#flak cannon

[militarymodeller]

Nr.330, The German L71 Flak 41 anti-aircraft gun.

The Flak 41 L / 71 was a German, towed 88 mm anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun from the interwar period and World War II. The first, operational, prototypes of this weapon were created in 1941, and shortly after that, serial production started, which led to the creation of about 560 guns of this type.

[gijoe-forever]

[lieonspirynd]

Lunoly is serious and hardy, and a heavy artillery knight in combat.

Equipment details: Wields big flak cannon gun arms that reinforced like maces to smack his enemies with, and wearing heavy weight armor with bigger boosters to still manage decent speed. 1. Defender: Will take less damage if haven't been damaged recently. 2. Lunar Bomb: Shoot a round cannon ball at an opponent, which explodes on impact creating a big blinding explosion. 3. Meteor Ballista: Shoot a big high calibur round that causes a giant plasmatic explosion on impact, then creates many small floating projectiles that explode all together after. 4. Sentinel Assault: His shoulders project a shield overhead Lunoly in front of him, and his gun arms gain an additional cannon barrel on each side of the arms that shoots a spread of mini bombs each. During this state, all projectile size is increased. 5. Full Moon: His default fire now instead fires explosive high-caliber rounds with decent piercing and more explosive. He will gain an aura that both nullifies some damage taken and repairs sustained damages over time.

The moon sentinel stands his ground, an immovable light who will not hesitate to smite those from blighting it

[wolftheidioticfan]

This stupid Nuclear Throne clip from days ago is still making me laugh what is wrong with me.

[usafphantom2]

26th July 1943. Medal of Honor action of 2nd Lt John ‘Red’ Morgan, a B-17 co-pilot with the 326th BS of the 92nd Bomb Group. Rejected for military service in America due to previously breaking his neck, he had instead joined the RCAF and ultimately flew 12 missions as a Flight Sergeant with RAF Bomber Command. Morgan transferred to the USAAF in March 1943 and was now flying his fifth combat mission with the Eighth Air Force, a raid against Hanover.

As the bombers reached the German coast, they were met by Luftwaffe fighters. Morgan’s B-17, ‘Ruthie II’, came under heavy attack from Focke-Wulf 190s and was badly damaged. The oxygen system to the rear fuselage was knocked out along with the intercom, while the top turret gunner had his arm severed by a cannon shell. He was found bleeding to death on the fuselage floor by the navigator, who bailed him out of the aircraft, an action which saved his life. Found and treated by the Germans, he was repatriated in 1944.

Meanwhile, a frontal attack had smashed the cockpit windscreen and a machine gun bullet inflicted a severe brain injury on the pilot, Lt Robert Campbell. He reflexively gripped the control column as he slumped forwards, putting the B-17 into a dive. Through sheer strength, Morgan managed to heave the aircraft back into formation. He was fought for control all the time by the semiconscious pilot, who even physically attacked his copilot due to the effects of his fractured skull.

Morgan couldn’t hear firing from any of the gunners behind him and believed they had bailed out or been killed. In fact, they were all unconscious through lack of oxygen. Believing that it would be more dangerous to turn back, he opted to continue with the formation. As the navigator and bombardier manned the nose guns against continued attacks, for up to two hours Morgan flew the B-17 with one hand, while fighting off Campbell with the other, as he continued his attempts to wrest control of the aircraft from him. He could have severed the pilot’s oxygen supply to render him unconscious, but feared this would kill him.

Finally, as fighter attacks eased, the navigator was able to leave his gun and secured Campbell in the nose with the help of the bombardier. With Morgan now firmly in control, the B-17 reached Hanover, dropped its bombs and returned safely to make an emergency landing at RAF Foulsham, with barely any fuel left in the tanks. Campbell’s injuries proved fatal and he died shortly after the landing, while the five men in the rear fuselage knocked out through oxygen starvation had all survived, though with varying degrees of frostbite. They had regained consciousness as the aircraft descended on the outward flight.

Awarded the Medal of Honor in December 1943, Morgan was promoted and given the option of going home, but continued to fly combat sorties. On 6th March 1944, his H2X radar-equipped B-17 was flying as a formation lead aircraft on a mission to Berlin when it took a direct flak hit over the target. Morgan grabbed a parachute, but hadn’t had time to fasten it before the aircraft exploded. He was in freefall for an estimated 20,000 feet as he struggled to clip the pack to his chest, succeeding with around 500 feet to spare.

