World War II Database

Country of Origin	Germany
Type	Anti-Aircraft Gun
Caliber	37.000 mm
Weight	1250.000 kg
Ammunition Weight	0.62 kg
Rate of Fire	150 rounds/min
Ceiling	4.800 km
Muzzle Velocity	820 m/s

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Flak 18 anti-aircraft guns were developed by the German firm Rheinmetall in 1935, and a small number of examples were built between 1935 and 1936. In 1936, the Flak 36 variant design was completed, which saw an improvement of rate of fire from 80 to 120 rounds per minute, and the new variant design superseded Flak 18 in production. In the following year, 1937, these anti-aircraft weapons received a new sighting system and a new variant designation, Flak 37. These anti-aircraft guns were used in great numbers during the European War. In 1943, the Flak 43 variant design was completed, which lightened the combat weight from 1,550 to 1,250 kilograms and improved the rate of fire to 150 rounds per minute. Flak 43 weapons were either mounted singly or doubly, the latter of which had the designation of 3.7 cm Flakzwilling 43. Between 1935 and 1945, a total of 20,243 weapons of this design were built, most of which were of the Flak 36 and Flak 37 variant design, while 7,216 were of the Flak 43 and Flakzwilling 43 variant designs. Minor Axis nations such as Romania and Bulgaria also operated these weapons during the war.

Source: Wikipedia ww2dbase

Last Major Revision: Jun 2012

Photographs

See all 14 photographs of 3.7 cm Flak 18/36/37/43 Anti-Aircraft Gun

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