-mounted ShKAS machine gun was interchangeable with the turret machine gun and had only those differences that were caused by ease of use. The reloading handle in it is replaced by a cable mechanism, and the control handle is replaced by a feeder mechanism. The functions of the fastening ring are performed by the coupling. The end of the barrel is smooth on the outside compared to the barrel of a turret machine gun. The barrel casing is missing the T-shaped slot found in the turret machine gun. Synchronization of the ShKAS machine gun was carried out in 1936 by designers V.N. Salishchev, K.N. Rudnev and V.P. Kotov. A distinctive feature of the design of the synchronous mechanism of this machine gun is the transfer of all its main parts, with the exception of the firing pin and cocking lever, from the bolt to the receiver. By 1936, machine guns of the ShKAS system took a dominant position in the weapon system Soviet aviation. "Pilot aircraft construction and serial production, - wrote K. E. Voroshilov on March 28, 1935 to the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry G. K. Ordzhonikidze, - We are switching to ShKAS machine guns, and in 1936 all serial production aircraft will be produced only with these machine guns.”. The high combat qualities of the ShKAS machine gun were appreciated by the pilots of Republican Spain, where they found their first combat use. Only in the initial period of the battle for Madrid, I-16 aircraft armed with 7.62-mm ShKAS machine guns and 20-mm ShVAK cannons shot down over 350 fascist aircraft with few losses. “ShKAS, when it first appeared on the famous I-16,” Hero wrote in his memoirs Soviet Union Lieutenant General of Aviation F.I. Shinkarenko, “simply amazed each of us with his original design (it was without a single connecting screw) and rate of fire.”(Shinkarenko F.I. Native Sky. Kaliningrad, 1965, p. 38.) As the production of machine guns expands, designers, together with technologists, carry out great job to increase their survivability. The peculiarity of designing automatic weapons is that any insignificant detail can manifest itself in the most unexpected way and force you to remake an already finished system. The recoil spring caused a lot of trouble for the designers. Despite all the measures taken, it often failed, unable to withstand more than 2500-2800 rounds. We tried different types of steel, changed the diameter of the springs and the thickness of the wire, but nothing helped, and after a certain number of shots the shooting had to be stopped to replace the spring. The original solution was found by Shpitalny, who proposed making the spring multi-core, twisted. Such a spring, as tests showed, could withstand many times more load cycles than an ordinary one, ensuring the survivability of the spring at the level of other parts. “On December 24, 1934, testing of the ShKAS machine gun with a twisted three-core return spring was completed,” the test site protocol stated, “at which it was established that the survivability of the tested twisted three-core return spring was equal to 14,000 rounds, while the survivability an ordinary single-core spring of a ShKAS machine gun, tested under similar conditions with a twisted one, is equal to an average of 2500-2800 shots. Thus, the survivability of a twisted three-core return spring is 4.5-5.5 times higher compared to an ordinary single-core spring. This survivability of a twisted three-core spring shows that, provided that the quality of the spring is maintained equal to the tested one, and two spare springs are introduced to the machine gun, the real survivability of the machine gun can be fully ensured" (VIMAIVS, f. 6r, op. 1, d. 620, l. 208. ). Unexpected difficulties caused delays in firing due to the fault of the cartridges. The reason for these delays was not so easy to establish, and to clarify them, an order people's commissar Defense of the USSR even created a special commission. It was headed by Chief Marshal of Artillery N.N. Voronov. “Suddenly out of nowhere, he wrote, Aviation machine guns of the ShKAS system began to misfire frequently. On behalf of the People's Commissar of Defense S.K. Timoshenko, we had to take up this matter. We organized experimental shooting. They showed that all questionable cartridges in ordinary rifles, hand and heavy machine guns ground forces work flawlessly, and in aviation machine guns continue to misfire. It also turned out that there are some batches of cartridges that do not misfire when firing from ShKAS. But no one could establish exactly which ones and why. At the next meeting of the commission, I drew attention to the samples of combat capsules lying on the table. I began to examine them carefully and discovered one detail: the foil at the attachment point with the capsule was coated with black or red varnish. The red varnish was imported, and the black varnish was domestic. New shootings were carried out. Capsules coated with imported varnish did not misfire. The second ones, on the contrary, misfired. All cartridges with black lacquered primers were immediately withdrawn from the Air Force and transferred for use in ground troops. The air force began to be supplied with cartridges with primers coated with red varnish. The commission also proposed conducting a thorough study of domestic varnish. It turned out that our chemists did not finish the job: the varnish they proposed had a harmful effect on the foil. It was proposed to urgently eliminate this defect. Soon a new varnish was created that fully met the requirements for it. The misfires have stopped"(Voronov N. N. In military service, pp. 161-162). As a result of the measures taken, the combat and operational qualities of the ShKAS machine gun were significantly improved, and already in 1935 its survivability was at least 15,000 rounds. A wonderful team of Tula gunsmiths put a lot of effort and energy into organizing the production of ShKAS machine guns, introducing advanced labor methods, and equipping production processes with the latest equipment. Deputy head of the design bureau P.K. Morozenko, head of the Central design bureau P.I. Main, head of the machine gun department N.N. Kostin, engineers A.V. Ivanov, V.I. Silin, V. A. Kazansky, B. M. Pastukhov, P. S. Batov, craftsmen N. A. Morozov, M. I. Filippov, many professional workers. Particularly noteworthy is the director of the plant B.L. Vannikov, “who created at the Tula arms factory, - as noted in one of the government decrees, - mass production