Captured almost immediately, Morgan spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft I, the only Medal of Honor winner to become a prisoner of war after receiving the award. He saw service again in Korea, flying cargo aircraft when denied a combat assignment. Ending his Air Force career in the Reserves as a Lieutenant Colonel, he died in 1991.

Pictured:

1) John Cary Morgan receiving the Medal of Honor from Lt Gen Ira Eaker, 8th Air Force commander, 18th December 1944.

📷 afhistory.af.mil

2) Morgan’s B-17 ‘Chopstick G. George’ descending in flames over Berlin, 6/3/44. This image was taken moments before the aircraft exploded, killing six of the crew.

📷 b17flyingfortress.de

3) Morgan manning a field kitchen at Stalag Luft I.

📷 thisdayinaviation.com

@JamieMctrusty via X

[sudriantraveler]

Traintober 2024 Day 30: Oncoming Storm

1943

Storm clouds swirled and darkened the sky, as an engine and its train puffed slowly through the English countryside.

The engine was a strange, boxy sort. One of Oliver Bulleid’s Q1 goods engines built with austerity in mind.

Despite being barely a year old, wartime service had taken a toll on him. His matte black paint, hardly a handsome look even when new, was covered in soot and grime, and a hoarse, tired panting sound emerged from his funnel.

The rain pelted down, and a distant roar of thunder shook the air.

The engine shuddered, and glanced nervously up at the angry sky.

Air-raids were an ever-present danger, which might loom behind every cloud.

"But surely..." the engine thought, "No aircraft, friend or enemy, would dare to fly in this stuff".

So despite the weather, he almost allowed himself to feel relieved.

At least there would be nothing more than rain.

That relief was soon gone however.

A chill ran through the engine's boiler, as through the storm the unmistakable drone of an aircraft rumbled overhead.

Its yellow nose emerged from the clouds, followed by a sinister gray body.

The black crosses on its wings boldly marked it an agent of death.

The engine saw it circle overhead, buffeted by wind and rain as it did so.

Slowly, painfully slowly, like a predator stalking its prey, it turned.

Then, it dipped its wings and dived towards the train.

The engine roared in fright, smoke poured from his funnel as he dragged the heavy train faster and faster.

He wanted to break the couplings all together, drop the train and run. But the couplings held, the rails curved up a steep hill, and his escape was painfully slow.

The aircraft's guns pointed out from its yellow nose, its sights aimed directly at the fleeing engine.

With great relief the engine crested the top of the hill.

The trucks, equally terrified at the prospect of being left behind, pushed forward, and with their surging weight the train rocketed down the hill, just as the aircraft guns flashed into life.

The crew ducked for cover as tracers blazed past their engine's boiler, burying into the ground and ricocheting off the rails.

Too close, Too Close, TOO CLOSE!

The engine whistled in terror as the winged beast zoomed overhead.

He could only watch, horrified, as it pulled up into a climbing turn, readying itself for another shot.

It was like it was toying with him.

Whistling fit to bust, the train raced down the line. Green fields gave way to houses, and air-raid sirens blared as the nearby town awoke to the ongoing attack.

The engine screamed through the station, feeling little relief even as searchlights and flak burst pierced the stormy sky.

The plane flew doggedly on, dodging ground-fire with almost unnatural swiftness and ease.

Diving in for another pass, it fired again. Metal punctured and tore, and the engine yelped as red hot pain reverberated through his side.

Cold wind blew through the newly opened gaps in his boiler cladding, and steam hissed from the bullet holes piercing his cylinder block.

He desperately tried to fight the pain and keep going. But his vision blurred, and his speed grew slower and slower.

He was a sitting duck.

Again the aircraft rose up, climbing and turning into position for what would surely be the final time.

The engine watched as the plane flew in towards him again, head on.

Its yellow nose grew larger and larger, the cannon mounted in its center bloomed as a black flower of death.

For both machines, the world narrowed into that single weapon.

The aircraft had just put its sights on target, when a searchlight beamed directly onto it.

It fired blindly, only barely missing its mark, as the dazzling light was followed by a flak burst striking clean into its cockpit.

The aircraft shook violently from the impact. Blood and oil sprayed out into its prop-wash, trailing behind in a fine mist which fell down over its would-be victim as it roared mere feet overhead.

Out of control, its dead pilot's hands limp on the stick, the wounded bird slowly pulled away into an unsteady climb.

Searchlights and ground-fire pursued it all the while, until it disappeared back into the storm clouds, and in a flash of lightning it vanished from the world of the living.

The rain continued to pour down, as back on the ground the engine and its train wheezed slowly to a halt.

