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Old 01-02-08, 09:51 AM   #2
Fenris_Wolf
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I don't use the 37 mm flak guns mainly because my overall tactics for fighting aircraft are not compatible with the gun's configuration. Although the projectile is much heavier and it's energy and the firing trajectory is good enough for long range firing, long range firing itself is not very efficient due to the size and speed of aircraft and human inaccuracy in aiming. It usually results in a greater number of good ammo going to waste. The gunner is always aiming ahead of the aircraft to compensate for the travel time of the bullet from the platform and to the target and also the compensation for it being a moving target (and moving very fast).

Therefore the best time to shoot is when the aircraft aligns itself for an attack run (straight at you!) while your boat is moving away from them at maximum speed and also effectively undergoing a hard turn to port or starboard after the aircraft has already aligned itself. They do that at short range and this is when you need a jolly good spray of bullets to welcome them. For this purpose, having two more barrels per heavy platform (depending on your conning tower configuration) and the double barrelled light flak platforms are far more efficient killers even when used by average skilled gunners.

The best versions of the 3.7 cm flak platforms with higher rates of fire come too late in the war to devise a new tactic for combating aircraft.
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