FlaK38 (20 mm)
Contents
Description
The Flak 38 (20mm) is a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun used by various German forces throughout World War II. It was an improved version of the Flak 30, and had a higher fire rate and lower weight. It is a very effective cannon in game, capable of knocking out both planes and tanks.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
The Flak38 (20mm) is a very impressive auto cannon, 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 will take planes down with a few shots, while the HVAP-T have 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 shells
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of
warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| PzGr | API-T | 46 | 45 | 33 | 23 | 15 | 11 |
| PzGr 40 | HVAP-T | 64 | 63 | 33 | 23 | 15 | 11 |
| Sprgr. | HEFI-T | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of
warhead |
Velocity
in m/s |
Projectile
Mass in kg |
Fuse delay
in m: |
Fuse sensitivity
in mm: |
Explosive Mass in g(TNT equivalent): | Normalization At 30°from horizontal: | Ricochet: | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||
| PzGr | API-T | 780 | 0.15 | N/A | N/A | N/A | -1° | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| PzGr 40 | HVAP-T | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| Sprgr. | HEFI-T | 900 | 0.12 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 10.2 | +0° | 62° | 69° | 73° |
Belt types
- Default: API-T · HEFI-T - Half of the shells (HEFI-T) are useless against tanks while the other 50% (API-T) is useless against planes. However, this belt is reliable against open-topped or lightly armored vehicles like SPAA vehicles.
- 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 armored 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 - 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 armor, however, the APCR ammo may not be very effective.
Comparison with analogues
Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns, that have firepower equal to these type of weapons.
Usage in battles
The FlaK38 (20mm) 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 64mm 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
- 64mm 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
The Flak 38 was an improved version of the Flak 30, which were both 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout World War II. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun, but by far the most numerously produced German artillery piece throughout the war. It was produced in a variety of models, notably the Flakvierling 38 which combined four Flak 38 autocannons onto a single carriage, which can be found on the Wirblewind in game.
Media
An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as 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 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) |
