Hi Guys,

Have an idea in my mind for above mentioned flak gun, does anyone know of / have photos showing

a) The flak 36 3.7mm in use in the desert

b) Any info on mounted on vechiles in the desert

Any help / photos be greatly appreciatied

Cheers Mike

a) Yes, the 8.8cm Flak 36 is seen in plentiful pictures in N Africa. Each of the 8.8cm Flak guns, the Flak 18, Flak 36, Flak 37 and Flak 41 were used in Africa.

b) None were mounted on vehicles -- only in its towed configuration.

Mike;

From what I can find on my shelf (most Concord books, some other pubs) and a fair amount of snooping around on the web, it appears that there may well have been few or even no 3.7cm Flak deployed to DAK or broader to North Africa... at least I have not found any pics which show one there! Lots of 2cm Flak 30 and Flak 38 guns - towed, on Horch's and on various other German and captured wheels, and on the SdKfz 10/4. But no 3.7cm Flak 36/37 in any guise!

That said - IF there were any, they would be Flak 36/37, as these were the 3.7cm guns in service at that time. Were any of these on carriers? I would guess that the best candidate for a 3.7cm gun on something "stock" in use in N Africa would have been on the SdKfz 6/2, which was in service (almost only in Luftwaffe units?)...

Of course SOMEONE out there will jump in with that tell-tale pic of one "over there"... and I'll "buy" it - I can think of no solid reason why there should not have been some used by DAK or... just that there can't have been many, given the absolute dirth of photos of same in the NA theatre!

Cheers!

Bob

@ Roy, thanks for that Roy, sorry I must have written the question wrong I was actually refering to the flak 36 3.7cm the medium flak gun like what was mounted later on the sdkfz 7/2.

@ Bob, thank you for that, I had sort of the same problem lol, I was hoping that if I could find some photos of some in africa it could then lend some credince to a idea i had of mounting one on a bedford ql gun portee, simuliar but a larger version of the 2cm mounted on a chev 30cwt

Cheers Mike

D'oh! Epic fail on my part misreading your question! Sorry about that!

Roy all good, I didn't write the title as i should have lol

Mike;

Actually your thread title seemed to me, not "erroneous" but only rather "narrow", from where I sit!

You see... it's a matter of the curious nomenclature around these flak guns...

The original 3.7cm (37mm, as you stated it) Flak gun was named the Flak 36 (yeah - that's why we all get into some confusion! There was both an 8.8cm Flak 36 and a 3.7cm Flak 36... not overly-helpful of those Germans, I fear!). So... I figured that you COULD have been ref'ing just the original version of that 3.7cm gun! Shortly after it was brought into service (1936), the Germans decided to revise a few bits on their heavy and overly-complex Flak 36 - they redesigned the carriage and sights and a couple littler bits, and christened their revised gun the Flak 37... They then went back and retro-fit those changes onto the original Flak 36 guns - which, now brought up to the "new" Flak 37 standard, so functionally "Flak 37 guns" - the Flak 36/37! All subsequent guns were built to the "new" 1937 standards, and called Flak 37 - which remained the standard German 3.7cm Flak through 1943. Because the -37 was expensive and heavy, they revised it to save money and weight and created the lighter, faster-firing Flak 43.

So, up to 1944, when they created the very different Flak 43 , the Germans had a few old and original Flak 36, a fair number of the rebuilt Flak 36/37, and the "revised production version" Flak 37 all in service! Fun!

Probably more then you wanted to get, eh?

Anyway - you are probably "SOL" on your dream of (historically and accurately) putting a 36 or a 36/37 or a 37 into a Bedford - albeit that would be large enough to struggle along with it (these 36/37 guns were quite heavy - about 3400 lbs without the wheels -). But it sure sounds cool!

Cheers!

Bob

Would this help ?



Frenchy

Bob,

Damn, Damn & more damn lol, I had hoped that if in North Africa could have least been a maybe baby lol, now may just have to be a what if!!! But I would have thought with the extra strengthing of the Bedford QL Pun portee to fire the six pounder off they would have handle the weight ok??

Cheers Mike

OOOPS...Sorry Mike I realized too late you were looking for a truck-mounted Flak 36...

Frenchy

Mike!

See? All the larger info world (Frenchy, in this instance) needs is maybe a little "provocation" and some time!

And Frenchy has indeed come thru in exactly the way which will support your build dream!

THANKS! Frenchy, for finding and posting this! Now I've seen it, I recollect having seen this pic somewhere and time before - but where I have no longer any clue!

That's apparently a Flak 36/37 (I would doubt that it was an original, un-retrofit 36, but...). What you have here, Mike, is the desired evidence that those guns were in-theatre. Not a surprise to me, as I think I had posited before; they could indeed be there given they were in service - just apparently rare beasts over in Africa.

And given it being there, that gun could be hoisted up into a Bedford! So, you should be able to take a 36/37 kit and put the gun on its field mount right into that lorry's bed, much like folks did with 2cm Flak 30 and 38 guns - just as if the gun was being set onto the ground for firing. With a clear conscience, I would add!

So, GO FOR IT, Pard!

Bob

You're welcome Bob. I've found this one in a book about the DAK, but you can find it online as well, posted by...."Panzer Bob"



Frenchy

Hi Frenchy,

Thank you for that even if I can't find any photos of a truck mounted 3.7cm & I have to makhe a what if model it at leaset amkes the idea a lot more plasablie!!

Cheers Mike

@Frenchy quote[I've found this one in a book about the DAK, but you can find it online as well, posted by...."Panzer Bob" ]quote

Yeah. I'd love to take credit for this one, too! Of course, That's also the case whenever I pass a "Bob's Big Boy Restaurant" over here! Somehow I never seem to get a franchise check from them!

@Mike;

Just keep it straight-forward and don't try making up some fancy mount! The whole gun and its standard mount would have gone into that lorry bed just fine, and if you keep things looking like a crew just took advantage of the available truck, I doubt anyone could call you on it with a straight face! It really IS plausible that a DAK crew could have done just this - they mounted Breda guns, Flak 30 and 38 guns, captured Bofors guns - whatever they could find - on all sorts of available wheels - German, Italian, Commonwealth, etc.

I might suggest that this could be an opportunistic Luftwaffe field unit "trick", as many of these 3.7cm guns were manned by Luftwaffe flak troops around airfields and seconded to army formations... Just an idea In this case, one might consider having the gun painted a Luftwaffe scheme and simply "plopped" into the truck, which could be a British scheme with German marking, or...

I think your build-lamp is GREEN!

Bob

Hi Bob,

Well I like the idea of having some Luftwaffe guys working on it & as you said I will just use the standard mounts, my idea is to do something a little more left field even, I am going to have it being winched up the ramps nearl at the top just to add some "movement!!" . Now I can really start looking for some guys to be doing it lol

And thanks for agreeing is a plausible idea, I just thought it made sense when first thought of it!!

Cheers mike

As with anything dealing with a war, almost anything is possible. As has been stated, even with no photo proof, that doesn't mean someone didn't have the idea and try it. Heck, it could have even been a British unit using captured equipment.

Hi Bob S,

Exactlly my thoughts & if I keep it as realistic as possible then the idea becomes even more plausible. Now I just start the search for the right guys & Bobs your uncle so to speak lol

Cheers Mike