Flakpanzer I
Contents
Description
The Flakpanzer I Ausf. A is a rank I German self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle
with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before Update 1.41.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Flakpanzer I has an exceptionally poor survivability. Even frontally, where the protection is at its best, it can be destroyed with a machine gun. 7mm of gun shield can be penetrated even by the 6.5mm tracer rounds, while anything with 6mm of penetration can penetrate the driver's optics. If that wouldn't be enough, the Flakpanzer is also hull-breakable, so early-rank vehicles firing HEAT or HE rounds are able to one-shot you. Furthermore - artillery strikes should be avoided at all cost, as they have a very wide shrapnel radius, what combined with a very exposed gunner means certain loss even if the shell explodes meters away.
As far as crew skills go, the exposed gunner the plays a role of the gunner, commander and loader, with all the associated crew roles.
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 13 mm (1° - 66°) | 13 mm | 13 mm | 8 - 0 mm |
| Turret | 7 mm | 0 mm | 0 mm | 0 mm |
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 34 | 7 | 5.5 | 81 | 109 | 14.73 | 19.82 |
| Realistic | 31 | 6 | 50 | 57 | 9.09 | 10.36 | |
The mobility of the Flakpanzer I is the worst among contemporary AA systems, at 31 km/h forward (RB) and -6 km/h backwards, it's especially troublesome on the flat, hard surfaces where other AA guns of the BR can often do over double the maximum speed. Where it has an advantage is in an extremely rough terrain or climbing the hill, where its tracks and a good power-to-weight ratio (10.36 hp/ton fully upgraded in RB) provide a noticeable advantage over the wheeled vehicles, it's still loosing to the tracked AAs such as Swedish Pvlvv fm/42 (14.17 hp/ton, max speed of 49 km/h, fully upgraded in RB).
Armaments
Main armament
The Flakpanzer I is armed with the 20 mm FlaK 38 cannon, which turns out to be fantastic for a cannon of this rank. It boasts a high fire rate, 20-round magazines, useful HE rounds to shred low-flying planes, 46 mm penetration AP-I, and 64 mm pen APCR. The gun will destroy most enemies it can encounter with the APCR belt, and can easily be used if uptiered. Gun offers an excellent handling, being able to quickly guide on the targets and has just enough ammunition to either cripple or outright destroy most of the hostile tanks. It's not as great against aircraft, but using shorter, controlled bursts one can achieve much better results than by spray-and-pray
| 20 mm FlaK 38 cannon | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 320 | -10°/+87° | ±180° | No | 30.82 | 42.66 | 51.78 | 57.26 | 60.94 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.18 | 3 |
| Realistic | 20.83 | 24.5 | 29.75 | 32.9 | 35 | ||||||||
Ammo racks
The way ammo racks work on the Flakpanzer I is very unusual. There is no ammo racks for individual cartridges of ammunition. Instead, there's a permanent ammo rack until the final cardrige is loaded into the gun, in which case all ammo racks disappear, including the one visible to be loaded into the gun, while there's still 20 bullets ready to be fired.
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 1 (+15) | Yes |
Usage in battles
The Flakpanzer I is extremely versatile and potent vehicle, working largely as a glass cannon on the battlefield. It's best used as a flanker and tank-destroyer with situational use against unaware patrolling aircraft. The chassis is not particularly stable, making it more tricky to shoot on a move and easier to turnover. Turret traverse is very fast, allowing it to react to new threats and often fire the crippling shots before enemy fully emerges from cover. While it can essentially spray 20 mm rounds at targets, it is advisable to maintain trigger control and conserve ammunition, firing when need because reload time between ammunition magazines punishing, often being longer than hostile vehicles, giving them a better chance to take a second shot if the first one missed.
While the gun is great, there are some enemies it encounters that you should straight-up avoid if at all possible. These are the Valentine Mk I, B1 bis, and B1 ter. If used in 1.7 lineups, the Matilda Mk II, T-28E, and M3 Lee/Grant are also significant threats. The Flakpanzer I can opportunistically destroy the B1 bis, T-28E, and M3 Lee variations in some situations, but the B1 ter, Valentine, and Matilda are totally immune even to the APCR belt outside of lucky hits in the turret ring.
Modules
| Tier | Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Tracks | Parts | Horizontal Drive | Sprgr. | |
| II | Suspension | Brake System | FPE | Adjustment of Fire | |
| III | Filters | Crew Replenishment | Elevation Mechanism | PzGr | |
| IV | Transmission | Engine | Artillery Support | PzGr 40 | |
After researching FPE and Parts one should prioritize reaching PzGr 40 as soon as possible. Path towards it should lead through PzGr (as it significantly increases anti-tank capability over the Default ammunition belt until the PzGr 40 is researched) and Crew Replenishment, otherwise leaving it largely up personal preference, as the Flakpanzer I largely features a good mobility and accuracy.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- High penetrating gun for the rank
- High rate-of-fire
- Fast turret traverse
- Responsive handling
Cons:
- Long reload times
- Slowest among counterparts
- Nonexistent armour and survivability due to two crew and hull-break make it prone to being killed with a single shell or strafing run
History
In-game description
In early 1940, the ordnance logistics department directed the Alkett and Daimler-Benz companies to develop a weapon mount with a circular field of fire, to be mounted on the chassis of the Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf. A tank. The outdated chassis was used since the Germans were intensely seeking alternative ways to use chassis.
The Flakpanzer I had a hull, engine, transmission, and chassis which were similar to the Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf. A tank. In the modified turret box, in the place of the dismantled old turret, a 20 mm Flak 38 gun was installed on a platform. The gun had an operational fire rate of 220 rounds per minute and allowed the tank to effectively engage low-flying targets. This gun's vertical angle ranged from -10 to 87 degrees.
A total of 24 of these self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles were built with two more built utilising 2 cm FlaK 30 guns. All of the Flakpanzer I guns which were released were used by the 614th flak battalion, which fought on the Eastern Front at Stalingrad. The guns were often used for direct fire support for ground troops, firing against ground targets.
One of their flaws was that the trajectory calculation was cumbersome. In order to compensate for this, folding metal sides were added, but they did not do much to remedy the situation. Therefore, attacking ground targets required 5 people, but anti-aircraft fire required a crew of 8. The anti-aircraft vehicle was protected by nothing but its front armour. Most of the ammunition was placed in a specially designed Sd.Ah.51 trailer. Communication between vehicles was carried out using signal flags since the radio equipment had been dismantled.
The vehicle's biggest advantage was that the 20 mm anti-aircraft guns could be dismantled and installed on a platform towed behind the vehicle. These dismantling and installation procedures took 4 and 6 minutes, respectively.
Media
See also
Vehicles of comparable role, configuration and era
- Tracked
- Flakpanzer 38 (successor)
- Pvlvv fm/42
- Mk.VIA AA
- Half-truck
- Wheeled
External links
| Germany anti-aircraft vehicles | |
|---|---|
| Wheeled | Sd.Kfz.222 |
| Half-track | Sd.Kfz.251/21 · Sd.Kfz. 6/2 |
| Flakpanzer IV | Wirbelwind · Ostwind · Ostwind II · Kugelblitz · Zerstörer 45 |
| Other Flakpanzers | Flakpanzer I · Flakpanzer 38 · Flakpanzer 341 |
| Wiesel AWC | Wiesel 1A4 · Ozelot |
| Radar SPAAG | Gepard · Gepard 1A2 |
| Missile SPAA | FlaRakPz 1 · FlaRakRad |
