BK 5 (50 mm)

Description

The BK 5 is a 50 mm nose-mounted German aircraft cannon designed to attack armoured ground targets.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Me 410 A-1/U4
• Me 410 B-2/U4

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

• Default: AP-T · HEI-T
• Armoured targets (AP-T): AP-T
• Armoured targets (HVAP-T): HVAP-T
• Air targets: HEI-T

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
HEI-T	11	11	9	8	7	7
AP-T	106	101	83	65	50	39
HVAP-T	137	126	88	56	36	23

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
HEI-T	920	1.52	0.2	0.01	420	79°	80°	81°
AP-T	835	2.05	1.2	9	28.9	48°	63°	71°
HVAP-T	1,180	0.9	-	-	-	66°	70°	72°

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

Pros:

• Great accuracy when fully upgraded
• Uses the same ammunition as the Puma

Cons:

• Slow fire rate
• Low ammo capacity (22 rpg)

History

Facing the reality of 'viermotor' four-engine heavy bombers over Germany, the Luftwaffe sought more effective weapons to blunt the USAAF bomber offensive which was wreaking havoc on their industrial capacity. Rheinmetall-Borsig was approached to adapt the KwK 39 tank gun into a weapon which could be used against heavy bombers. To do this, they designed an autoloader which was connected to a 22 round belt feed which was loaded on the ground. To provide additional punch to the already impressive 50 mm round, a Minengeschoß (mine shell) high-explosive, high-capacity round was developed.

While the gun had a low rate of fire and suffered from reliability problems, it had some success against B-17s and B-24s and was used until the end of hostilities.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

• NS-45 (45 mm)
• Vickers P (47 mm)

External links

• [Wikipedia] Rheinmetall BK-5