of ShKAS machine guns using the in-line method, the first engineer to overcome the ancient traditions of TOZ in the production of weapons, and the author of a number of improvements in the design of aircraft installations"(TSGANH, f. 7916, on. 1, d. 55, l. 100). In his memoirs, Komaritsky noted that Shpitalny and he owed their success to the enormous assistance that they were constantly provided by the Central Committee of the Party and the Soviet government. “For the first time in world weapons technology,” wrote Komaritsky, “this system appeared only in the USSR thanks to the concerns Communist Party and the Soviet government, who constantly provided exceptional attention to our work, creating all the necessary conditions for the successful development of aviation weapons. During 1931-1933 I had the great fortune to be in the Kremlin three times, and each time we received valuable instructions and assistance in carrying out such an important task” (VIMAIVS, f. 6p, on. 1, d. 620, d. 208.). G. K. Ordzhonikidze paid exceptional attention to organizing the gross production of ShKAS machine guns. He repeatedly summoned Shpitalny to report on certain works, gave the necessary instructions to factories, initiated the construction of a special aviation design bureau small arms, equipped with last word technology. Great help M. N. Tukhachevsky, who repeatedly came to Tula for this purpose, assisted in the rapid increase in capacity for the production of ShKAS machine guns. Of great importance in increasing the production of new aircraft machine guns was the decision of the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated May 26, 1937 on the production of machine guns of the ShKAS system and on increasing the capacity for their production. In accordance with this decision, the production of ShKAS machine guns increased sharply starting from 1937, meeting the needs of the rapid increase in the Air Force. The production of all types of machine guns of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky system (turret, wing and synchronous) amounted to 365 units in 1933, 2476 in 1934, 3566 in 1935, 13,005 in 1937, 1938 - 19,687, in 1940 - 34,233 units, i.e. for relatively short term increased almost 100 times. Working to further increase the rate of fire aviation weapons, Soviet designers proved that the high rate of fire achieved in the ShKAS machine gun is not the limit. In 1935, I.V. Savin and A.K. Norov developed a model of a machine gun with a rate of fire of 2800-3000 rounds. Such a high rate of fire was achieved by reducing the time required for a complete reloading cycle by applying the principle of removing powder gases when the barrel moves forward. In 1936, the aviation machine gun of the Savin-Norov (SP) system was successfully tested. On June 8, 1937, the Defense Committee decided to give an order for the serial production of the SP machine gun, giving it the name “7.62-mm rapid-fire aviation machine gun mod. 1937 of the Savin-Norov system.” On May 15, 1937, Shpitalny and Komaritsky completed the production of a prototype of the UltraShKAS machine gun. Having also applied the principle of a moving barrel when moving forward, they achieved the same rate of fire as in the CH machine gun. As a result of military tests that took place in 1938, the Defense Committee on May 13, 1939 decided to adopt the UltraShKAS turret machine gun for service with the Red Army Air Force. UltraShKAS and SN machine guns were installed on fighter aircraft and found combat use during the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. Despite the significant increase in the rate of fire on the UltraShKAS and SN machine guns, the issue of further increasing the rate of fire of aircraft weapons was not removed from the agenda. Designers went in different directions in search of best solutions this problem, some of them have not lost their relevance today. At that time, twin ShKAS machine guns were installed in the bow mounts of high-speed bombers, which had a single trigger that ensured simultaneous firing of two machine guns. The rate of fire of such an installation was equal to the total rate of fire of two machine guns and amounted to 3600-4000 rounds/min. In 1935-1936 K.N. Rudnev, V.N. Polyubin and A.A. Tronenkov developed a “mechanical twin” of ShKAS machine guns, in which the rate of fire of the same machine guns was increased to 6000-6400 rounds/min. Subsequently, N. F. Tokarev and A. A. Volkov also took part in the development and research of the twin, under the direct supervision of the chief designer of one of the design bureaus, M. A. Mamontov (TsGANKh, f. 7537, op. 1, no. 13, l. 111). The operating principle of the new system is to use the energy of powder gases when fired in one machine gun to accelerate the return movement of parts of another machine gun. This was achieved in the following way. In conventional ShKAS machine guns, the roll-up time of the moving parts is almost twice as long as the rollback time. In a mechanical twin, racks were inserted into the pistons of the ShKAS machine guns, which were connected by a gear attached to the installation, which connected the movable systems of both machine guns. As a result, when fired, the movable system of the first machine gun rolls back and, through a gear, moves the movable system of the second machine gun to the extreme forward position, ensuring the firing of a shot in the other machine gun. Thus, the mobile systems of the first and second machine guns are alternately leading and provide the same recoil and forward speeds and a high rate of fire. To prevent premature unlocking of the machine gun when moving parts of the second machine gun moved away from the buffer, the slats in the pistons were able to move longitudinally by 9 mm. In this case, the moving parts of one of the machine guns remained in the extreme forward position, while in the second machine gun they moved forward by 18 mm. This time was enough to eliminate premature unlocking. For firing, the trigger mechanism was located on one of the machine guns. The “mechanical twin” of ShKAS machine guns successfully passed field tests. Along with the high rate of fire, its positive qualities there was simplicity and originality of design, compactness and the absence of bulky parts, the ability to quickly organize production due to minor changes in the ShKAS machine guns manufactured on the basis of gross production. As noted in the documents, it “can be used without significant changes

