Oerlikon FF (20 mm)
Contents
Description
Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.
Available ammunition
- Default: HEI · HEI · P · T
- Universal: HEI · SAP-I · AP · T
- Tracers: AP · T · HEI
- Ground targets: AP · AP · AP · HEI · T
- Stealth: HEI · HEI · SAP-I · AP
| Penetration statistics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belt | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | |
| Default | 17 | 15 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| Universal | 38 | 36 | 28 | 20 | 15 | 11 |
| Tracers | 38 | 36 | 28 | 20 | 15 | 11 |
| Ground targets | 38 | 36 | 28 | 20 | 15 | 11 |
| Stealth | 38 | 36 | 28 | 20 | 15 | 11 |
Comparison with analogues
Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.
Usage in battles
Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.
Pros and cons
Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.
Pros:
Cons:
History
The Oerlikon FF's story begins in World War I with a German industrialist named Reinhold Becker. The War Ministry issued a specification for a cannon with a calibre below 37 mm and a weight of 70 kg that could fire a 10-round burst. Becker responded to this request with the Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon. Loading a 20x70 mm RB cartridge with an advanced primer ignition blowback action and a 300 rpm cyclic rate, it would see limited use on German Air Force (Luftstreitkräfte) planes before the war ended and some use as an anti-aircraft gun.
The Treaty of Versailles at the end of the war prohibited most German arms development including of aircraft weapons. As a result, in 1921, the design was transferred to a Swiss firm named SEMAG near Zurich. They would refine the Becker design to fire a more powerful 20x100 mm RB cartridge at 350 rp dubbed the SEMAG L. SEMAG went bankrupt in 1924 and the design and most of the engineers would be bought out by Oerlikon who would market it as the Oerlikon L. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Oerlikon would continue to refine their 20 mm cannon design with the Oerlikon FF appearing in 1935 modified to serve as a wing-mounted weapon. The FF needed modifications for cartridge ejection and remote firing for the design to work, but these were achieved created a weapon that fired 128g 20x72 mm cartridges at a muzzle velocity of 2,700 ft/s (600 m/s) and a cyclic rate of 520 rounds per minute. As tension around the world rose throughout the 1930s, the Oerlikon company received requests to license their cannon from numerous companies including France, Germany, Japan, and Britain.
Britain, who officially intended to use the Oerlikon FF as an anti-tank weapon, were desiring a 20 mm cannon for their aircraft that could fire through the engine and bought the Oerlikon FF for testing in 1935. While the RAF did not adopt it, the Royal Navy were impressed by the cannon's ability to fire low quality ammunition reliably and obtained its ground-based anti-aircraft cousin. France, pursuing the same type of cannon development as their allies across the Channel, tested Oerlikons in Hispano-Suiza engines and got a license that led to the creation of the Hispano HS.9. However, a patent dispute with Oerlikon caused Hispano-Suiza to lose the license so they continued with their own design the Hispano 404. Japan would be the next country to adopt the design in late 1935, ordering 32 on September 17th, before negotiating a license agreement to make the Oerlikon FF as the Type 99 Model 1 on June 6th, 1936. The Germans would follow suit and adopt the Oerlikon FF under license as the MG FF, which would arm most of Germany's inter-war aircraft until it was phased out in 1941 for the MG 151 (20 mm).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the weapon;
- other literature.
| Sweden aircraft cannons | |
|---|---|
| 20 mm | Akan m/41A · Akan m/45 · Akan m/47B · Akan m/47C · Akan m/49 · Oerlikon FF |
| 27 mm | Akan m/85 |
| 30 mm | Akan m/55 · Akan m/75 |
| 57 mm | Akan m/47 |
| Foreign: | |
| 20 mm | MG FF (Germany) · MG 151 (Germany) |
| 23 mm | GSh-23L (USSR) |
| 30 mm | 2A42 (USSR) · M230E-1 (USA) · MK 108 (Germany) |
