Rapid Fire: The Development of Automatic Cannon, Heavy Machine-Guns and Their Ammunition for Armies, Navies and Air Forces

This book will be essential reading for all those with an interest in the technical aspects of military, naval and aviation history. It is a comprehensive account of the development and use of heavy machine-guns, automatic cannon and their ammunition. The design of cartridges and the various types of projectiles used is explained, followed by descriptions and analyses of the different types of gun mechanism, their mountings, sights, ammunition feeds and other systems. There are no formulae and the technical descriptions are easily understood. The following chapters are concerned with the historical development and use of heavy automatic weapons for all three services throughout the world, from the 19th century to the present day. There is a particular concentration on aircraft guns from 1935 to 1955 (including the aircraft they were fitted to) as this period saw the most rapid and diverse development of this type of weapon. The final chapter looks to the future, including combustible case ammunition and recoilless automatic cannon.