for wing and turret installations on aircraft, as well as for purposes air defense, in this case it replaces 3 quad installations or 12 Maxim machine guns" (TsGANKh, f. 7537, on. 1, d. 13, l. 110.) In September 1936, "Sparka" was installed on the SB production aircraft and tested in the air. Based on these tests in June 1937 new system was given the name “Mechanical Spark ShKAS (MSSh)”, and the People’s Commissariat of Defense Industry undertook to produce a series of 20 pieces. with installation on SB aircraft for the purpose of military testing (TsGANKh, f. 7515, op. 6, d. 31, l. 1). Subsequently, due to the emerging tendency from the experience of fighting in Spain to arm aircraft with large-caliber machine guns, work on it was stopped and it was not adopted for service.

Apparently, during the Spanish Civil War, the Germans managed to capture several ShKAS machine guns, which caused a lot of trouble for fascist pilots, and they attempted to create a similar system for their own cartridge, which did not have a flange. In the ShKAS machine gun, cartridges were fed as a result of the action of the screw surface on the cartridge flange, i.e., the protrusion of the flange above the side surface of the cartridge case was used. The use of a wafer chuck complicated the system so much that it turned out to be practically unusable. “When our valiant troops, who stormed Berlin, broke into the office of the Third Reich, - wrote B. G. Shpitalny, - Then, among the numerous trophies captured in the chancellery, there was, at first glance, an unusual-looking sample of a weapon, carefully covered with a glass cover, and papers with Hitler’s personal signature. Specialists who arrived to inspect this sample were surprised to find under glass a Tula ShKAS 7.62-mm air machine gun and Hitler’s personal order that was with it, stating that the Tula machine gun would be in the office until German specialists created such a machine gun. a machine gun for fascist aviation. As we know, the Nazis never managed to do this.”(Kommunar, Tula, 1965, May 10).

