FlaK38 (20 mm)

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

• Flakpanzer I
• Flakpanzer 38
• Wirbelwind

General info

The Flak38 (20 mm) is a very impressive autocannon, having an extremely good fire rate, and a good selection of belt types. It can be used to fight both air and ground target. The HEFI-T rounds will take planes down with a few shots, while HVAP-T has high penetrating power, enough to deal with most tanks at its BR. Although the HVAP-T rounds' post-penetration damage is poor, it makes up for that with its amazing fire rate.

Available ammunition

• Default: API-T · HEFI-T* · HEFI-T* · HEFI-T* - This mixed belt can be reliable against both aircraft and open-topped or lightly armoured vehicles like SPAA.
• Sprgr.: HEFI-T* - This belt is only useful for fighting planes or lightly armoured/open topped vehicles.
• PzGr: API-T - This belt offers a good transition from the Default to the PzGr 40 APCR belt. The round offers decent use and damage against lightly armoured tanks, especially at close range. Due to lack of high-explosive filler however, it is better to focus on the PzGr 40 belt to maximize penetration power.
• PzGr 40: HVAP-T · API-T - This belt is best for fighting tanks. While the damage effects post-penetration are quite poor, the rapid-fire from the autocannon will wreck most tanks at this BR. In close combat, these shells should be used against modules and crew members to make the most of each shell. Against angled armour however, the APCR ammo may not be very effective.

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	37	34	23	14	9	6
Sprgr.	2	2	2	2	2	2
PzGr	37	34	23	14	9	6
PzGr 40	48	45	31	20	13	8

Comparison with analogues

• KwK30 (20 mm)
• KwK38 (20 mm)
• Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)

Usage in battles

The FlaK38 (20 mm) is a very versatile cannon. With its high fire rate and access to HEFI-T rounds, taking planes down will be an easy task. It can also be utilized to fight ground vehicles, as the HVAP-T can penetrate 64 mm of armour at point-blank range. Although the post-penetration damage is poor, the high fire rate makes up for this fault.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very high fire rate, will take down planes very quickly
• Can fight ground vehicles
• 64 mm of penetration with the HVAP-T round

Cons:

• Reloading rate is slow compared to other AA guns at its rank
• Magazine is emptied very fast when firing continuously

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

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.

Germany anti-aircraft guns
15 mm	MG 151
20 mm	FlaK38 · Rh202
30 mm	MK103/38
37 mm	FlaK36 · FlaK43 · FlaK44
	Foreign:
35 mm	Oerlikon KDA (Swiss)