Bronco CB35067 German 88mm L71 Flak 41 Anti-Aircraft Gun with Crew

The Flak 41 L / 71 was a German, towed 88 mm anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun from the interwar period and World War II. The first, operational, prototypes of this weapon were created in 1941, and shortly after that, serial production started, which led to the creation of about 560 guns of this type. The effective range of the shot was 11,300 meters, and the maximum range was up to 14,700 meters. The initial velocity of the projectile fired from Flak 41 was about 1000 m / s. The Flak 41 L / 71 was developed by the Rheinmetall plant at the request of the Luftwaffe as a weapon to supplement the Flak 18 and Flak 36 guns of the same caliber in service. The Flak 41, on which work began in 1939, although externally similar to its predecessors, was nevertheless a new weapon. First of all, it received a new barrel with a split core tube, a much higher rate of fire and range - both practical and maximum. At the same time, however, the Flak 41 turned out to be a highly complex weapon that required careful handling. Although it underwent its baptism of fire during the fighting in Tunisia in 1943, it was later used primarily in air defense units already in Germany.