Browning (7.62 mm)

Description

The 7.62 mm Browning is an aircraft machine gun used on a large variety of American aircraft. Based on the M1919A4 variant of the machine gun, the aircraft version saw modifications to the design to keep weight at a minimum, such as a thinner barrel and receiver walls. The official terminology of the aircraft version of the Browning was .30 AN/M2 (not to be confused with the .50 AN/M2) and its elongated designation was Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .30, M2, Aircraft.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

Vehicles equipped with this weapon
Fighters
CW-21	CW-21
F2A	F2A-1 · Thach's F2A-1
F3F	F3F-2 · Galer's F3F-2
Hawk	Hawk III
P-26	P-26A-33 · P-26A-34 · P-26A-34 M2 · P-26B-35
P-36	P-36A · Rasmussen's P-36A · P-36C · P-36G
P-39	▂P-39K-1 · P-39N-0
P-40	P-40C · H-81A-2
P-66	P-66
P-400	P-400
Twin-engine fighters	XF5F · YP-38
Strike aircraft	V-11 · V-12D (Defensive)
Bombers
A-29	A-29
B-10	B-10B (Defensive)
B-17	B-17E (Defensive) · ▅B-17E (Defensive) · B-17E/L (Defensive)
B-18	B-18A (Defensive)
B-34	B-34
Martin 139	Martin 139WC (Defensive)
OS2U	OS2U-1 · OS2U-3
PBY-5	PBY-5 Catalina (Defensive) · PBY-5A Catalina (Defensive) · ▂PBY-5A Catalina (Defensive) · ▄Catalina Mk IIIa (Defensive)
SB2C	SB2C-1C (Defensive) · SB2C-4 (Defensive) · ▄SB2C-5 (Defensive)
SBD-3	SBD-3 (Defensive)
SOC-1	SOC-1
TBD-1	TBD-1 (Defensive)
TBF-1	TBF-1C (Defensive) · ▄Avenger Mk II (Defensive)
Attack helicopters	H-34 (Suspended) · ▄H-34 (Suspended)

General info

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

Available ammunition

• Default: T · Ball · Ball · Ball · AP · I
• Universal: T · AP · I
• Tracers: AP · T · T · T · T
• Stealth: AP · AP · AP · I · I
• Default (turret): T · Ball · Ball · AP · I
• Armoured targets (turret): T · AP · AP · AP · I

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

Pros:

• Fast rate of fire
• High ammo count
• Able to destroy many of the early tier planes which are faced

Cons:

• Unable to penetrate tanks
• Little power compared to M2 Browning (12.7 mm) and other high calibre machine guns
• Ball ammo in the default belt is rather ineffective

History

The Browning Machine Gun, Cal .30, M2, Aircraft as it was designated is an aircraft variant of the Browning M1919A4. Starting out as a water-cooled machine gun used by the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, legendary gunsmith John Moses Browning, who designed the M1917, first built the air-cooled M1919 for use on tanks. With the aid of Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, a Belgian based firearms company, Browning's design was re-designed to arm American aircraft. Using the M1919A4 model as a base, the new .30 M2/AN was a widely adopted fixed and flexible machine gun. To reduce weight, the receiver wall and operating mechanism was made thinner and the barrel was also made lighter and thinner due to the natural air-cooling that operating an aircraft at high speeds would provide. The M2/AN was two-thirds the weight of the original M1919A4 as a result of the modifications while the lighter mechanism increased the rate of fire to 1,200-1,500 rpm compared to the M1919's 400-600 rpm. The higher rate of fire was required due the high speed opponents the gun would be used to shoot down. In the flexible configuration, the Browning was used in a twin mount configuration offering a combined cyclic rate of 2,400 rpm. The Brownings were used on both Army and Navy aircraft during World War II (hence the AN designation for the two services), but they were withdrawn starting in 1943 due to being obsolete against modern aircraft. As an aircraft machine gun, it was noted for wounding Japanese flying ace Saburō Sakai when he attempted to attack 8 SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers from behind.

An interesting footnote in the M2/AN's history is the M2 "Stinger" modification. First seeing use during the Bougainville Campaign in 1943, the "Stinger" were salvaged aircraft Brownings with bi-pods mounted that were later more extensively modified with a custom trigger, the buttstock from a M1 Garand rifle, and the bi-pod and rear sights of a M1918 BAR machine gun. The Marines would use this modification throughout the Pacific and it was at one recommended to replace the BAR, but the war ended shortly after. Marine Corporal Tony Stein received a posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions with a "Stinger" on Iwo Jima in 1945.

Media

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See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.