Japanese 20mm Cannon round - recent find

[khanmak]

I thought I'd share this recent find as found in an antique centre in Wales. Goes to prove that there is still unusual items of interest to be found. I often wonder about how objects get to where they are often many years from when and where they were made. A lot are no doubt souvenir 'bring backs'. This item - a Japanese 20mm HEI Cannon round is quite an unusual find in the UK. It was for sale with a collection of RAF memorabilia. On inspection the projectile was empty and had obviously professionally inerted. Case empty and no primer extant.
Its story unfolded when I read the Service book that came with it (that matched the kitbag). An RAF Armourer who had worked on bomb disposal in India & Burma. no doubt this item picked up on a Japanese airfield, inerted by him or one of his colleagues and brought home to Merthyr! Great that its story was able to worked out how it got there. Paid 20 for the lot

 

[Falcon]

Nice find, especially with the likely story of how it got here. It's also nice to see that it hasn't been over-polished as many cartridges are.

 

[kahu1]

I would say you did well, Japanese ordnance is even scarce over here.

 

[Tony Williams]

You may know this already, but that particular 20 x 94 round was used only in the Japanese Army Air Force's Ho-5 aircraft cannon, a slightly scaled up .50 Browning. It was the Army's standard aircraft cannon in the latter part of the war. The projectile is the "fuzeless" Ma 202; the thin metal nose cap covered 3.1 g PETN, backed by 8.8 g of incendiary. The PETN was sensitive enough to be ignited by the shock of impact without needing a fuze. Needless to say, highly dangerous when live and should only be inerted by a professional who knows exactly what he's doing.

That only leaves four other 20mm Japanese case types for you to collect : 20 x 125 and 2 x 142 Army, plus 20 x 72RB and 20 x 101RB Navy.

 

[MINENAZ16]

Hello,

The doc :

 

[khanmak]

Thanks everybody.
Tony - how can I resist the challenge to collect the remaining types! I suspect this might be less easy and economical than my initial purchase!

 

[Tony Williams]

Yes, they will be - the navy ones are particularly hard to find.

 

[khanmak]

I'll keep my eyes open! I suspect I wont be so lucky with these!

 

[Tony Williams]

To clarify my last response: original Oerlikon 20x72RB are not that hard to find at the big European ECRA meetings and these are virtually identical to the Japanese version, but the 20x100/101RB (Oerlikon Type L/IJN Type 99-2) are like hens' teeth. I've only ever seen one for sale in the last 20+ years, and I bought that!