Vickers S (40 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
- Beaufighter Mk I (40-mm)
- Hurricane Mk IV (Suspended)
General info
Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.
Available ammunition
- Default: AP-T · HEFI-T*
- Armored targets: AP-T
- Air targets: HEFI-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 | ||
| HEFI-T* | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| AP-T | 53 | 52 | 46 | 40 | 35 | 30 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| HEFI-T* | 730 | 0.76 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 85 | 79° | 80° | 81° | ||||
| AP-T | 570 | 1.36 | - | - | - | 47° | 60° | 65° | ||||
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 Vickers S is an aircraft-mounted cannon from the late 1930s. The story begins in 1905 with the foundation of the company Coventry Ordnance Works. The company would develop a 1-pounder (37 mm) cannon for use on aircraft during World War I, but it arrived only shortly before the armistice ended the war in 1918. After the war, the Air Ministry experimented with mounting the cannon on a variety of aircraft before COW was acquired by Vickers.
Vickers would take the design and scale it up to a 2-pounder (40 mm) using the same ammunition as the famous World War I-era 2pdr QF Mk.IIc "pom pom". The Vickers S was first tested on their Wellington bombers as an anti-fighter weapon but it was rejected. In March of 1941, the Vickers S was tested again against the Rolls-Royce R cannon on the Bristol Beaufighter Mk I (40-mm); while the Vickers design was suggested for future use in October, it was dropped from future Beaufighters for unknown reasons.
In the North African Theatre of World War II, the Desert Air Force saw in early operations that their existing weapons were not effective against German armour such as the Panzer III, so in April of 1941, the Vickers S was tested against the Rolls-Royce Type BF and the American 37 mm M4 to arm ground attack aircraft. The Rolls-Royce BF was initially selected for being fed from drum magazines which was viewed as more reliable than the belt-feeding of the Vickers S, but the BF suffered malfunctions and ammunition explosion that resulted in the Vickers S being selected instead and mounted on the Hawker Hurricane, which carried 15 rounds of ammunition in a conformal gun pod. However, the pods along with other modifications made to the Hurricane for desert use slowed it down by 40 mph so the cannon was dropped again in favour developing what became the RP-3 rocket. However, in April of 1942, it was accepted for service, though the Hurricane pilots required special training to use gun effectively as the recoil would throw the plane off course. The gun was used to destroyed 200 vehicles in North Africa including 47 tanks. However, the Hurricanes were found to be poorly armoured for the ground attack role and the cannon was not effective against the Tiger I tank. In 1943, the Hurricane Mk IV arrived to address the issues of protection and mounted the Vickers S for the ground attack role. In 1944, these Hurricanes would be used in South-East Asia with the Vickers S loading a high explosive shell that in post-war studies was found to be twice as accurate as the armour-piercing shells. These studies would also find the Vickers S had an overall better accuracy than the RP-3 rockets against tanks (25% for Vickers S, 5% for RP-3).
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;
- other literature.
| Britain aircraft cannons | |
|---|---|
| 20 mm | Hispano Mk.I · Hispano Mk.II · Hispano Mk.V · Oerlikon KAD-B |
| 25 mm | ADEN 25 |
| 30 mm | ADEN · ADEN Mk.4 |
| 40 mm | Rolls-Royce Type BH · Vickers S |
| 47 mm | Vickers P |
| 57 mm | Molins Class M |
| Foreign: | |
| 20 mm | GI2 (South Africa) · Hispano 404 (France) · M61A1 (USA) |
| 27 mm | Akan m/85 (Sweden) · Mauser BK27 (Germany) |
| 30 mm | M230E-1 (USA) |