Sources

D.N. Bolotin Soviet small arms
A.B. Shirokorad History of aviation weapons

ShKAS turret version

Description

The adoption of the 7.62-mm ShKAS aircraft machine gun into service in 1932 opened a new page in the history of the development of small arms not only in the USSR, but throughout the world. The ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire machine gun) was specially designed for use in aviation. It was not a conversion of any land model into an aircraft model, but was a completely independent design.

Vehicles equipped with these weapons

I-153 M-62, I-153-M62 Zhukovsky
Su-2 M-82, Su-2 MV-5, Su-2 TSS-1
and many other Soviet aircraft.

Main characteristics

In total, 3 types of ShKAS machine guns were adopted:

Name	Weight/rate of fire	Initial Speed bullets	Description
ShKAS (t) - turret	10.5 kg / 1800 shots/min	825-830 m/s	Turret, first modification.
ShKAS (k) - wing	9.8 kg / 1800 shots/min	825-830 m/s	The wing-mounted ShKAS machine gun was interchangeable with the turret machine gun and had only those differences that were dictated by ease of use. The charging handle in it was replaced by a cable mechanism.
ShKAS (s) - synchronous	11.1 kg / 1650 shots/min	850-870 m/s	A synchronized version of the ShKAS machine gun was created in 1936 by designers V.N. Salishchev, K.N. Rudnev and V.P. Kotov. A distinctive feature of the design of the synchronous mechanism of this machine gun was the transfer of all its main parts, with the exception of the firing pin and cocking lever, from the bolt to the receiver. Increasing the barrel length reduced the rate of fire, but increased the muzzle velocity.

Composition of tapes

ShKAS (k) and ShKAS (s):

Title of the tape	Compound	Description
Standard	T-P-P-BZ-PZ	The standard belt, available immediately upon purchase of the aircraft, has a low armor-piercing and incendiary effect, which is somewhat compensated by the high rate of fire of the weapon. It contains tracer bullets, which allows for more accurate shooting, but unmasks you.
Universal option	T-BZ-PZ-BZT	Suitable for attacks on almost all targets. Excellently sets fire to enemies, both armored bombers and early biplanes with canvas covering.
Tracer	BZT	A tape consisting entirely of BZT rounds. Great for studying bullet flight ballistics. Effective against all types of targets.
Sneak Attack	BZ-BZ-BZ-PZ	The most effective tape, however, requires shooting skill and knowledge of weapon ballistics. Option for experienced players.

ShKAS (t):

Types of ammunition used:

1 - sighting bullet
2 - tracer bullet
3 - armor-piercing incendiary bullet
4 - sighting-incendiary bullet
5 - armor-piercing incendiary tracer bullet

P- a sighting bullet, as can be seen in the image - an all-metal bullet. In game conditions it has the least damaging effect.

T- a tracer bullet, a bullet with a tracer compound pressed into the bottom, and therefore has slightly worse ballistics, but allows for much more accurate firing, thanks to a noticeable smoke trail.

BZ- Armor-piercing incendiary bullet, a bullet that combines armor-piercing and incendiary action, the most effective bullet presented in the game, having good ballistics, allows you to penetrate lightly armored targets, including bomber tanks, engine nacelles and armored glass of the pilot's cockpit. At the same time, it does not have the unmasking effect of tracer bullets.