His crew jumped down from the cab to inspect the damage, as he groaned and cried through escaping steam.

As the engine faded in and out of consciousness, fighting exhaustion and pain, he could only barely register that he was somehow still alive.

[nyxgoddessofcandles]

it's a fun mental exercise to come up with really dumb modifications & offshoots to existing battletech weapons tbh

like

imagine: LRM-20 but it fires in half-stream/half-cluster mode bursts of 5 missiles at a time Gauss Flak ammo Belt-fed SRMs & MRMs (Firing cycle akin to a RAC) Arrow 4 missile but it dispenses ignited plasma cannon plastic foam over a huge radius A 'Mech Spear with a SNPPC in the tip

[captain-price-unofficially]

Luftwaffe Horch Schwerer Einheits-Pkw armed with a Flak 38 20mm cannon guarding an airfield in North Africa, Fall of 1942

[canterart]

Here's another ship I made for the Commonwealth of Planets, an interplanetary government from a worldbuilding project I'm working on. This one's called the Bulwark-class Supercarrier.

At 3 times the length of the Stalwart the Bulwark was made for a different purpose, to carry starfighters into battle. It could hold a combined total of over 250 starfighters, far more than the 45 carried by a single Stalwart. Although it lacked Arc cannons it still featured an extensive point-defense and flak system designed to combat any attacking squadrons that may be looking for close-range attacks. It also featured two underslung hangar bays that could hold a Vanguard-class Corvette each for rapid deployment against enemy threats.

Although less famous than its smaller cousin, the Stalwart, the Bulwark proved to be a crucial asset to the Commonwealth and was often seen leading Battlegroups.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (August 27-September 2, 2023)

Godzilla Battle Line has cemented its reputation as the Super Smash Bros. of kaiju games by bringing in the GAMERA -Rebirth- incarnations of Gamera and Gyaos later this month. Gamera showing up in a Godzilla game is a huge deal—this is the first time the two have properly met outside of poorly-documented live performances. Even in City Shrouded in Shadow, they only appeared in separate levels. Given all the fantasy-match debates over the years, maybe it's for the best that they're coming to blows in a medium where either could emerge the victor.

Godzilla Rivals: Vs. SpaceGodzilla marks Matt Frank's triumphant return to the IDW Godzilla line (covers aside). It reminded me a lot of The Last Hope: the fall of an advanced civilization at the hands of kaiju, narrated but dialogue-free. As in Rulers of Earth, Frank draws a mean SpaceGodzilla - more personable than the one from the actual movie but just as much of a dick. Singura, his all-new rival, is a neat creation too, with more abilities than this concept art lets on.

Sometimes these Weeks in Review are outdated before I can post them. Behold the teaser for the trailer for Godzilla Minus One, both of which you have surely watched five times by now. I'm hoping to have an analysis post up shortly.

Godzilla Voxel Wars is a game headed for Steam in November 2023. A turned-based strategy game, it pits a host of Toho monsters against an alien race called the Fungoids (interesting, and perhaps accidental, synergy with IDW's Zoospora). Toho Games is developing it with Nukenin. I'm intrigued, mostly because this style of Godzilla game usually forces you to control the military, but the art style isn't the most appealing. They look like nanoblocks. It's also catching some flak for its similarities to Into the Breach.

Titanosaurus has long been one of the most coveted Movie Monster Series figures since his release in 2002, and he's finally getting another edition, alongside a Godzilla '75 (last seen as part of the Memorial Box in 2005).

JSDF plans for new anti-aircraft electronic warfare equipment had Japanese Twitter abuzz, on account of the vehicle looking for all the world like a Maser Cannon. I'm sure kaiju filmmakers will start looking for excuses to have them show up.

[gijoe-forever]

[theurbanmechcomesforthee]

I wonder if the Domain drone remnants (Starsector) could beat the SLDF Navy (BattleTech)... hmm.

Neither have shields, Domain ships are... built wierd, to put it lightly. AI cores' thoughts and memories slowly decaying over hundreds of years eroding all sane levels of thought does that to the Domain manufactories. The Domain AIs mostly get their resources from automated mining facilities and their droneships from motherships, acting as AI Starbases.

Now onto ship doctrine of the Domain. They don't fucking have one. Half of their ship configurations of any real note consist of Ship Hull+ Guns. For example, below is the Bastillon. All those weird circle things you see on stalks are small turret hardpoints. They are machine gun spammers and they're annoying, if not properly annihilated.

