How effective was the BK5?

daveh · Post by **daveh** » 30 Jul 2003 15:19

The Me 262 A-1a and the Me 410 A-1/U4 were fitted with a BK5 cannon. It was designed to give German fighters a stand off ability i.e. they could fire and destroy US bombers without entering the defensive fire of the bombers.

How effective was the BK5 in reality?
How many kills were achieved?
How accurate was the BK 5 in air to air combat?
What sort of sight was used?

Whisper · Post by **Whisper** » 30 Jul 2003 16:50

Hi daveh,

i believe only a very few were produced (when i remember right something about 2 or 300). The war ended before the testing of it was over. Out of this reason it was only used a few times in battle.

SPECIFICATIONS
Weight: 135 lbs.
Muzzle velocity: 1,600 ft./sec.
Gun length overall: 45 in.
Barrel length: 23 in.
Maximum rate of fire: 45 rounds/min.

Greetings
Dennis

Erich · Post by **Erich** » 30 Jul 2003 19:45

to answer a couple of your questions. Am not sure if it is known how many of the Bk 5's were issued to Me 410A's or B's in ZG 26 . It was a short term weapon and was quite effective against US heavy bombers with only one shot needed to bring one down. Because of it's weight and the overall slowness of the a/c and recoil of the fired wepaon it was dropped as the a/c and it's crew were easily made into dog meat facing US escort fighters. The weapon could easily hit it's target beyond the range of the .50's in the B-24 and B-17's. The sight was an overdeveloped telescope of course fat shortened and was postitioned through the front of the canopy. The unit with a/c of ZG 26 when moved to the Ost Front in late 1944, the gun was used in the ground attack role......
As for the Me 262 useage in Jv 44, the gun was modified for one of the Me 262's and it was flown on two occassions against B-26's and on both missions the weapon jammed.

~E 8)

Scott Smith · Post by **Scott Smith** » 30 Jul 2003 22:08

I understand that testpilots reported that the handling of the Me 262 with the 50mm BK5 was very good. And of course, it was fast enough to outrun fighters.

Erich · Post by **Erich** » 30 Jul 2003 22:47

Hey Scott ! Major Willi Herget RK nachtjäger ace flew the Me 262 with the Bk 5 in combat with JV 44 and after the war made mention of what a joke the gun was. Nose heavy........and the jamming that I indicated. Would of been interesting the effects it would of had on the B-26's......catastrophic would be more the term.

As to test pilots saying they could outrun Allied escorts I can not attest to that.

~E

Scott Smith · Post by **Scott Smith** » 30 Jul 2003 22:56

Erich wrote:Hey Scott ! Major Willi Herget RK nachtjäger ace flew the Me 262 with the Bk 5 in combat with JV 44 and after the war made mention of what a joke the gun was. Nose heavy........and the jamming that I indicated. Would of been interesting the effects it would of had on the B-26's......catastrophic would be more the term.

So he didn't like the way it handled? Would he have thought it less of a joke it it had functioned reliably?

Erich · Post by **Erich** » 30 Jul 2003 23:39

Don't know my friend, he has passed away some years ago. I do believe he was more interested in Heinz Bärs setup with the 2cm and 3cm Mk 103's in the nose for 6 kanon. There definatley was wind resistance from that long rod 5cm weapon and added fuel consumption to some point.

~E

Scott Smith · Post by **Scott Smith** » 31 Jul 2003 00:30

Thanks for the info.

gabriel pagliarani · Post by **gabriel pagliarani** » 02 Aug 2003 10:47

Probably 4 std. ordnance Mk108 3cm guns worked better. The myth of "an heavy bomber shot down with only a round" raised up in Luftwaffe's leaders minds during all the war. Galland approved the testing of Mk.108 during 1943 and in his memories wrote that Mk.108 had to be able to shot down a fortress with only a round...if the war had to continue till 1947 surely a light version of an 8.8 cm Pak/Flak had to be tested on some fighter!

But the really effective "one shot down" weapon, the IR driven auto-guided missile was never developed. Why?