PZ- The sighting-incendiary bullet, without having an armor-piercing effect, perfectly sets fire to the canvas and plywood covering of early aircraft, but is ineffective against any type of armor.

BZT- An armor-piercing incendiary tracer bullet, actually the same BZ ammunition with an additional tracer effect, has slightly worse ballistics than conventional BZ bullets.

As can be seen from the comparison, the “slowest” ShKAS (s) fires faster than any of its competitors by at least 500 rounds per minute.

It is worth noting that the ShKAS was developed specifically as an aviation one, while the main analogues were an adaptation of infantry machine guns for installation on aircraft.

Use in combat

This type of weapon is most effective against light enemy fighters, at a firing distance of no more than 350 (maximum 400) meters; when firing at long distances, the bullet loses energy, and therefore its destructive effect. Also, the tactics of use depend on the type and location of installation of machine guns:

ShKAS (k)- wing. Similar to the above described ShKAS (c), only adjusted for the convergence distance.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

High rate of fire;
High reliability;
Low recoil;
Good accuracy of fire;
Large ammunition capacity;
Fast reloading of turret machine guns;
Good selection of tapes.

Flaws:

Low efficiency at a distance of more than 400 meters;
Low effectiveness against later aircraft;
Low flatness of the bullet flight path.

Historical reference

For the first time, ShKAS on Soviet fighters were used in air battles in November 1936 over Madrid (at the same time, SB bombers, also carrying ShKAS, fought in the skies of Spain). A year later, I-15 and I-16 armed with them fought with Japanese aircraft over China. ShKAS proved themselves both in the battles at Khalkhin Gol and in the Soviet-Finnish war. However, by the beginning of the 40s, the increase in passive protection of aircraft (reservation of crew seats, protection of gas tanks) led to the fact that the effectiveness of rifle-caliber machine guns, including ShKAS, in the fight against enemy aircraft sharply decreased; they could destroy the enemy aircraft only with a very large number of hits.

Media

ShKAS turret machine gun

ShKAS device (t)

Installation of a ShKAS (k) machine gun in the wing of an IL-2 attack aircraft

The shooter fires from ShKAS (t)

Appearance and brief description of the ShKAS (t) machine gun on the spread of the magazine "Tekhnika Molodezhi"

Links

· Aviation machine guns
America	7.62mm: Browning
	12.7 mm:

The period from the 30s to the 40s of the last century is perhaps the most interesting in terms of the creation of different types of weapons. In this short period of time, in fact, all types of weapons that are still used today were born: some in a significantly modernized form, and some almost unchanged. One of the areas that made significant progress during this time was, of course, aviation. In particular - fighter. All countries competed to create the fastest, fastest-climbing and most maneuverable aircraft. The USSR also participated in this race and thanks to the efforts genius designer Polikarpov created such advanced fighters for their time as the I-15, and later the I-16. But a fighter is not only the plane itself, but also its weapons: you can’t ram enemy vehicles. And to hit high-speed planes you need a high-speed machine gun. Unfortunately, there were problems with this.

The main machine gun of the Red Army in the thirties was the well-known Maxim. Despite the fact that the machine gun was created already in 1883 and had become morally obsolete, it was still actively used in the army. The second most popular was the no less famous Degtyarev machine gun. Both machine guns were made in different versions: on a machine, on a turret, tank, anti-aircraft, etc. In the absence of an alternative, on the basis of Maxim and Degtyarev they made their aviation modifications, which were called, respectively, PV-1 (Air Machine Gun) and DA (Degtyarev Aviation). Here it turned out that machine guns suitable for infantry were completely unsuitable for aviation. AND main reason- the rate of fire mentioned above.