Basically these drone ships are made by the ancient AI drones of the Dominion as defense of the real expeditionary ships, the Motherships (iirc) and the designs Look Fucking Weird for a reason. It's because the Domain Collapse so many years shut down all the interstellar Stargates(they're called Gates but c'mon) and all communication, so the AIs just sat there decaying in space and slowly going insane over the centuries. They had no orders except mine, refine, build ships and guns and gamma-level AI cores, and cannibalize what doesn't work and put it into what does. These AI have essentially gone completely delirious due to slow procedural decay of their components and these bastard child ships are what come out. (yes hi Frogblast i know i copied and pasted this bit from my loredumping to you) If you want proof, i have a bit from the Guardian Drone Battleship that pretty much all but implies it:

"There are elements of standard droneships within the hull structure, but they are covered by malevolently angled glacises and illogical tangles of conduit. Surely this monstrous vessel is the product of some deranged Domain naval architect, or a production chip corrupted by exposure to kilolights of faulty drive field?"

And if you want a closer look at what it's describing here you go:

Yea if you told me that was built by a corrupted low-level AI trying to put together a ship from what little it remembers of interspace naval doctrine from the Golden Age of space travel, I'd fuckin' believe you.

Standard loadout of the Guardian consists of whatever shit they could find around. This is what i copy pasted from the wiki:

2x Plasma Cannons (like PPCs but they do fucked dmg per shot and fire in bursts of 3) 2x Locust SRM Launchers (the MRM 40s of Starsector but guided) 1x Mjolnir Cannon (kinda like PPCs??? I guess? Its like if an AC/20 had the PPC electromagnetic interference bullshit in HBS BT) 2x Sabot SRM Pods (Shield crackers with hella EMP damage, even more so than the Mjolnir cannon, and these fucker split into a shotgun of 5 of these shits per missile) 6x Flak Cannons (AC/5 with Space Flak bullshit, its pretty bad if ur not using fighter spam) 6x PD Lasers (the sml lasers of Starsector, probably more comparable to ER med lasers) 2x Railguns (Light Gauss rifles, but like. Lighter. Actually more like Magshot now that I think about it but bigger. IDK)

Now we move onto the SLDF. Iunno shit about SLDF ships. I can name Battlemechs and their purpose on the battlefield. If one of you would like to let me know some heavy hitters in the SLDF Navy, lemme know.

Until then, I think the SLDF wins purely by being coordinated and not just being in like. Sleeper cells of various scattered AI mothership manufactories being reactivated whenever somethin' touches The Ancient Domain's Fukkin' Lawn. If there's anything to give the Domain ships credit for though, its the pure amount of shitty ship spam and the overkill-ness of the weaponry at it's disposal. (Seriously. Look at the wiki for the descriptions for some of these fuckers. It's insane.) In a large scale engagement though, if a Domain-era Derelict Mothership manages contact with another one of its kin, the Navy is in for a ROUGH time.

[usafphantom2]

B 24 Liberators flying through heavy flak. The flak is shot up by German flak guns, e.g. 88 mm. from the ground. Flak was as deadly as bullets or anti-aircraft cannons. Reposted. #WWII

@Francesbekafigo via X

[bleedchan]

certain hitscan shotguns in fps games are maybe overappreciated these days, as is orthodox youtuber top 10 list canon. but people sleep on projectile shotguns.

in 2d games, the spread gun in contra is obviously legendary. in shmups with different kinds of weapons, spread guns are almost always the default choice for a reason. in most shooting games, split-way shot is the best powerup.

and when it comes to first person shooters, ut99’s flak cannon is maybe the most satisfying fps weapon ever, as is arcane dimensions’ double and triple barrel shotguns. pure sex.

hitting all your pellets and gibbing an enemy in both games with the projectile shotgun is about as horny as fps weapons get when there’s no q1 rocket launcher involved. it needs to have a good crunchy, meaty sound associated too, clearly…

[mitigatedchaos]

Update in thinking on the drone problem.

Interceptor drones don't need guns or explosives, but rather just some means to tackle the enemy drones, such as claws or a net.

Automatic flak cannons or computer-controlled lasers are a bit too dangerous for widespread mounting on civilian buildings. If hacked, they could be the source of a massacre. Net interceptor drones are safe enough for more widespread civilian ownership.

Sketching out how this works in equilibrium - the attacking swarm needs to be larger, so if drones are a controlled product class like fully automatic guns are, the uncertainty about whether the attacker's swarm is sufficient could shift the balance for violence in a civilian context back to mostly handguns.

That equilibrium doesn't necessarily hold in war situations.