This is one of those shells that there is a reasonable amount of information on but which is very hard to find! There is a section in Chinn (some of which is summarised below) about it and several articles have been published in the ECRA journal.
When the inter-Allied Control Commission inspected German armarment plants soon after the end of the first world war it found an experimental aircraft cannon called the Szakats which was a belt fed air cooled automatic cannon having a rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute.
The weapon was invented by a Polish arms designer called Gabriel Szakats.
The first model was produced in 1918 but was not used in combat. Four types of gun were produced (SZ-1, SZA-2,SZB and SZC). The SZ-1 and SZA-2 could both be water cooled. The SZB was much lighter and was air cooled only. The SZC was the final imporved model and its modified components were made out of bronze to reduce friction.
The weapon could be mounted either flexibly or fixed in aircraft. When installed in the wings it was possible to synchronize it to fire through the propeller arc. When so installed an ammunition box holding 100 rounds was seated near it.
The photographs show the headstamp and a complete round next to the base that came with it. Apparently all known specimens have exactly the same headstamp. The base that would have originally had 4 rounds on it is interesting in that it says "LAACC Armament Section Germany 1920-1921". You can imagine some very lucky person having a couple of these on their desk!!
As to why its my favourite shell, dunno, its just so different!!
All INERT of course.
Dave.
When the inter-Allied Control Commission inspected German armarment plants soon after the end of the first world war it found an experimental aircraft cannon called the Szakats which was a belt fed air cooled automatic cannon having a rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute.
The weapon was invented by a Polish arms designer called Gabriel Szakats.
The first model was produced in 1918 but was not used in combat. Four types of gun were produced (SZ-1, SZA-2,SZB and SZC). The SZ-1 and SZA-2 could both be water cooled. The SZB was much lighter and was air cooled only. The SZC was the final imporved model and its modified components were made out of bronze to reduce friction.
The weapon could be mounted either flexibly or fixed in aircraft. When installed in the wings it was possible to synchronize it to fire through the propeller arc. When so installed an ammunition box holding 100 rounds was seated near it.
The photographs show the headstamp and a complete round next to the base that came with it. Apparently all known specimens have exactly the same headstamp. The base that would have originally had 4 rounds on it is interesting in that it says "LAACC Armament Section Germany 1920-1921". You can imagine some very lucky person having a couple of these on their desk!!
As to why its my favourite shell, dunno, its just so different!!
All INERT of course.
Dave.
