3in 20cwt AA and 3.7in AA not found?

[Cross]

Sorry in advance if I'm being dense, but I can't find these AA guns in the OOB. The only British AA Bty I can find is the 40mm Bofors (#64)

I did find a 3in gun empl (#395) but it's a fortification, despite the photo of a towed 3in AA.

I would think these would be quite standard pieces with their longevity and widespread use, that even includes a direct fire AT role on occasion.

I have the upmost respect for the comprehensive work you guys do, so I'm thinking there must be an explanation I'm not aware of.

Thanks,
Cross

[Mobhack]

Why? - well the only AAA weapons modelled in this game are those which have on board AAA sights and are used to shoot at individual aircraft weaving about at low altitudes.

Those weapons are director-controlled pieces which fire barrages at medium and higher level to take on formations of level bombers. So - not battlefield weapons.

Cheers
Andy

[Cross]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your prompt response. If you’d allow me to be “devil’s advocate” for a moment, then perhaps I’d better understand why the 3in. 20cwt AA and its successor the 3.7in. are MIA.

In the OOB the Germans have the Ju88, He-177, He111 et al, which are designated in the OOB as “level bombers”. The Brits have the Lancaster (which carries 22x500lb eggs) this is clearly not a ground attack aircraft expected to fly low and weave (Dambusters raid excepted). So if we have level bombers in the OOB shouldn’t we have a widely issued weapon designed to counter them?

What about Para drops where I’m assuming the Ju52 will be flying straight and level and probably quite high. Wouldn’t it be more realistic to have FlaK guns other than only the Bofors to defend yourself with?

As for the long range issue, aren’t many AAA ranges in SP easily 3 or 4 KM across the map (not including elevation); where the 3/3.7in sights would function well?

Aren’t planes on the SP map actually flying straight and level for the most part, because they are actually in their attack run?

I understand that both the 3in and 3.7in had optical sights. If these guns could not engage close targets – in the air – then does anyone know their minimum range?

I read something re: German 88mm AAA:
Heavy antiaircraft artillery cannot be used against planes flying at altitudes of less than 1,200 feet directly over the battery.

Is there a way to put a min. range on AAA, similar to indirect fire having a min. range?

The Germans have the 8.8cm FlaK 18 and 36 in their OOB. They also have the AT version and the Gun Empl in the OOB. Why should the RAF boys face 8.8cm FlaK, while the Luftwaffe doesn’t have to worry about 3.7in FlaK?

SPWAW has the 3in in its OOB (disclaimer: I would not use SPWAW as a benchmark, that belongs to SPWW2 :-) but SPWAW must have some rationale for its inclusion.

Additional info I discovered about these guns during a little research:
• 3in used the same carriage as the Bofors, but were mounted on other carriages/vehicles.
• Apparently the 3in was also issued in a “low-level” version.
• 3in and 3.7in were often used for indirect fire
• They were only very occasionally used for ATk purposes. Eg. Tobruk and other desert battles.
• The 3.7in gun was considered an excellent AAA, and was superior to its German counterpart - the 88mm – in an AA role. However, the 3.7 was much more cumbersome than the 88.
• The 3in had a ROF of 25 rounds a min, the 3.7in a ROF of I think 10/12 RPM.

You guys have more experience and knowledge than I, so I will respect your decision, but I thought it interesting to bring these issues up.

Cheers,
Cross

[PatG]

"What about Para drops where I’m assuming the Ju52 will be flying straight and level and probably quite high."

As I recall about 350' was the norm for Fallschirmjager. This page supports this height.

[Cross]

Hi Pat,

Thanks for that info. I wasn't sure about the drop altitude. I think in my minds eye I was
thinking about Operation Market Garden where they were dropped from far higher;
in fact this was part of the early problems scattering them too far and wide.

Then there are the gliders, here's a quote regarding Op. Market Garden:

"From this operation there were three glider pilots slightly wounded while making landings. Gliders
were cut at 900’ to 2500’ at 120 mph indicated. The high altitude of some of the planes was due to the formation becoming stacked up.
Flak encountered: heavy and light, moderate and accurate user Veghel, Uden, Volkel, and north of LZ."

I have read that the US 82nd Airborne established a drop altitude of 600ft during WWII.

In any case I'm not sure of the relevance, because it remains that the planes will be flying staight and level,
not "weaving" and the chances are they'll be over 20 hexes away (1 KM, or 3,281 Feet)

So can British 3in and 3.7in AAA engage targets on a 6KM by 7KM SP map? And why or why not?

