The M39 cannon was an American autocannon designed in 1951 by the Springfield Armory and produced from 1952 to 1987 by various companies, including the Ford Motor Company and Pontiac. It was the standard main cannon armament on a number of American fighter aircraft from the 1950s through to the 1980s.
History[]
After the end of the Second World War, the arrival of jet's with greater speed than propeller driven airplanes meant hit probability lessened unless high rates of fire could be achieved; along With with a sizeable round for hitting power. A lesson of World War II air combat was that German, Italian, and Japanese fighters could attack American aircraft from long range with their cannon main armament vs. US fighters with mere machine gun armament. Aircraft cannons used by the US at the time were either unreliable or poor rate of fire. The case for a new rapid fire gun became clear.
The M39 was developed in 1951 by the Springfield Armory. The cannon was put into service in 1952 and initially designated the T160. The weapon was experimentally fitted onto some North American F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft and used over Korea in 1953; the weapons proved to be powerful enough, downing six MiG-15s and damaging some twelve others; this was enough to render the M3 Browning obsolete.[1]
After the introduction of the weapon on the F-86 Sabre, the M39 was subsequently used as the main armament on various other aircraft, including the North American F-100 Super Sabre, McDonnell F-101 Voodoo, Northrop F-5 and experimentally on some Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters. While the weapon has been practically been replaced in American service by the M61 Vulcan,[1] the M39 continues to see service in countries which still use the Northrop F-5; existing M39 cannons are continually retrofitted for them to remain up to date.[2]
Design Details[]
The M39 is a single-barreled revolving cannon with a five-chamber revolving cylinder. The cannon is mounted on the longitudinal axis of an aircraft on a cradle unit made of welded steel with mounting points at the barrel and rear of the cradle. The weapon may be fed from the left or right hand side and has a rate of fire of 1500 rounds per minute.[2]
See also[]
- ADEN cannon, British revolving cannon of similar design
- DEFA cannon, French revolving cannon of similar design
- Mauser BK-27, German revolving cannon of similar operation
- Mauser MG 213, Nazi German revolving cannon of similar operation