2 questions (german 15mm and Mk 108 )

[DarkglamJG52]

1) 15mm mounted on G-14 and k-4. myth or reality?
2) did the mk108 have subtypes? (like A-1, A-2, A-3).
 If the answer is affirmative,  the 109's, A8 and the 262 use the   same type?

 Thx in avance.

[butch2k]

1 - Yes it is a Myth
2 - There were two other versions but they were not used AFAIK,  Tony will probably give you some more details

[Tony Williams]

There were at least two other projected versions of the MK 108, neither of which saw service.

One was the MK 108A, or nA (presumably for "neuer Art" or new type) in which the RoF was boosted to 900 rpm. It was tested but too late for service.

The other was the MK 108 V-5, which was a simplified design (hard to imagine!) to make production even cheaper. This never left the drawing board.

The MG 151 could not fit into the Bf 109 cowling; whether it was the 15mm or 20mm version made no difference. The 15mm gun is often confused with the (much smaller) 13mm MG 131 (just as the MK 103 is confused with the MK 108 -  very different!).

Tony Williams
Author: "Rapid Fire: The development of automatic cannon, heavy machine guns and their ammunition for armies, navies and air forces"
Details on my military gun and ammunition website:
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk
Military gun and ammunition discussion forum:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/autogun/messages/

[DarkglamJG52]

Thx. The origin of my question on the Mk 108 were to read in the book "Warplanes of Luftwaffe"(David Donald) that the 262 took Mk 108 A3. In the other airplanes it simply put Mk 108, without A char.

[butch2k]

I have seen this reference to MK 108A3 in other books (Hoffschmidt's book page 123 for example), i think it originate from a confusion between the MK103 and the MK108.

[Wilbus]

Only fighter, afaik that used cowl mounted MG151 15mm was the DO335, it was also equiped with a spinner mounted Mk103.