I guess the question is about the type of sights used by these guns and there minimum range.
Clearly SPCamo have allowed the 88mm FlaK guns in SP, so how are there sights so superior to the Brit sighting system.
Perhaps the answer is to remove the 88mm FlaK gun from the German OOB to even the playing field and make things fair.
If Heavy AA is not allowed then shouldn't that include the 88?

Thanks for the feedback.
Cross

[pdoktar]

88 is there to be used as on-map direct-fire support weapon, mainly Anti-Tank. It is not there to shoot at enemy aircraft. The reason it is called FlaK 18 or FlaK 36 is to differentiate it from the pure same-caliber tank killers, like 88mm PaK 44. However the purpose of these guns in-game is exactly the same, mainly to blast matildas, t-34s, Kvs, etc.

[Cross]

OK, got it. I was under assumption that the 88 FlaK had the ability to shoot down planes.

So this means if the 3in and 3.7in were included in the Brit OOB, they would only have a direct and indirect fire role.

In that case, I could see some situations where they may make an interesting addition to a battle. There are other weapons that would work just fine, but part of the point of OOBs is to provide diversity and historical accuracy, particularly in historical scenarios.

Cheers,
Cross

[pdoktar]

Do a little more research and present your results to the developers here. Maybe they´ll include 3in AA and 3.7in AA in the next episodes of WinSPWW2 to come. Or just use mobhack yourself and make units you see fit for GB.

[Mobhack]

The only time 3.7 inch was used for direct support was in the breakout from Tobruk. They were also used in d/f mode by the Germans against a particular landing (canadian?) in the Sheldt estuary (germany liked the gun and used any captured ones, and had an ammo manufacturing line for them). Some may have fired in d/f mode in the rear areas in France 40 as well.

Ahah - the germans used them to defend Walcheren Island Walcheren

The 3.7 inch gun had precisely no sights fitted. Non, nada, zilch. I have seen a picture of one used in detached mode at Tobruk harbour - where the Australian(?) gunners had brazed a rough and ready AAA wheel ring sight to the bore.

The 3.7 inch AA gun only had pointer dials to follow from the central director for barrage fires. Direct (e.g AT) fire was done firing pairs of guns following the director sights in the rare circumstance of some of these things firing direct. The gun was sen as a theatre AA asset - for use in rear areas to protect areas against high altitude bombing.

It was very heavy, as it employed powered elevation etc, and needed to be emplaced on a solid platform, in cases where it was to stay about for a while - it was preferred to lay a concrete base for this. it was also rather big, and hence not easy to hide if used tactically. (In fact - the majority were the semi-mobile mk 2, as these were strategic assets - and this required a concrete base to be bolted down to).

The 2 guns used to support the breakout from Tobruk were moved into place to overwatch the are of operations during the preceeding night, to use darkness to hide the emplacing. They seem to have been used for direct fire HE support, not as ATG.

In the far East, once the Japanese air threat had virtually disappeared, the 3.7 inch AA guns were used as additional artillery. Limitations (not modelled in SP) were the extremely flat trajectory which meant they really could only engage targets in LOS (e.g. hilltops say). If needed, then just add a 25 pdr battery, and call it a "3.7 AA battery" (rename it in the sceanrio editor) or just assume some of the 25pdr in the XIV army locker were actually 3.7 firing as arty. Effects will be similar for game purposes.

As to why we dont bother with high level bomber AA guns firing in barrage mode:
- use of level bombers is extremely rare. (the level bomber class was really only introduced for "flying artillery" scenario use e.g in the Normandy attacks).
- The use of level bombers over the front lines will be well out of range of any medium and higher calibre guns, which woud be way back covering divisional and higher operational or strategic targets (railheads and so on).
- There is no way to code for director-only barrage fire. It could be done, but it is not worth the time and effort, as any such guns would be dead weight unless the opposition brought level bombers to the party, and even if they did - the bombers will be there and gone in a move or 2. As I stated above - the level bombers are there for scenario designers to use in specific tactical-use scenarios where loads of bombers prepared the battlefield. In all these cases, having special heavy AA (which would not be there, or the bombers would not be used so) and the code would be worthless additions so that maybe 1 of 60 odds bombers just might be hit.

Paratroop transports can be engaged by e.g 37mm guns (regular AAA) as they are not flying at super-high bomber altitudes. And any folks left dangling under silk hankerchiefs will be gleefully shot at by all available riflemen etc as they drop..


Cheers
Andy

[Cross]

Thanks for this additional info. Andy. I found it quite tough to dig up solid references to these guns. But I now have a better understanding of where they fit in history and in SP.

Cheers,
Cross