Let's take the same Maxim. Its maximum rate of fire is 600 rounds per minute. For shelling infantry - it's just for the eyes. That’s why, in fact, it was used in the army throughout the war: yes, it’s inconvenient, outdated, and complicated. But at the same time it fulfills its task. We look at Degtyarev, modern for that time. Its maximum rate of fire is even lower - about 550 rounds per minute. It would seem - 10 shots per second! That's so much! But this is a lot when you shoot at an infantryman running at a speed of 7 km/h. If you shoot at him in a short burst, he will take it all into himself. And when you fire at a plane flying at a speed of 350 km/h, this is very little. For an infantryman, one or two bullets means death, but an airplane needs much more. Yes, and he maneuvers, the infection, constantly. Doesn't let you aim. Therefore, in that short period when he got into the crosshairs of the sight, you need to have time to stuff him maximum number bullets

Therefore, military comrades began to understand that the conversion of infantry machine guns was only a transitional stage, and aviation needed special aircraft machine guns with an increased rate of fire. Engineer Shpitalny also understood this, who, together with Komaritsky, created their own ShKAS - Shpitalny - Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire machine gun. On October 11, 1932, the machine gun was put into service. It turned out to be simply advanced for its time! The caliber was standard 7.62x54 mm R, but the rate of fire was amazing - 1800 rounds per minute. But Shpitalny and Komaritsky didn’t stop there. They continued to refine their brainchild and eventually UltraShKAS appeared with a very sky-high rate of fire of 3000 rounds per minute.

1. The machine gun itself looks like this:

There is a drum visible in the machine gun - there is a tape running through it. This is a photo from the Zadorozhny Museum of Technology, if anything. Alas, I don’t have such beauty in my collection.

2. But there is just a belt with cartridges:

There are two types of tape visible here. If you look closely, you will see the difference. It is not only preserved.

3. Next to a regular Kalashnikov machine gun belt:

IN aviation weapons not solid, but scattered belts are used - after removing the cartridge from the belt, the link flies away along with the sleeve.

4. To make the mechanism clear, I will illustrate. Here is the tape entering the drum:

5. The cartridge is pulled back out of it:

6. Sent to the chamber:

And at this moment the link is already free and flies away. In a moment, the cartridge case will fly behind it.

7. As I wrote, the ShKAS uses 7.62x54 mm R cartridges. But not ordinary ones. Here on the left is a regular armor-piercing cartridge, and on the right - for ShKAS:

Outwardly the difference is invisible, but in reality it was there. For ShKAS, separate batches of cartridges were produced with thickened case walls, reinforced crimping of the bullet into the case and a securely fastened primer. That’s why the machine gun had such an amazing rate of fire: the engineers created a full-fledged weapon-cartridge complex. By the way, this cartridge was the world's first specialized aviation cartridge (albeit made on the basis of a conventional one).

8. Armor-piercing bullet of a conventional cartridge and ShKAS:

9. Stamps on the bottom:

On the second cartridge you can see the letter “Ш” - this is how the cartridges for ShKAS were marked. This marking was necessary because, given the external similarity, it was impossible to use standard 7.62×54 cartridges in the ShKAS - problems arose with them during shooting.

Of course, this machine gun was made in all aviation modifications: wing-mounted, synchronous (which fires through a rotating propeller), turret-mounted. It was installed on almost all domestic aircraft of the pre-war and war periods, including the legendary Il-2 attack aircraft

Well, when talking about ShKAS, one cannot mention such a moment. In Novikov’s book “On the Eve and on the Days of Testing” there is the following passage:
“When our valiant troops, who took Berlin by storm, burst into the office of the Third Reich,” wrote B. G. Shpitalny after the war, “among the numerous trophies captured in the office there was, at first glance, an unusual-looking sample of a weapon, carefully covered with a glass cover, and papers with Hitler's personal signature. Specialists who arrived to inspect this sample were surprised to find under glass a Tula ShKAS 7.62-mm air machine gun and Hitler’s personal order that was with it, stating that the Tula machine gun would be in the office until German specialists created the same machine gun for fascist aviation. As we know, the Nazis never managed to do this.”

Considering that Shpitalny himself told this legend about his own machine gun, I somehow don’t really believe it to be true. I hear the engineer lied. The machine gun is magnificent - no doubt about it! But so be it, right in the office and under glass... I am also alarmed that this information has not been found in any other source.