Finnish air-cooled Maxims

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Alatassa
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Location: Barcelona, Spain

Finnish air-cooled Maxims

#1

Post by Alatassa » 09 Jul 2016, 16:24

I've been following this forum with interest for some time learning from the questions and answers posted. Now I have a question that needs from your knowledge, as I couldn't find any more information aside from Mr. Palokangas' books.
According to Sotilaskässiaseet Suomessa vol. 2, about 100 M/09 machineguns where modified in 1942 to air-cooling by punching holes on the water jacket to be used for mobile operations. I had the opportunity to inspect two of these closely and there were several issues that caught my eye, namely

1) They weren't [SA] stamped
2) They had the original Soviet markings in place (i.e., not removed as in reworked Maxims with the "Korj." label): one electropenciled Tula star each
3) They had mostly matching numbers
4) They had a T-shaped recoil booster attached to the front of the wooden grips/trigger assembly. I haven't seen this modification in any other Finn-captured M/09, only in M/32-33s.

I've also seen the pictures on the first page of this Russian forum post (http://forum.guns.ru/forummessage/36/1533104.html) and on Jaeger Platoon's website ()http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/AAMG.htm so I was wondering if the intended aim of this modification could have been AA defence instead of mobile operations, as the increase in firing rate from 600 rpm to 900 rpm per gun would have made them better suited for this role. Moreover, since MG AA firing is directed to low-flying aircraft and the time of the raid is usually short, water-cooling is not essential and the weight saved decreases the moment of inertia of the whole AA setup and could enable a faster aiming.
I was also wondering if more than 100 Maxims could have been converted to air-cooling in the same way, as they don't appear to be as scarce as they should (every now and then appear in a known Finnish internet auction site and also a gun dealer in Tampere has 2 in stock right now).

Every bit of information is welcome. Thank you very much!

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JTV
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Re: Finnish air-cooled Maxims

#2

Post by JTV » 10 Jul 2016, 09:47

When it comes to these captured Soviet Maxim m/1910 machineguns modified as air-cooled, your theory about them being modified for anti-aircraft machinegun use seems reasonable, but unfortunately existing evidence suggests otherwise.

Military Small Arms in Finland 1918 - 1988 part 3 pages 240 - 241 are the only existing source that have seen about this modified version. To be exact it tells that:
"When (weight of) water-cooled Maxim machineguns proved problematic in offensive operations, in January of 1941 Artillery Commander of Armed Forces GHQ issued issued orders to modify 100 captured machineguns as air-coooled weapons by perforating their water jackets. This method had early been used with captured quad 7.62 ItKk/09-31 "Organ machineguns". Once the water jackets had been perforated, these modified machineguns were issued to troops along light mounts (for Maxim machineguns), several versions of which were being manufactured at that time."

The reference that Palokangas provides for this is "PM tyk.k N:o 422/Tyk.2/35 sal. 21.1.1942, SArk T 19053/9". Which translates as Military Archives folder T 19053/9, Defense Ministry Artillery Commander's classified document number 442/Artillery Office 2/35 from 21st of January 1942.

I am not surprised that they did not bother removing Soviet markings - by 1942 Finnish depots and industrial plants no longer had time or resources for making things, which were not essential. Palokangas does not mention the booster at all, so that is very interesting piece of information - any idea how much it would raised the theoretical maximum rate of fire?

Jarkko


Alatassa
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Joined: 21 Jun 2016, 20:47
Location: Barcelona, Spain

Re: Finnish air-cooled Maxims

#3

Post by Alatassa » 10 Jul 2016, 16:35

Thank you very much Jarkko! Very interesting...
This method had early been used with captured quad 7.62 ItKk/09-31 "Organ machineguns"
Since quad 7.62 ItKk/09-31 had already been modified in this way and the mounts were scrapped after the wars, do you think it can be assumed that the inventory of air-cooled Maxims in the Finnish was probably well over the 100 units figure?
I am not surprised that they did not bother removing Soviet markings - by 1942 Finnish depots and industrial plants no longer had time or resources for making things, which were not essential.
You're probably right, but "Korj. 1942" marked Maxims can be found. Maybe this marking was reserved for real repairs, not for upgrades. Or maybe the barrel jacket perforation and recoil booster addition wasn't performed at Army Depots.
Palokangas does not mention the booster at all, so that is very interesting piece of information - any idea how much it would raised the theoretical maximum rate of fire?
Sadly I've never shot with one of these. The ones I've seen were deactivated. However I think that with the M/32 muzzle booster and the added accelerator mechanism probably the same theoretical rate as M/32 could be achieved.

Are you aware of any article published in specialised magazines dealing with this subject?

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